However, those who have serious ethical and moral integrity will generally do what it takes to get a problem corrected, even if they have to lose out personally or professionally to protect the health and welfare of other people under their care. It does not appear that Dr. DoRight did any of that. He determined that following procedure was enough to fulfill his duties, whether or not that procedure resulted in any resolution for the patients.
It would appear that Dr. DoRight followed the deontological argument that one only has to follow the rules to be ethical. For many people, that is an acceptable choice. For others, the rules would not be important and would not have anything to do with whether something was considered to be ethical. With Dr. DoRight, it is not just the possibility that he feels he has done what is ethical, but also possible that he feels as though there is little else he can do. There are more than 5,000 employees and 20,000 patients for which he is responsible, and his influence extends to many different departments. He has to remain accountable to a large number of people both inside and outside of the hospital. Did he forget there was an issue? Did he assume that nothing could be done? Did he assume his supervisors would simply handle it? There is no way to know which of these scenarios is the correct one, or whether there is a different reason entirely.
Perhaps Dr. DoRight has "too much on his plate," so to speak. The large number of people and departments for which he is ultimately responsible can put a severe strain on anyone, and could cause that person to overlook issues or pass them off to others. While that is understandable to a certain degree, illegal procedures go beyond just the deaths of a few patients. While those deaths are tragic, proof that illegal procedures are...
That could devastate the hospital and put many people out of job. It could also stop other patients who had nothing to do with the procedures in question to end up without a place to get care. How close other hospitals are geographically would be a concern for many patients, especially if they are elderly and/or have chronic medical conditions. Dr. DoRight is putting the entire hospital at risk.
Yes, he could say that he did his duty by informing his superiors. However, many others in the community would not feel comfortable with the idea that he allowed patient deaths to continue just because he had told someone else about it and was letting them handle it. While Dr. DoRight has managers in each department that report to him, he still needs to know what is taking place in those departments. Is he getting accurate reports from his managers? Is he getting accurate reports from his higher ups? He appears to be mostly stuck in the middle, and so overworked that he cannot take the time or make the effort in order to determine whether patients are still dying, why that is the case, and why nothing has been done about it.
References
Becker, L.C., & Becker, C.B. (2002). Encyclopedia of Ethics, (2nd ed). New York, NY: Routledge.
Fagothey, a. (2000). Right and Reason. Rockford, IL: Tan Books & Publishers.
Kamm, F.M. (2007). Intricate Ethics: Rights, Responsibilities, and Permissible Harm. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Rachels, J. & Rachels, S. (2012). Chapters 7&8, the utilitarian approach & the debate of utilitarianism." The Elements of Moral Philosophy. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
