In re Yukos Oil Company Securities Litigation 2006 WL 3026024 (S.D.N.Y.)

FACTS: Yukos is a Moscow-based joint-stock company whose shares trade on the Russian stock exchange. Yukos shares also trade indirectly on multiple European exchanges and over-thecounter in the United States. Allegedly, Khodorkovsky was part of a select group of Russian business leaders known as “oligarchs” who supported former Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin, but were politically opposed to current Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. The Tax Code of the Russian Federation prescribed a maximum income tax rate that incorporated two components: a tax payable to the federal budget and a tax payable to the budget of the taxpayer's local region. For example, in 2004, the statutory maximum rate was 24%, of which up to 6.5% could be collected by the federal government and up to 17.5% by regional governments. The Tax Code also prescribed a minimum rate for taxes payable to regional governments. In 2004, that rate was 13.5%. However, the regional governments could offer tax benefits to reduce or even eliminate the regional budget liability of certain categories of taxpayers. Because of this regional variance in the effective income tax rate, taxpayers in the metropolitan regions of the Russian Federation, such as Moscow, paid higher taxes than taxpayers in remote regions, or “ZATOs.” The complaint alleges that from 2000 through 2003, Yukos grossly underpaid its taxes to the Russian Federation by illegally taking advantage of the ZATOs' preferential tax treatment. According to the complaint, Yukos booked oil sales at “well below” market prices to seventeen trading companies, all of which were registered within ZATOs. Without taking physical possession, the trading companies sold the oil to customers at market prices and claimed the tax benefits of their ZATOs. However, the profits were “funneled ... back to Yukos and Yukos paid taxes only on the initial below-market sales while reaping substantial profits from the low-tax market-price sales. The complaint alleges that the regional trading companies received the benefits of ZATO registration illegitimately because “[n]o business was actually conducted by the sham companies in the ZATOs.” This Yukos tax strategy presented enormous risk because it violated Russian law and because the Russian Federation had prosecuted other companies that had acted similarly. Nonetheless, the risk was not disclosed in any of the Yuko’s filings with the SEC. Also, what was filed with the SEC was allegedly not prepared in conformity with U.S. GAAP or other standards of financial reporting. At a secret meeting with Khodorkovsky and other oligarchs in 2000, Putin promised not to investigate potential wrongdoing at their companies if the oligarchs refrained from opposing Putin. Nearly three years later, at another such meeting, Khodorkovsky allegedly voiced his opinion that high-level officials in Putin's government should be ousted. According to the plaintiffs, Putin reacted negatively and intimated to Khodorkovsky that the Russian Federation might investigate Yukos' methods of acquiring oil reserves. Despite Putin's warnings, Khodorkovsky publicly criticized Putin and financed opposition parties. On October 25, 2003, Russian Federation authorities arrested Khodorkovsky and charged him with fraud, embezzlement and evasion of personal income taxes. Days later, the Russian Government seized control of Khodorkovsky's 44% interest in Yukos as security against the approximately $1 billion he owed in taxes. Concurrently, the Tax Ministry revealed that it had been investigating Yukos' tax strategies. The Department of Information and Public Relations of the General Prosecutors Office then announced charges that accused Khodorkovsky and others of fraudulently operating an illegal scheme at Yukos to avoid tax liability through shell company transactions. On December 29, 2003, the Tax Ministry concluded its audit of Yukos for tax year 2000, issued a report that Yukos had illegally obtained the benefit of the ZATOs’ preferential tax treatment, and owed $3.4 billion to the Russian Federation in back taxes, interest, and penalties for tax year 2000. As a result, Yukos defaulted on a $1 billion loan from private lenders and the Russian Government confiscated Yukos' assets, including its main production facility and billions of dollars from its bank accounts. The price of Yukos securities “plummeted” in response to these events. Shareholders in Yukos (Plaintiffs) filed consolidated class actions against Khodorkovsky and others (defendants) on July 2, 2004. The U.S. plaintiffs had purchased Yukos securities between January 22, 2003, and October 25, 2003. They allege that Yukos, its outside auditor, and certain of its executives and controlling shareholders knowingly concealed the risk that the Russian Federation would take action against Yukos by failing to disclose: (1) that Yukos had employed an illegal tax evasion scheme since 2000; and (2) that Khodorkovsky's political activity exposed the Company to retribution from the current Russian government. The plaintiffs based their claims on the fraud provision, Section 10(b), of the Securities Exchange Act. ISSUE: Does the act of state doctrine prohibit the court from taking the case? DECISION: No. The court dismissed the case on other grounds, but found that the act of state doctrine did not prohibit the court from hearing the case. The case was not one that involved invalidating Russian actions; it was a case to decide whether the company should have been more transparent and forthcoming about the risk of its strategy as well as the political risk in Russia. Questions: 1. Describe how Yukos is alleged to have saved significant amounts in taxes. 2. Explain what act of the Russian Federation is in question. 3. What are the plaintiffs asking the court to decide? Does that decision require revisiting what the Russian Federation did, and why or why not?

