ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY

Corporate Governance and Ethical Responsibility

Marshan Brown

Leg-Bus 500 Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance

Professor Daniel Smith

May 13, 2012

ETHICAL RESPOSIBILITY

Determine at least three different internal and external stakeholders that Dr. Do Right might have to deal with on a daily basis at the hospital. Discuss the duty of loyalty owed to each internal and external stakeholder.

Dr. Do Right has a duty of loyalty to employees, society, and board of directors. Each duty of

loyalty has its’ own significant meaning. Dr. Do Right signed a contractual agreement with

Universal Human Health Hospital and took an oath to run the daily operations of the hospital,

implement procedures and decisions made by the board of directors, and give updates and

reports to the board members and shareholders about the financial status and daily operations

of the organization.

First of all, Dr. Do Right must communicate procedures, policies, and business goals to his

management team. He must educate them on business changes, developmental opportunities,

and all other vital information to help them to administer and communicate the organizations’

policies, expectations, and needs to lower level employees. Dr. Do Right must also display

leadership qualities that are positive, respectful, and effective. This is his obligation to show

that he is capable and responsible for a huge workforce.

Secondly, Dr. Do Right has duty of loyalty to society. As Chief commanding officer of the

hospital, Dr. Do Right must evaluate and oversee all daily operations of the hospital. He has

an ethical duty to make sure all policies and procedures are in compliance with government

regulations. He is also bound to make sure patients and any external customer receives the

most profound and best care possible with his employees. He has legal obligations to report

any indiscretions to board members that may infringe on the welfare of the patients. Because

Dr. Do Right is the executive of a large health operation, his duty of loyalty falls to the

community. The community depends on the health care system to provide care that heals,

supports, and brings resolutions to their health needs. The hospital is also there for researchers ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY

to find new serums and medicines to cure illness. Dr. Do Right must make sure his facility is

there to serve the needs of the patients, community, and society as a whole.

Finally, Dr. Do Right has an obligation to his board members. The board members assigned him

a position to take care of the business interest, financial interests, and daily operations of the

organization. Although, Dr. Do Right has man daily tasks. He is responsible for communicating

detailed reports to board members about daily operations and the financial status of the

organization. Dr. Do Right must bring problems that arise within the organization, so that

decisions can be made to resolve them or the necessary votes can take place to implement new

procedures.

Compare and contrast potential conflicts of interest that may exist between duties of loyalty owed to an internal stakeholder versus external stakeholders.

The conflicts of interest that can exist between upholding the duties of a hired position and

upholding social obligations, often exist in the workplace. The duty of loyalty of Dr. Do

Right is to the hospital and keeping their best interests in front of any conflict. The conflict

is revealing information that could bring about criminal liability to the hospital. The hospital

is aware of the death of patients and negligence by their staff. Although, Dr. Do Right was

informed that there would be a thorough investigation, the hospital committee has not found

any findings or information to help resolve the continuing deaths. Dr. Do Right has to struggle

with his moral convictions and social responsibility to society to decide whether or not he

should be a whistleblower. A whistleblower alerts media and other outside sources that

unethical and illegal behavior is taking place in their organization. His salary and oath makes

him ponder the decision of doing the fairest approach to the situation. Besides, the hospital

will have numerous lawsuits brought against it and criminal negligence may be a possibility. ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY

Determine whether Dr. Do Right has fulfilled his ethical duty by reporting the illegal procedures. Recommend additional steps Dr. Do Right should have taken to prevent further harm to current and future patients and reduce liability for his employer the
Universal Human Care Hospital.

Dr. Do Right did not completely fulfill his ethical obligations about the sudden deaths in the

hospital. Dr. Do Right was informed of the negligence and deaths of patients in meetings.

Nurses, Doctors, and hospital staff are bound by legal oaths to give their patients the best

care possible. If patients are dying and no one can explain why, there should be an extensive

investigation and conclusion to the matter. Dr. Do Right job is to make sure his management

team is effectively administering the rules of the hospitals. Dr. Do Right should have

orchestrated a research team to research the matter more extensively. He should not have

let the matter go unresolved. More deaths continue to happen and eventually someone in

the organization will be the whistleblower and Dr. Do Right will have concealed vital

information from board members, shareholders, and society about wrongful deaths on

his watch. He is not adhering to his duties and making the organization vulnerable to

negligence lawsuits and criminal liability.

Describe the deontology principle and apply it to the ethical dilemma that Dr. Do Right faces. The deontology principles relates to the principles of life that promotes fairness, respectfulness,

being honest, staying true to one’s words, being committed to the cause and doing what is right

no matter any consequences. In this situation Dr. Do Right continued to have great success with

the organization, but he was not doing what was right. The continuance of death of patients was

a huge issue in his hospital. His commitment should have been to find identify the problem,

communicate to all parties that must be aware of it, orchestrate groups to find solutions to

ETHICAL RESPOSIBILITY

solve the problems, and make any necessary changes in staff and policies to keep

the organization that he was contractually responsible for in compliance with government

regulations and social responsibilities.

Describe the utilitarianism theory and apply it to the dilemma Dr. Do Right faces in this case. The Utilitarianism approach analyzes the cost-benefit of each consequence. In this case the cost

Would be more detrimental to the hospital by concealing and not resolving the issue at hand.

Dr. Do Right can alleviate many of the organizations problems by bringing the problem

in the open to board members and shareholders. Therefore, the hospital can find a remedy to

resolve the issues and get legal advice to offer settlements and apology letter to victims’ families.

He should also discipline or terminate all parties involved in the wrongdoing. In the long term,

this could save the organization millions of dollars. The benefit of this will be a financial loss,

but the hospital will retain its’ integrity and reputation of providing quality care.