Reference no: EM132871512

St. Michael's Medical Center Ethical and Legal Dilemmas

St. Michael's Medical Center (SMMC) was one of the best medical centers in the Midwestern United States. The hospital served a population of over 500,000 low-income persons and other vulnerable populations. However, in recent years, the center has faced challenges. Many criticisms have come from the people whom it served and government regulators for a series of ethical violations committed. These accusations and violations have morphed into legal battles.

All of these ethical violations resulted in St. Michael's facing a massive lawsuit amounting to millions of dollars. The hospital has violated most of the regulatory compliance standards set by federal agencies. Despite fines and warnings, the hospital continues to endanger patients with poor quality healthcare outcomes.

St. Michael's is now seeking a risk mitigation consultant to head the hospital as the new chief executive officer (CEO). You have been selected because of your risk management background. You realize that the hospital could have avoided all of these problems if it had complied with regulations, trained its staff, and enforced internal organizational policies. You are hired to put things in order and prevent future problems.

Read the course scenario and consider the overall moral and ethical failures of the healthcare staff at St. Michael's Medical Center. Pay close attention to the cases highlighted in the scenario. You are now hired as the new chief executive officer (CEO) with risk management background. You have decided that the best way to handle this task is to first build up the moral and ethical foundation of your employees relative to the workplace environment. You are aware that employees have different moral and ethical values, but your intention is to have them develop the proper professional ethical behavior in the workplace.

In your notes, please address the following items:

Day 1

• The basic principles of ethics to address healthcare dilemma.
• The importance of these basic principles of healthcare ethics to employees in the workplace

Day 2

• The use of the following three principles of ethical reasoning and decision making to address healthcare dilemmas:
• Contemporary consequence-oriented principles
• Duty-oriented principles
• Virtue ethics reasoning

Day 3

• Compare the needs- and value-based theories and the role played in developing and shaping ethical behavior in individuals in a hospital.
• (Short exercise) Use the scenario to answer this question: How do you ensure that your employees are on the same page regarding responses to ethical issues on the job?