CASE 101: Social Networks and Medicine

Kevin D. Zeiler The Riverbend Hospital, a hospital located in a rural area of the state, recently purchased laptops for all employees of the hospital system, as well as emergency responders. The goal of the purchase was to streamline medical treatment and information in real time so that patients could receive more timely care. The program has been in place for just over three months with most of the employees feeling that the new system has been a real time-saver. However, a recent leak of patient information has put the program in jeopardy.

Because the laptops are provided with Internet access, many of the hospital’s employees have been using them for personal web browsing, social network updating, etc. Ambulance crews have been uploading photos from crash sites, shootings, etc., so that physicians and nurses can be made aware of the mechanism of injury and such. However, an employee in the system recently posted some of those photos to a social network site that many members of the local community share, and it has brought to light an abusive relationship that is taking place in the small community. The photos clearly show the patient and most, if not all, citizens in the small community know her. Furthermore, other providers have started to post comments about her treatment, follow-up care, and other medical conditions. The female patient is currently seeking legal advice and the future of the hospital’s new computer system has been compromised.

USE INFORMATION FROM CASE TO DO A WRITE UP (PLEASE INCLUDE DETAILED EXPLANATION AND COMPLETE ALL 6 STEPS)

1 - Write a background statement

2- What are the major problems and secondary issues?

3- Your Role

4- Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses

5- Alternatives and Recommended Solution

6- Evaluation

THEIR IS AN EXAMPLE BELOW OF HOW THIS SHOULD LOOK!!!!

Case Write-Up

Background Statement

A Wiccan patient who visited a nondenominational community hospital was discussing her religious beliefs with her primary care nurse, Penny Baker, when suddenly another nurse, Ruth Goose, walked into the conversation and rudely stated, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch amongst you.” The Wiccan nurse felt offended and complained that she was discriminated in the hospital because of her religious beliefs.

Major Problems and Secondary Issues

The major problem is that the two nurses, Penny Baker and Ruth Goose, made the patient feel unwelcomed in the nondenominational community hospital because of her Wiccan religious beliefs. The secondary issues that the nondenominational community hospital may face is that the Wiccan patient is threatening to go to the media. This means that there may be news coverage that your hospital engages in religious discrimination. This may make people, especially Wiccans, look down on your medical services.

Your Role

In this case, I am the Vice President of Nursing Services. As stated in the text, it writes, “You are the Vice President of Nursing Services in a nondenominational community hospital, and you receive a complaint from a patient, who is a Wiccan.” The advantages of this role are that I can sit down with Penny and Ruth to let them know that religious discrimination is not to be tolerated while we are caring for the patients. The disadvantages of this role are that I must decide how I am going to discuss this matter with Penny and Ruth because they’re passionate about being against the Wiccan patient. I need to let Penny and Ruth know that our patient’s care matters above everything else, not what religion they practice.

Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses

As the Vice President of Nursing Services, my strengths are that I can hold a training on racial, ethnic, and religious diversity. This training can supplement nurses with the information they need to work in a diverse environment. Nurses need to know that they must treat their patients justly despite their identity. The weaknesses I may face are that the two nurses are very religious themselves. They may not listen to what I have to say about religious discrimination because the two nurses try to justify their act by saying, “She did the right thing. We don’t have to pray with witches. They worship Satan. It’s blasphemy. What’s next? Human sacrifice?”

Alternatives and Recommended Solution

As a solution for this problem, I will make sure to provide all the nurses working in the hospital with diversity training. It is important that I sit down with the nurses and make it clear that discrimination will not be tolerated while they are working in our hospital. I can also offer every patient visiting the hospital with a survey. The patient can fill out the survey to let us know how they felt about their stay. Nurses who’ve been accused of any sort of discrimination, will have to speak with management. We would keep these incidences of discrimination in a file, and it the dilemma does not change, I would have to begin writing up the nurses. Discrimination would not be tolerated while the patient is in the hospital trying to recover from a medical condition. I would also recommend Penny and Ruth write an official letter of apology to the Wiccan patient before she decides to go to the media. Writing the official letter of apology would be my first recommended solution to Penny and Ruth, so that the patient does not feel unwelcomed to our hospital’s services in the future.

Evaluation

If there are enough surveys to prove that our medical treatment is getting better and there are less patients coming from the patients about discrimination, then I would know that the instances of discrimination have stopped. The goal is to aid in the medical recovery of patients. Patients must also feel welcomed to our hospital services despite their identity. By getting fewer, or even better, no discrimination complaints, I would know that my diversity trainings and meetings have worked.

Case 85: Inappropriate Touching in the Operating Room

You are giving anesthesia for a patient undergoing ankle surgery. The patient adeep and her vital signs are good. You look up and see that the podiatrie foot surgeon is at the wrong end of the table and appears to be fondling the breast of the patient.

You cant believe your eyes and ask, "What are you doing?"

The surgeon stops touching the patient and looks up with a surprised expression. The nurse and the podiatric resident who are present in the OR are widecyed. The surgeon stops the inappropriate behavior. The surgery then proceeds without any further problems.

