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)

When you are having doctors playing a critical role in establishing policies and procedures they are serving in positions of authority. This means the facility will...

This will help to establish policies that reflect the realities of the industry. At the same time, they can provide a unique perspective about: alternative equipment choices, the best medical practices and they can serve as a liaison to the staff. This will help to make the hospital more responsive to the demands of patients. As, employees are: given greater amounts of flexibility, which will translate into better treatment options. Over the long-term, this will have a positive impact upon the image of the facility. (Brown, 1992, pp. 18 -- 23)
Clearly, the biggest ethical / legal challenges facing California Hospital Memorial Medical Center is: a lack of attention / follow up and negligence by many staff members. To deal with these issues, it is recommended that drastic changes are made including: emphasizing the quality of care, developing joint ventures with physicians / health care organizations and having doctors play a critical role in establishing policies / procedures. If these proposals can be enacted they will help to improve the quality of care that is being provided and reduce the number of mistakes. This will effectively mitigate the various legal and ethical challenges that the hospital is dealing with.

Bibliography

Massachusetts General Hospital. (2011). U.S. News and World Reports. Retrieved from: http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/Massachusetts-general-hospital-6140430

Brown, M. (1992). Physicians and Management in Health Care. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen Publishers.

Valencia, M. (2011). MGH Faces Suit. Lubin and Meyer. Retrieved from: http://www.lubinandmeyer.com/news/mgh_medication_error.html