Analyzing ethical issues that healthcare professionals face requires adhering to relevant approaches and models to find adequate solutions. To assess a specific problem objectively, healthcare leaders should apply appropriate assessment models and communication principles to build productive relationships with all stakeholders. As an example of such an activity, a specific case study by Darr (2017) will be considered. Matt Losinski, the CEO of County General Hospital (CGH), is a key figure that has faced an ethical dilemma. In particular, the manager is concerned about a large number of patients in the hospital’s emergency department and, therefore, the high costs of providing medical services. Mr. Losinski has to solve this problem through interaction with the executive committee and come to an adequate solution to the existing problem. This is due to CHG’s inability to reimburse the full amount of annual expenses. It was a solution correct from the moral point of view because it considered the interests of various groups of people and benefited each of them. Using an appropriate ethical decision-making model can provide a solution to the current problem.
The selected case study illustrates the specific ethical dilemma to solve. Darr (2017) offers to review the situation when the CEO of CGH has faced while examining the costs that the hospital has incurred in providing emergency patient care. The problem is that individual patients seeking medical services did it repeatedly, but their cases were simple and did not require significant intervention. Simultaneously, the cost of the services provided by CGH was estimated at $2.7 million. Despite the government’s payments under the national Medicaid program, the share of fees did not cover all costs, and about $200,000 remained unpaid. As a result, CGH is experiencing a shortage of funds due to many patients seeking emergency care. In addition to the department itself, the CEO is involved in this problem’s solution and the executive committee that oversees all the facility’s financial activities.
As a theoretical concept that can describe the presented issue, the ethical decision-making model may be applied. According to Schwartz (2016), this methodology includes three key components that allow assessing a problem and analyzing its implications – moral awareness (“interpreting the situation”), moral judgment (“ethical decision making”), and moral intention (“determination”) (p. 758). The affordability of the health insurance program and the ease of accessing healthcare professionals have become the key factors contributing to the issue. Every citizen with insurance has the right to count on qualified assistance. The frequency of complaints does not matter, leading to high costs for assisting individual patients. As Louw (2016) notes, “ethical decision making can be defined as a complex process used by health care professionals to resolve ethical dilemmas” (p. 41). In this case, the model mentioned above may be utilized to assess the issue analysis principles.
When applying the ethical decision-making model, the CEO’s position can be analyzed in three steps. His awareness implies familiarization with the problem and the reasons for its occurrence. The moral judgment consists in assessing the issue based on the available information. Finally, the component of intention is revealed through the specific actions aimed at eliminating the problem, and the CEO’s solution to discuss the issue with the executive committee is relevant. This algorithm allows describing how any ethical dilemma can be dealt with, and the CGH case is appropriate for the given context.
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