At the end of the case after the podiatrist has left the room you ask the nune and resident if they also observed the same behavior. The nurse confirms your observation and states she will only report the incident if you report it too. You and the OR nurse meet with the head nurse of the operating room as well as the Chief of Surgery and recount the story. Both administrators request the observa- tions be put in writing as an incident report which you and the OR nurse do.

When the surgeon is confronted with this digression from acceptable profes- sional behaviors he has no reasonable or plausible excuse for his behavior.

USE INFORMATION FROM CASE TO DO A WRITE UP (PLEASE INCLUDE DETAILED EXPLANATION AND COMPLETE ALL 6 STEPS)

1 - Write a background statement

2- What are the major problems and secondary issues?

3- Your Role

4- Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses

5- Alternatives and Recommended Solution

6- Evaluation

THEIR IS AN EXAMPLE BELOW OF HOW THIS SHOULD LOOK!!!!

Case Write-Up

Background Statement

A Wiccan patient who visited a nondenominational community hospital was discussing her religious beliefs with her primary care nurse, Penny Baker, when suddenly another nurse, Ruth Goose, walked into the conversation and rudely stated, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch amongst you.” The Wiccan nurse felt offended and complained that she was discriminated in the hospital because of her religious beliefs.

Major Problems and Secondary Issues

The major problem is that the two nurses, Penny Baker and Ruth Goose, made the patient feel unwelcomed in the nondenominational community hospital because of her Wiccan religious beliefs. The secondary issues that the nondenominational community hospital may face is that the Wiccan patient is threatening to go to the media. This means that there may be news coverage that your hospital engages in religious discrimination. This may make people, especially Wiccans, look down on your medical services.

Your Role

In this case, I am the Vice President of Nursing Services. As stated in the text, it writes, “You are the Vice President of Nursing Services in a nondenominational community hospital, and you receive a complaint from a patient, who is a Wiccan.” The advantages of this role are that I can sit down with Penny and Ruth to let them know that religious discrimination is not to be tolerated while we are caring for the patients. The disadvantages of this role are that I must decide how I am going to discuss this matter with Penny and Ruth because they’re passionate about being against the Wiccan patient. I need to let Penny and Ruth know that our patient’s care matters above everything else, not what religion they practice.

Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses

As the Vice President of Nursing Services, my strengths are that I can hold a training on racial, ethnic, and religious diversity. This training can supplement nurses with the information they need to work in a diverse environment. Nurses need to know that they must treat their patients justly despite their identity. The weaknesses I may face are that the two nurses are very religious themselves. They may not listen to what I have to say about religious discrimination because the two nurses try to justify their act by saying, “She did the right thing. We don’t have to pray with witches. They worship Satan. It’s blasphemy. What’s next? Human sacrifice?”

Alternatives and Recommended Solution

As a solution for this problem, I will make sure to provide all the nurses working in the hospital with diversity training. It is important that I sit down with the nurses and make it clear that discrimination will not be tolerated while they are working in our hospital. I can also offer every patient visiting the hospital with a survey. The patient can fill out the survey to let us know how they felt about their stay. Nurses who’ve been accused of any sort of discrimination, will have to speak with management. We would keep these incidences of discrimination in a file, and it the dilemma does not change, I would have to begin writing up the nurses. Discrimination would not be tolerated while the patient is in the hospital trying to recover from a medical condition. I would also recommend Penny and Ruth write an official letter of apology to the Wiccan patient before she decides to go to the media. Writing the official letter of apology would be my first recommended solution to Penny and Ruth, so that the patient does not feel unwelcomed to our hospital’s services in the future.

Evaluation

If there are enough surveys to prove that our medical treatment is getting better and there are less patients coming from the patients about discrimination, then I would know that the instances of discrimination have stopped. The goal is to aid in the medical recovery of patients. Patients must also feel welcomed to our hospital services despite their identity. By getting fewer, or even better, no discrimination complaints, I would know that my diversity trainings and meetings have worked.

Case 32: Heck No, I Won’t Go! I’m Not Covering for Free!

On Thursday night Dr. Jones was at home watching television and spending time with his family. The phone rang. The South Shore General Hospital ER physician asked him to see an urgent patient. Dr. Jones replied that he was not on call for the emergency room at South Shore General Hospital, and furthermore, the hospital was paying members of a competing group to cover the emergency room. The emergency room doctor said that he was aware of the arrangement with the competing group. However, the ER could not reach the on-call physician and had tried for some time.

Dr. Jones, who earlier had a glass of wine with dinner, responded, “You’ll have to keep trying. I’m not coming in.”

The next day Dr. Jones called the Chief of Staff and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of South Shore General Hospital and informed them that neither he nor any members of his group would cover the ER unless they were compensated in a similar manner to the competing group and had an appropriate contractor arrangement with the hospital. Dr. Jones asked the Chief of Staff and CMO if they worked for free. Dead silence. “While you’re thinking about that question, let me say this to both of you. Doctors are working harder and longer hours and earning less money every year. Why should we give up our free time and work for nothing when you’re willing to pay the other group?”

