Ethical dilemmas and conflict of interest at Massachusetts General Hospital Boston

Did you know Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston is ranked top five of the best hospitals in the United States? Therefore, they are expected to serve their patients diligently while maintaining and strengthening their trust and confidence as they undertake their treatment. The healthcare workers are expected to demonstrate the highest standard of professional competence, efficiency, and effectiveness between themselves and the patients. Massachusetts General Hospital is a medical, surgical, and educational facility. Thus the healthcare workers are expected to use their power and resources accredited to them by the hospital management for the patient interest, following the laws and regulations of the hospital. This means that each healthcare worker should be accountable for their decision and be able to justify their decision and actions to the management in case they are faced with a challenging scenario. However, recent reports show that the hospital faces a conflict of interest among its employees. Therefore, this essay examines the causes of conflict of interest in this hospital and the possible ways of resolving them.

The purpose of codes of ethics in the hospital

Every public institution has its ethical code of conduct that governs every employee. Each employee is expected to conduct themselves according to the institutional culture and ethical values; however, some employees have often been criticized for being too abstract to be meaningful in that they question why there should even be a code of ethics in the institution. The major reason for having codes of ethics in the Massachusetts General Hospital is to specify acceptable and unacceptable behaviors of professionalism that each healthcare worker should adhere to (Svara). Besides, this code tells the patients and people out there what they should expect from the hospital. However, the recent report showcases that Massachusetts General Hospital suffers from a conflict of interests whereby some employees have failed to promote ethical decision-making in their duties. As defined by Oxford Dictionary, conflict of interest is any situation that involves two parties; however, their aims are incompatible. For instance, when one of the healthcare workers at Massachusetts General Hospital or a group is in a position to derive personal benefits from the actions made in their official capacity.

Conflict of interest arising from doctor's activities and relationships

The most important duties of healthcare workers are to provide quality and effective care services to their patients and ensure they are comfortable as they undergo their treatment plans. However, to enhance their lifestyle, Massachusetts General Hospital had given them the mandate to participate in many other economic activities. For instance, teaching students in medical centers, supervising doctor's training, or even helping develop and invent new drugs and vaccines. Besides, they need to participate in educational activities to enhance their professional skills (Muth). This has enabled them to create many associations. Furthermore, since they have been given this power to set their standards, it comes with certain tensions. Although the hospital has enhanced numerous ethical goals to ensure doctors are protected with self-interests, privileges, and prerogatives, some healthcare workers have been victimized by being affected by conflict of interests.

The medical practice environment is changing drastically, and healthcare workers responsible for providing patients with care are experiencing reduced autonomy, increased administrative burdens, and declining incomes. Therefore some of the healthcare workers in Massachusetts General Hospital often found themselves in inappropriate clinical practice related to payment arrangements with their patients. This happens in the essence that each method of paying healthcare workers has the potential of putting the physician's primary interest in promoting their patient's best interest practice at odds with a secondary financial interest.

Based on some research, it was concluded that paying healthcare workers for each service they offer motivates them to increase their services, which results in a gradual increase in the funds generated from patients' spending on their treatment plans. This has resulted in appropriate pricing of services being a major concern in that the patients who are not well orientated with how the hospital system operates end up paying for services they are not sure they are supposed to be paying for (Muth). Some healthcare providers have categorized the higher and low levels of reimbursement in that each has to be conducted in different environments; some have to be conducted in hospitals and others from the physician's office. This has promoted conflict of interest among some of the physicians. National surveys indicate that some healthcare workers are overcharging their services, which contributes to higher costs. Therefore, they are advocating that the hospital policy maker needs to revisit the regulations of physician's conflict of interest and consider how their charges for consultation fees should align.

Self-referrals of doctor's conflict of interests

There has a conflict about the dual roles that healthcare professionals have subjected themselves to in that they are serving patients at hospitals and at the same time referring to themselves as business people. This has been a major dilemma not only for Massachusetts General Hospital but also for other healthcare institutions. Furthermore, the practice has been much more intense for the healthcare workers providing outpatient diagnostic services. This has triggered healthcare providers to have divided personalities in that when treating patients at Massachusetts General Hospital; they tend to refer them...…is a lot of competition for some values. For instance, the hospital database where all patient records are kept is being compromised and butted against a viable request for personnel information. This will need the hospital to create a hierarchy of moral values that will have a bigger impact on their final decision. Besides, the hospital management should always consider the aftermath since that earns them a good reputation and makes many people recommend them for their quality services.

On the other side, establishing a code of ethics is vital since it helps the administration think about the problem more dynamically, considering the conflicting responsibilities of the employee, patient, and management. Thus, health workers need to weigh the organizational principle to recall their ethical code to abide by it since it provides a starting point and foundation of the hospital's general work. There are instances when the management is faced with difficult decisions; this requires the organization to apply a strong code of ethics to build a strong framework around the problem to stimulate questions relevant to the issue; thus, resolving it becomes easy (Varady et al.). Besides, some employees are generally ignorant, and enacting a code of ethics in the organization will help them to be morally upright; therefore, resolving the issue based on the institutional code of ethics will act as guidance and prevent the problem from occurring in the future. This will also educate them that the organizational code of ethics should always be respected regardless of the situation.

In conclusion, this study advocated upholding the code of ethics in public institutions. However, there are some healthcare workers who, in one way or the other, fail to uphold such ethical codes; therefore, it aims to create awareness that standards of practice are fundamental to professionalism, and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston expects all its employees to exemplify the code. It is through respecting the organizational code of ethics that will help them make moral judgments. Besides, you might not be the one who has caused the ethical dilemma and could be your colleague, but either way, you are entitled to feel conflicted, so the choice you opt for is the one that matters a lot. So if an ethical dilemma has been created, one must stop and try to identify it, develop a fact-finding mission, and clarify the goal. There might be several options to handle the situation, so brainstorm on the one with more weight, mull the consequences, and develop your ethical decision. Ethical dilemmas could be mentally exhausting; this will need one to find a decision that brings more peace and then stick to…