As the healthcare industry changes, it’s important to look at the top ethical issues facing healthcare managers. Healthcare managers are the ones who keep those offices and facilities running properly and the ones responsible for handling the needs of patients. These common issues may relate to the care and treatment of patients or the personal thoughts and feelings of those managers.
Death and Dying
Some of the ethical issues facing healthcare managers relate to issues of death and dying. A common topic discussed in the media today is physician-assisted suicide or death. This is when a doctor helps a patient end his or her life. Though legal in states like Oregon and Washington, most states will not allow doctors to help end the lives of patients struggling with terminal illnesses. In addition to debating the ethical implications of physician-assisted deaths, managers may also bring their own personal thoughts or religious beliefs into the debate.
Medical Errors
Even the smallest of medical errors can completely transform the life of another person. As managers are responsible for the facility’s daily operations, there are the ones who ensure that doctors receive all the documents that they need. Those documents must include a patient’s allergies and medical history as well as the treatments or procedures that he or she needs. This is one of the ethical issues facing healthcare managers because managers may find themselves so busy with work and personal commitments that they forget to file the right paperwork or make other mistakes on the job that causes injuries to a patient.
Patient Confidentiality
Medical professionals must agree to keep the private information of patients secure. They cannot discuss the aspects of any case with anyone at home or away from the job. This is both an ethical and a moral issue because it calls into question how much employees can talk to each other and what they can talk about. While they can discuss the needs of a patient and other basic information, they generally cannot talk about the specifics of the case. If a manager lets slip the name of a patient, it’s a serious violation. Some modern cases involved healthcare managers and other employees selling photos and medical information of celebrities.
Informed Consent
Before a doctor can perform any procedure on a patient, that patient must give his or her informed consent. This means that the doctor provided the patient with information about the procedure, including any potential side effects and the risks of the surgery. The patient must receive all the information necessary to make a decision. If a manager loses the paperwork that the patient signs or falsifies data on those forms, including signing an individual’s name to a form or adding more information after the patient signs the paper, the manager can face jail time.
Conflicts of Interest
Susan Kreimer, who has a Master of Science degree, believes that one of the biggest ethical issues facing healthcare managers is a simple conflict of interest. She specifically looks at the way doctors and managers might find themselves affected by pharmaceutical companies and other major corporations. These companies often provide hospitals and medical facilities with free samples that doctors can give to patients, but some also pay doctors to prescribe those medications. Medical professionals must decide whether those medications will actually help their patients.
Managers working in the healthcare industry face ethical dilemmas every day. These professionals must learn more about ethical issues facing healthcare managers like conflicts of interest and patient confidentiality to better understand the needs of patients and to provide the best level of care for those patients.
See also: Top 10 Best Online Master of Health Administration Degree Programs (MHA)
