The ethics of patient autonomy at faith-based hospitals

¶ … Executive Assistant

Discussion Questions: Let it Pour: My First Assignment as Executive Assistant

The case study of "Let it Pour" portrays an undaunted executive assistant who is determined to make the best of a bad situation on his or her first day of the job. Almost immediately, the new executive assistant is confronted with a problem of a hospital with an escalating death rate. The media alleges that there are tens of thousands of deaths that could have been prevented through more vigilant medical intervention. But the problem at this faith-based hospital is not incompetence. In most of the cases, patients wish to do and health care providers are trying to ensure that the patient's wishes are carried out. But the 'right to die' is a theologically controversial issue and could impact the organization's ability to raise funds.

This places the central figure of the case study in a bit of a quandary, as on the first day of the job, he or she is faced with an issue of longstanding organizational policy regarding the hospital's ethics, beliefs, oaths, and how they might or might conflict with the laws of the land. Also, overall organizational costs have increased as well. Thus, two central questions must be answered. First of all, what is the hospital's ethical policy on a patient's right to die? How can the policy be rectified so that it is coherent with the law and with the director's policies? The assistant cannot alone determine this statement, but can demand that the rights of the patient to refuse or accept treatment for their own physical persons and their children be clearly stated by some organizational manifesto. If there is a coherent organizational policy that the hospital can hereafter adhere to, then patients will have some idea what they are 'getting into' before coming to the hospital, and the board of directors can have some say as to the overall hospital policy.