Memorandum
To:
FROM:
DATE: September 8, 2013
SUBJECT: BioHemi, Inc. Ethics
A decision such as this is a very difficult one. The options we’re given are to continue distributing our product at a risk of harming people or to take a huge loss. I understand it can be a hard truth, but I believe that the ethical choice will be to discontinue distributing our unemulsified plasma. I am aware we will be losing 37.5 million dollars in product and that we will be unable to satisfy our fixed contracts, but we have to remember our obligations to our customers and clients. The CDC has released the statistic that “74 percent of hemophiliacs who used an unemulsified plasma product were HIV positive”. The percentage is too high to gamble people’s lives with. We also have to remember how this will look on our company, can you imagine the widespread news if it was released that we continued distributing to Guatemala and many people died as a result?
As a professional accountant of this firm I promise you that my choice is in the best interest of the company as a whole. That 37.5 million won’t last forever, and if we decided to take it, we would never have people’s trust again. In the long run, we will still be a company with integrity and end up making more money because of it. I am also bound by the IMA code of ethics. I know that ethical issues were raised in the team meetings so I am going to address those. Within the IMA code of ethics under integrity, numbers two and three both apply to this situation. Firstly, number two under integrity is to “Refrain from engaging in any conduct that would prejudice carrying out duties ethically”. I feel that because we would be ignoring the warnings of the dangers of the product, as well as distributing this product to a country with not only no knowledge of the potential risk but no disclosure of those risks, we would be conducting