CASE WRITE UP (PLEASE INCLUDE DETAILED EXPLANATION AND COMPLETE )

* PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT MY ROLE FOR THIS CASE IS CHEIF MEDICAL OFFICER

- Alternatives and Recommended Solution

- Evaluation

THEIR IS AN EXAMPLE BELOW OF HOW THIS SHOULD LOOK!!!! --- I NEED Alternatives and Recommended Solution & Evaluation part done

Case Write-Up

Background Statement

A Wiccan patient who visited a nondenominational community hospital was discussing her religious beliefs with her primary care nurse, Penny Baker, when suddenly another nurse, Ruth Goose, walked into the conversation and rudely stated, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch amongst you.” The Wiccan nurse felt offended and complained that she was discriminated in the hospital because of her religious beliefs.

Major Problems and Secondary Issues

The major problem is that the two nurses, Penny Baker and Ruth Goose, made the patient feel unwelcomed in the nondenominational community hospital because of her Wiccan religious beliefs. The secondary issues that the nondenominational community hospital may face is that the Wiccan patient is threatening to go to the media. This means that there may be news coverage that your hospital engages in religious discrimination. This may make people, especially Wiccans, look down on your medical services.

Your Role

In this case, I am the Vice President of Nursing Services. As stated in the text, it writes, “You are the Vice President of Nursing Services in a nondenominational community hospital, and you receive a complaint from a patient, who is a Wiccan.” The advantages of this role are that I can sit down with Penny and Ruth to let them know that religious discrimination is not to be tolerated while we are caring for the patients. The disadvantages of this role are that I must decide how I am going to discuss this matter with Penny and Ruth because they’re passionate about being against the Wiccan patient. I need to let Penny and Ruth know that our patient’s care matters above everything else, not what religion they practice.

Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses

As the Vice President of Nursing Services, my strengths are that I can hold a training on racial, ethnic, and religious diversity. This training can supplement nurses with the information they need to work in a diverse environment. Nurses need to know that they must treat their patients justly despite their identity. The weaknesses I may face are that the two nurses are very religious themselves. They may not listen to what I have to say about religious discrimination because the two nurses try to justify their act by saying, “She did the right thing. We don’t have to pray with witches. They worship Satan. It’s blasphemy. What’s next? Human sacrifice?”

Alternatives and Recommended Solution

As a solution for this problem, I will make sure to provide all the nurses working in the hospital with diversity training. It is important that I sit down with the nurses and make it clear that discrimination will not be tolerated while they are working in our hospital. I can also offer every patient visiting the hospital with a survey. The patient can fill out the survey to let us know how they felt about their stay. Nurses who’ve been accused of any sort of discrimination, will have to speak with management. We would keep these incidences of discrimination in a file, and it the dilemma does not change, I would have to begin writing up the nurses. Discrimination would not be tolerated while the patient is in the hospital trying to recover from a medical condition. I would also recommend Penny and Ruth write an official letter of apology to the Wiccan patient before she decides to go to the media. Writing the official letter of apology would be my first recommended solution to Penny and Ruth, so that the patient does not feel unwelcomed to our hospital’s services in the future.

Evaluation

If there are enough surveys to prove that our medical treatment is getting better and there are less patients coming from the patients about discrimination, then I would know that the instances of discrimination have stopped. The goal is to aid in the medical recovery of patients. Patients must also feel welcomed to our hospital services despite their identity. By getting fewer, or even better, no discrimination complaints, I would know that my diversity trainings and meetings have worked.

Case 32: Heck No, I Won’t Go! I’m Not Covering for Free!

On Thursday night Dr. Jones was at home watching television and spending time with his family. The phone rang. The South Shore General Hospital ER physician asked him to see an urgent patient. Dr. Jones replied that he was not on call for the emergency room at South Shore General Hospital, and furthermore, the hospital was paying members of a competing group to cover the emergency room. The emergency room doctor said that he was aware of the arrangement with the competing group. However, the ER could not reach the on-call physician and had tried for some time.

Dr. Jones, who earlier had a glass of wine with dinner, responded, “You’ll have to keep trying. I’m not coming in.”

The next day Dr. Jones called the Chief of Staff and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of South Shore General Hospital and informed them that neither he nor any members of his group would cover the ER unless they were compensated in a similar manner to the competing group and had an appropriate contractor arrangement with the hospital. Dr. Jones asked the Chief of Staff and CMO if they worked for free. Dead silence. “While you’re thinking about that question, let me say this to both of you. Doctors are working harder and longer hours and earning less money every year. Why should we give up our free time and work for nothing when you’re willing to pay the other group?”

CASE WRITE UP (PLEASE INCLUDE DETAILED EXPLANATION AND COMPLETE ALL 6 STEPS)

1 - Write a background statement

2- What are the major problems and secondary issues?

