Case Study You have recently been appointed to the board of a local hospital system. The system has a 150-bed hospital, a small skilled nursing facility, and a home care agency. You bring much-needed expertise to the board in the areas of human resources, compensation, and benefits. You have been in the community for five years and are delighted with the opportunity to provide this service. Unfortunately your work and personal schedules have recently become complicated. You have been promoted in your own organization and are now required to travel at least three times each month. In addition, you are the only child of an aging and increas- ingly frail mother who lives in a neighboring state. It takes you approximately four hours to reach her by car. Since your appointment to the board nine months ago, you have missed one board meeting, participated in one meeting by phone, and attended two board meetings in person. You have found it difficult to make time to prepare thoroughly for the meetings. However, you have made a number of helpful suggestions related to compensation strategy, and you successfully assisted in the search process for a new vice president of human resources. You are concerned that you may not be living up to your responsibilities as a good board member. From your perspective, what key ethical issues are at stake here? What alternatives are open to you? How might you be able to assess your performance in an objec- tive and thoughtful way? What do you think you would ultimately do?