Question

Staff is not organized what so ever!!! My mom sees the doctor for asthma shots once a month, shot takes 2 seconds to give. Yet she sits in the waiting room for over 2 hours!! She told the front desk staff how long she had been waiting and the response was… oh you still have not gotten your shot… This behavior is unacceptable!!!! They do not value their patients’ schedules nor health for that matter. Seeing as though my mother can’t go with out this shot!

1. Identify and describe one ethical issue you see with this public review. What principle of ethics is most applicable here?
2. If you were the doctor how would you handle this situation?
3. If you were the hospital administrator how would you handle this situation?
4. Besides ethical issues, are there any legal issues this post/review brings up?

Answer 1

Not adhering to Beneficence, One of the Principals of Nursing ethics. This principle states that every Healthcare worker who is attending to a patient should always look out for the well-being of their patients. In no way a patient should be denied or made to wait unnecessarily to get medical care. This is one of the most basic principals of medical ethics.

If I were the doctor and was assigned to that particular patient, I'll try to attend the patient as soon as possible. If for some reason, I cannot attend to the patient. I will inform the administration as early as possible. That way some other doctor can attend to the patient without causing any delay.

If I were the Hospital administration, I would check with the assigned doctor whether he is available to attend to the patient or He is busy with some other patient in surgery or some check-up. This will help the patient in getting early diagnosis with causing any delay.

If the patient thinks that there has been a delay in receiving treatment, He/She can sue the particular doctor on grounds of medical negligence. For negligence to get proven, A well-reputed lawyer with expertise in medical malpractices must deduce why there has been a delay and what proper treatment should have been given and why it wasn't given at the right time. Once it can be proved, The patient can file a lawsuit incase of any damages that were dealt due to the delay in receiving treatment such as loss of life or patient's condition getting worse because of it.