1. You are asked to attend a meeting of your organization’shealthcare ethics committee in which an ethical conflict that theorganization is facing will be discussed. How will you prepareyourself for the meeting?
2. The chapter explains that beneficence can have a negativeimplication—paternalism. What negative implications can otherethical principles have?
3. Healthcare ethicist William A. Nelson (2006) describes thefollowing three situations involving decisions. Which of thesedecisions involve ethical conflicts? Pretend you are a patientsafety officer.
a. You need to choose among several software packages to trackevents involving patient safety. The decision is difficult to make,and you might need the assistance of a consultant to determinewhich software package is best technically and complies withorganizational rules for return on investment, user-friendliness,and compatibility with existing computer systems. b. You havedecided to purchase an excellent software package. Unfortunately,it exceeds the budget approved by the finance department. You splitthe order for the software package among three purchase orders,thereby concealing its true costs and staying within yourpurchasing authority amount and below finance’s “radar.”
c. To facilitate your evaluation of a vendor’s software package,the vendor offers to take you to a site in Florida where thevendor’s software package has been installed. The vendor will payfor your flight as well as your midweek, two-day stay at a hotel.You are tempted to take the offer because you are curious to seehow the software works in real life. Besides, you rationalize, ithas been a brutal winter and you could use a short vacation.
4. Clinicians’ ethical obligations typically focus on promotingthe best interests of their individual patients. Healthcaremanagers’ obligations, however, often focus on the best interestsof the patient population served by the organization. How couldthese different perspectives affect discussions of ethicalconflicts?