3- Your Role

4- Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses

5- Alternatives and Recommended Solution

6- Evaluation

THEIR IS AN EXAMPLE BELOW OF HOW THIS SHOULD LOOK!!!!

Case Write-Up

Background Statement

A Wiccan patient who visited a nondenominational community hospital was discussing her religious beliefs with her primary care nurse, Penny Baker, when suddenly another nurse, Ruth Goose, walked into the conversation and rudely stated, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch amongst you.” The Wiccan nurse felt offended and complained that she was discriminated in the hospital because of her religious beliefs.

Major Problems and Secondary Issues

The major problem is that the two nurses, Penny Baker and Ruth Goose, made the patient feel unwelcomed in the nondenominational community hospital because of her Wiccan religious beliefs. The secondary issues that the nondenominational community hospital may face is that the Wiccan patient is threatening to go to the media. This means that there may be news coverage that your hospital engages in religious discrimination. This may make people, especially Wiccans, look down on your medical services.

Your Role

In this case, I am the Vice President of Nursing Services. As stated in the text, it writes, “You are the Vice President of Nursing Services in a nondenominational community hospital, and you receive a complaint from a patient, who is a Wiccan.” The advantages of this role are that I can sit down with Penny and Ruth to let them know that religious discrimination is not to be tolerated while we are caring for the patients. The disadvantages of this role are that I must decide how I am going to discuss this matter with Penny and Ruth because they’re passionate about being against the Wiccan patient. I need to let Penny and Ruth know that our patient’s care matters above everything else, not what religion they practice.

Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses

As the Vice President of Nursing Services, my strengths are that I can hold a training on racial, ethnic, and religious diversity. This training can supplement nurses with the information they need to work in a diverse environment. Nurses need to know that they must treat their patients justly despite their identity. The weaknesses I may face are that the two nurses are very religious themselves. They may not listen to what I have to say about religious discrimination because the two nurses try to justify their act by saying, “She did the right thing. We don’t have to pray with witches. They worship Satan. It’s blasphemy. What’s next? Human sacrifice?”

Alternatives and Recommended Solution

As a solution for this problem, I will make sure to provide all the nurses working in the hospital with diversity training. It is important that I sit down with the nurses and make it clear that discrimination will not be tolerated while they are working in our hospital. I can also offer every patient visiting the hospital with a survey. The patient can fill out the survey to let us know how they felt about their stay. Nurses who’ve been accused of any sort of discrimination, will have to speak with management. We would keep these incidences of discrimination in a file, and it the dilemma does not change, I would have to begin writing up the nurses. Discrimination would not be tolerated while the patient is in the hospital trying to recover from a medical condition. I would also recommend Penny and Ruth write an official letter of apology to the Wiccan patient before she decides to go to the media. Writing the official letter of apology would be my first recommended solution to Penny and Ruth, so that the patient does not feel unwelcomed to our hospital’s services in the future.

Evaluation

If there are enough surveys to prove that our medical treatment is getting better and there are less patients coming from the patients about discrimination, then I would know that the instances of discrimination have stopped. The goal is to aid in the medical recovery of patients. Patients must also feel welcomed to our hospital services despite their identity. By getting fewer, or even better, no discrimination complaints, I would know that my diversity trainings and meetings have worked.

Case 63: Pray With Me

You are the Vice President of Nursing Services in a nondenominational community hospital, and you receive a complaint from a patient, who is a Wiccan. The patient and her primary care nurse, Penny Baker, were discussing her religious practices and how she prays, when another nurse, Ruth Goose, walked into the room, stated, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch amongst you,” and told Penny not to discuss the “satanic religion” with the patient any more. The patient demands an apology and threatens to go to the media. She feels she has been discriminated against because she is a Wiccan and that her patient care experience was poor during her hospitalization because of her spiritual beliefs. You convene a meeting with Penny and her immediate supervisor, Ruth Goose.

Ruth Goose is wearing a large gold cross on her neck. Penny wears no jewelry and is dressed in her blue scrubs. When you ask Penny what happened, Ruth answers for her. “She did the right thing. We don’t have to pray with witches. They worship Satan. It’s blasphemy. What’s next? Human sacrifice?” Penny can’t get a word in edgewise. Ruth keeps repeating “Thou shalt not suffer a witch amongst you, it says so in Leviticus!”

What should you do?

USE INFORMATION FROM CASE TO DO A WRITE UP (PLEASE INCLUDE DETAILED EXPLANATION AND COMPLETE ALL 6 STEPS)

1 - Write a background statement

2- What are the major problems and secondary issues?

3- Your Role

4- Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses

5- Alternatives and Recommended Solution

6- Evaluation

THEIR IS AN EXAMPLE BELOW OF HOW THIS SHOULD LOOK!!!!

Case Write-Up

Background Statement

A Wiccan patient who visited a nondenominational community hospital was discussing her religious beliefs with her primary care nurse, Penny Baker, when suddenly another nurse, Ruth Goose, walked into the conversation and rudely stated, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch amongst you.” The Wiccan nurse felt offended and complained that she was discriminated in the hospital because of her religious beliefs.

