Legal and ethical issues in healthcare organizational strategy

¶ … problematic for a variety of health care organizations. One reason why this is occurring is because, many facilities have become overwhelmed with patients and are starting to face various ethical / legal challenges. A good example of this can be seen at Massachusetts General Hospital. Despite, being ranked as one of the top health care facilities by U.S. News and World Reports, they have been seeing an increase in the number of medical related errors. ("Massachusetts General Hospital," 2011) Recent evidence of this occurred, when the staff gave a 76-year-old patient the wrong medication resulting in her death. At which point, the family would file a law suit against the facility for negligence. This is troubling, because it is highlighting the legal and ethical challenges that a number of health care organizations are dealing with. (Valencia, 2011)

In the case of California Hospital Medical Center, they have been facing a number of their own problems. Some of the most notable include: a lack of attention / follow up and negligence by many staff members. This is troubling, because if left unaddressed these factors could eat away at the reputation of the facility and their underlying profit margins. Once this takes place, it means that the odds increase that they will begin to see the total amount of mistakes rise exponentially. This could lead to negative perceptions and it can increase the costs for medical malpractice insurance. Unless some kind of drastic action is taken, this will lead a number of challenges down the road. To fully understand how this is occurring requires: examining the issues affecting the facility and the possible strategies for addressing them. Once this takes place, it will provide the greatest insights as to the underlying challenges facing the hospital and how they can be effectively mitigated.

The Legal and Ethical Issues Affecting California Hospital Medical Center

Like what was stated previously, it is: the lack of attention / follow up and the amount negligence of many staff members that are hurting the facility over the long-term. What has been happening is the management of facility has been showing a lack of leadership in these areas. As, they have been seen as very bureaucratic and wasteful. This is troubling, because it means that the staff will follow the same philosophy that managers are using on a daily basis. This has caused many employees to have a sense of indifference about the patients that they are serving and their well being. Over the course of time, this can lead to a loss of favorable perceptions of the facility in the community. At which point, a number of patients will begin to go to other hospitals in the region. Given the large amounts of competitors, this is currently taking place with: select departments seeing declining quality of services that are being provided. Once this occurs, it means that it is only a matter of time until these kinds of issues will become a major problem for California Hospital Memorial Medical Center.

As a result, the facility is beginning to be affected by these issues. This has been causing the underlying costs and concerns of misappropriation to increase dramatically. At which point, many staffers have begun to leave and administrators are unaware of the problems impacting the hospital. Therefore, some kind of drastic actions must be taken to address these legal and ethical issues. Otherwise, it is only a matter of time until these problems are brought to the forefront and the reputation of California Hospital Memorial Medical Center will suffer.

Possible Strategies for Addressing Legal and Ethical Issues

Several possible strategies for addressing these issues include: emphasizing the quality of care, developing joint ventures with physicians / health care organizations and having doctors play a critical role in establishing policies / procedures. Emphasizing the quality of care is when you are creating various programs that will encourage staff to go the extra mile for patients. This will help to deal with the lack of follow up and negligence by actively targeting the problem. (Brown, 1992, pp. 18 -- 23)

Developing joint ventures is when you are reaching out to physicians groups and other health care organizations (to include competitors). The idea is to create partnerships to: reduce costs and improve the quality of care that is being received. If California Hospital Memorial Medical Center can form some kind of partnership with these organizations; they will be able to: enhance the quality of care and provide a wide range of services. (Brown, 1992, pp. 18 -- 23)