Major Problems and Secondary Issues

The major problem is that the two nurses, Penny Baker and Ruth Goose, made the patient feel unwelcomed in the nondenominational community hospital because of her Wiccan religious beliefs. The secondary issues that the nondenominational community hospital may face is that the Wiccan patient is threatening to go to the media. This means that there may be news coverage that your hospital engages in religious discrimination. This may make people, especially Wiccans, look down on your medical services.

Your Role

In this case, I am the Vice President of Nursing Services. As stated in the text, it writes, “You are the Vice President of Nursing Services in a nondenominational community hospital, and you receive a complaint from a patient, who is a Wiccan.” The advantages of this role are that I can sit down with Penny and Ruth to let them know that religious discrimination is not to be tolerated while we are caring for the patients. The disadvantages of this role are that I must decide how I am going to discuss this matter with Penny and Ruth because they’re passionate about being against the Wiccan patient. I need to let Penny and Ruth know that our patient’s care matters above everything else, not what religion they practice.

Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses

As the Vice President of Nursing Services, my strengths are that I can hold a training on racial, ethnic, and religious diversity. This training can supplement nurses with the information they need to work in a diverse environment. Nurses need to know that they must treat their patients justly despite their identity. The weaknesses I may face are that the two nurses are very religious themselves. They may not listen to what I have to say about religious discrimination because the two nurses try to justify their act by saying, “She did the right thing. We don’t have to pray with witches. They worship Satan. It’s blasphemy. What’s next? Human sacrifice?”

Alternatives and Recommended Solution

As a solution for this problem, I will make sure to provide all the nurses working in the hospital with diversity training. It is important that I sit down with the nurses and make it clear that discrimination will not be tolerated while they are working in our hospital. I can also offer every patient visiting the hospital with a survey. The patient can fill out the survey to let us know how they felt about their stay. Nurses who’ve been accused of any sort of discrimination, will have to speak with management. We would keep these incidences of discrimination in a file, and it the dilemma does not change, I would have to begin writing up the nurses. Discrimination would not be tolerated while the patient is in the hospital trying to recover from a medical condition. I would also recommend Penny and Ruth write an official letter of apology to the Wiccan patient before she decides to go to the media. Writing the official letter of apology would be my first recommended solution to Penny and Ruth, so that the patient does not feel unwelcomed to our hospital’s services in the future.

Evaluation

If there are enough surveys to prove that our medical treatment is getting better and there are less patients coming from the patients about discrimination, then I would know that the instances of discrimination have stopped. The goal is to aid in the medical recovery of patients. Patients must also feel welcomed to our hospital services despite their identity. By getting fewer, or even better, no discrimination complaints, I would know that my diversity trainings and meetings have worked.

Case 2 - Changing Physician Credentialing

You are the Chairperson of the Department of Surgery and you attend the quality committee meetings. You do not have a vote on the quality committee because you need to carry out the recommendations of that committee. The committee is reviewing several cases of Dr. Monitor, one of the busiest surgeons on staff. These cases have had bad outcomes and the committee is concerned about Dr. Monitor’s surgical judgment. When each case is reviewed individually, it appears the issues are minor. However, upon detailed review of many of Dr. Monitor’s cases, a devastating pattern of events has emerged and the committee feels his practice patterns are not safe for the patients at this hospital. The committee has several choices; all choices are, however, only recommendations to you, the department Chairperson. The surgeon under scrutiny is not known to be arrogant or malicious and is, in fact, well liked. When you discuss these events with the partners in his practice, you find they are also concerned about Dr. Monitor’s practice patterns. You ask the committee to hold off on a recommendation giving you the opportunity to discuss the situation with the surgeon. After a very open discussion with Dr. Monitor and one of his partners, the Division Chief, you ask Dr. Monitor to voluntarily give up his privileges to perform the procedures that are in question. After being informed that he can only assist one of his partners in the procedures of concern, Dr. Monitor cordially agrees to comply with this recommendation. At the next quality committee meeting, you announce Dr. Monitor has volunteered to reduce his privileges.

CASE WRITE UP

1 - Write a background statement

2- What are the major problems and secondary issues?

3- Your Role

4- Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses

5- Alternatives and Recommended Solution

6- Evaluation

THEIR IS AN EXAMPLE BELOW OF HOW THIS SHOULD LOOK!!!!

Case Write-Up

Background Statement

A Wiccan patient who visited a nondenominational community hospital was discussing her religious beliefs with her primary care nurse, Penny Baker, when suddenly another nurse, Ruth Goose, walked into the conversation and rudely stated, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch amongst you.” The Wiccan nurse felt offended and complained that she was discriminated in the hospital because of her religious beliefs.

Major Problems and Secondary Issues

The major problem is that the two nurses, Penny Baker and Ruth Goose, made the patient feel unwelcomed in the nondenominational community hospital because of her Wiccan religious beliefs. The secondary issues that the nondenominational community hospital may face is that the Wiccan patient is threatening to go to the media. This means that there may be news coverage that your hospital engages in religious discrimination. This may make people, especially Wiccans, look down on your medical services.

Your Role

In this case, I am the Vice President of Nursing Services. As stated in the text, it writes, “You are the Vice President of Nursing Services in a nondenominational community hospital, and you receive a complaint from a patient, who is a Wiccan.” The advantages of this role are that I can sit down with Penny and Ruth to let them know that religious discrimination is not to be tolerated while we are caring for the patients. The disadvantages of this role are that I must decide how I am going to discuss this matter with Penny and Ruth because they’re passionate about being against the Wiccan patient. I need to let Penny and Ruth know that our patient’s care matters above everything else, not what religion they practice.

Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses

As the Vice President of Nursing Services, my strengths are that I can hold a training on racial, ethnic, and religious diversity. This training can supplement nurses with the information they need to work in a diverse environment. Nurses need to know that they must treat their patients justly despite their identity. The weaknesses I may face are that the two nurses are very religious themselves. They may not listen to what I have to say about religious discrimination because the two nurses try to justify their act by saying, “She did the right thing. We don’t have to pray with witches. They worship Satan. It’s blasphemy. What’s next? Human sacrifice?”

Alternatives and Recommended Solution

As a solution for this problem, I will make sure to provide all the nurses working in the hospital with diversity training. It is important that I sit down with the nurses and make it clear that discrimination will not be tolerated while they are working in our hospital. I can also offer every patient visiting the hospital with a survey. The patient can fill out the survey to let us know how they felt about their stay. Nurses who’ve been accused of any sort of discrimination, will have to speak with management. We would keep these incidences of discrimination in a file, and it the dilemma does not change, I would have to begin writing up the nurses. Discrimination would not be tolerated while the patient is in the hospital trying to recover from a medical condition. I would also recommend Penny and Ruth write an official letter of apology to the Wiccan patient before she decides to go to the media. Writing the official letter of apology would be my first recommended solution to Penny and Ruth, so that the patient does not feel unwelcomed to our hospital’s services in the future.

Evaluation

If there are enough surveys to prove that our medical treatment is getting better and there are less patients coming from the patients about discrimination, then I would know that the instances of discrimination have stopped. The goal is to aid in the medical recovery of patients. Patients must also feel welcomed to our hospital services despite their identity. By getting fewer, or even better, no discrimination complaints, I would know that my diversity trainings and meetings have worked.

“So much Fake News. Never been more voluminous or more inaccurate,” tweeted President Trump. A database of Trump remarks contains 320 references to fake news, named as term of the year in 2017. Leading news channels are not immune, for example in 2016 a story claiming HH Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nayhan had chanted a Hindu prayer went viral in India and was tweeted by main news channels. Fake news has been blamed for causing tension between countries, for example the Deputy Chairman of Dubai Police blamed Al Jazeera for deepening the crisis between Qatar and the UAE. Fake news has also resulted in tighter regulation of social media, and is now seen as a threat to democracy and free debate.

Historically, political interests have always misrepresented facts, but the identification, categorization and concept of fake news has become more complex and challenging. One team of students from Berkeley identified four classifications; clickbait, propaganda, commentary and humour and built a tool www.classify.news which scores the truth of information based on its URL. Their site claims 84% accuracy but the sample is based on only 5000 articles. IBM tested a prototype Question Answering Machine (QAM) called Watson to separate fact from fiction, and Google funded a fact checking operation called Full Fact to develop an automated fact-checking system. However, the successful implementation of fact checking models requires a constantly updated corpus of knowledge which is verified.

There are different data science architectures to check facts. The traditional NLP method of fake news detection is used by Thomson Reuters, a trusted global news source. Tracer News is a sensitive algorithmically driven system which filters news stories and social feeds for truth, and assigns a veracity score. It’s claimed to be 84% accurate, and with a sample of 5 tweets the system achieves 78% accuracy on distinguishing rumour and fact.

Research has shown that tweets containing false news spread faster and wider on Twitter than those with valid news. One estimate claims that in the month before the 2016 US election people read up to 3 articles of fake news. How this may possibly effect our attitudes is unknown, and psychologists have taken an interest in fake news. The Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) was used to measure the ability to think analytically and consequently to predict people who can distinguish fake news from real news. Research has shown that if people agree with a message then they are more likely to believe it.

Social platforms such as Facebook are attempting to crack down on fake news in response to pressure. Facebook was accused of publishing fake posts using the name Lewis, who is a financial expert. Many people were thereby scammed to trust a financial product. Lewis pursued legal action to force social media to change their policy on advertising and be liable for hosting scams. Facebook are now playing an editorial role by changing the way News Feed functions. CEO Zuckerberg commented that sensationalism, misinformation and polarization are too common.

Countries such as Malaysia are making fake news punishable with up to 10 years in prison in an effort to protect national security. The law penalizes those who create, offer, circulate, print or publish fake news, which is defined as “any news, information, data and reports which is, or are, wholly or partly false whether in the form of features, visuals or audio recordings or in any other form capable of suggesting words or ideas”. Opponents call this an attack on freedom of speech and fear the new law could be used to penalize critical attacks on the government.

Human fact checkers are a rigorous and expensive way to combat fake news. A simple claim could take hours to verify and the manpower required could be considerable. If the responsibility lies with algorithms, false positives and negatives could lead to the suppression of a news story. In the UAE, the Youth Media Council is playing a role in the UAE’s strategy of developing the media sector and verifying credible from fake news. In a Dubai competition the winners research had explored a fake news incident whereby students’ names were spread on social media as soldiers who had died. Workshops to educate and teach young people skills to identify fake news were suggested.

Technology has enabled anyone to create news and for that news to go viral. The success of the message is not reliant on the truth of the contents, and there is too much information to validate. Many questions are raised about the effects of tagging news as fake, susceptibility to fake news, is fake news more real if its viral, and how to identify fake news. How can we create and sustain a global culture which promotes and values truth? What indeed is the truth of an event when multiple perspectives of the same event can hold truth.

1. What is/are the problem/problems here? Is there an underlying fundamental problem?
2. Who are the major stakeholders and what are their perspectives?
3. What are the major ethical, legal, and security aspects associated with the problem.
4. What are the intended and unintended consequences of existing computing solutions? Consider the consequences on individuals, organizations and society within local and global contexts
5. What recommendations would you propose that will lead to potential solutions.

Voluntary export restraints provide for rich interplay between economics and politics. Let's look at two examples. In the first, the United States forced one key exporter, Japan, to limit its exports of automobiles. In the second, a small VER, again between the United States and Japan, grew to become a wide-ranging set of export limits that covered many textile and clothing products, involved many countries, and lasted for decades.

TEXTILES AND CLOTHING: A MONSTER

In 1955, a monster was born. In the face of rising imports from Japan, the U.S. government convinced the Japanese government to “voluntarily” limit Japan's exports of cotton fabric and clothing to the United States. In the late 1950s, Britain followed by compelling India and Pakistan to impose VERs on their clothing and textile exports to Britain. The VERs were initially justified as “temporary” restraints in response to protectionist pleas from import-competing firms that they needed time to adjust to rising foreign competition. But the monster kept growing.

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The 1961 Short-Term Arrangement led to the 1962 Long-Term Arrangement. In 1974, the Multifibre Arrangement extended the scheme to include most types of textiles and clothing. The trade policy monster became huge. A large and rising number of VERs, negotiated country by country and product by product, limited exports by developing countries to industrialized countries (and to a number of other developing countries).

The monster even had its own growth dynamic. A VER is, in effect, a cartel among the exporting firms. As they raise their prices, the profit opportunity attracts other, initially unconstrained suppliers. Production of textiles and clothing for export spread to countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, and Turkmenistan. As these countries became successful exporters, the importing countries pressured them to enact VERs to limit their disruption to the managed trade.

The developing countries that were constrained by these VERs pushed hard during the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations to bring this trade back within the normal WTO rules (no quantitative limits, and any tariffs to apply equally to all countries—most favored nation treatment, rather than bilateral restrictions). The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing came into force in 1995 and provided for a 10-year period during which all quotas in this sector would be ended. On January 1, 2005, after almost a half century of life, the monster mostly died.

We say “mostly” because for a few more years a small piece of the monster lived on. As part of its accession agreement to the World Trade Organization, China accepted that other countries could impose China-specific “safeguards” if its rising exports of textiles or clothing harmed import-competing producers. As the United States phased out VERs, the U.S. government imposed such safeguards on some imports from China. By late 2005 a comprehensive agreement limited imports of 22 types of products from China. Similarly, the European Union imposed safeguard limits on imports from China on 10 types of products. Then, the monster finally took its last breaths. The EU limits expired at the end of 2007 and the U.S. limits expired at the end of 2008. (Still, we do not have free trade in textiles and clothing because many countries continue to have relatively high import tariffs in this sector. But the web of VERs has ended.)

Consumers are the big winners from the liberalization. Prices generally fell by 10 to 40 percent when the VERs ended. Another set of winners is countries, including China, India, and Bangladesh, that have strong comparative advantage in textiles and clothing but whose production and exports had been severely constrained by the VERs. On the other side, with rising imports, textile and clothing firms and workers in the United States and other industrialized countries have been harmed. Another set of losers is those developing countries, apparently including Korea and Taiwan, that do not have comparative advantage in textile and clothing production but that had become producers and exporters of textiles and clothing because the VERs had severely restricted the truly competitive countries. (This shows another type of global production inefficiency that resulted from the VERs.) These uncompetitive countries lost the VER rents that they had been receiving, and their industries shrank as those in countries such as China expanded.

Create a convincing case to justify DC's such as the United States and Britain imposing VERS on imported textiles and apparel. On the other hand beyond merely repeating the points already made in the text, make the case as an international economist, that VERS in textiles and apparel have been bad for global welfare.