Hello everyone, I took a slightly different approach to what I normally would, and tried to apply what we learned this week in my hypothetical response to the scenario in my role as Hospital Administrator, while executing the prompt of the assignment. I hope you enjoy it.

Statement from the Administrator (A self-critique of legal and ethical concepts):

Recently, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a verdict against Charleston Community Hospital to compensate damages to a young man, Mr. Darling, who suffered a sports-related injury that ultimately led to the amputation of one of his lower extremities. The controversy has been greatly publicized, and in the midst of its recent settlement I wish to address our local community directly.

Ethically, our hospital must own up to our responsibility to Mr. Darling's unfortunate patient outcome. It was ultimately decided by the Illinois Supreme Court that, had our facility met the standards inherent to the Joint Commission accreditation and under the Illinois Department of Public Health under the Hospital Licensing Act, Mr. Darling's leg might have been saved. As such, the hospital deeply expresses our apologies to Mr. Darling and his family, and we pledge to the entire community to remedy the shortcomings that led to this outcome. We strive to be Charleston's trusted hospital and believe that open and honest communication is the only way to achieve this status. (Pozgar, 2014).

Our hospital failed to staff an adequate amount of adequately trained providers to tend to all patients at our time. While we must respect the privacy of Mr. Darling's treatment within our hospital, I can admit that our staffing shortage, and inadequate training, resulted in a costly delay in the proper care of his extremity. Legally, this is a failure of one of the standards set forth in our accreditation of a Joint Commission hospital. When Mr. Darling's condition was not improving, we failed in our duty to up-channel the concerns to hospital administration, and consequently our duty to seek additional consultation. It is in this instance, too, that we failed the standards in our accreditation.

These actions occurred at the hands of our providers, who were gainfully employed by the hospital and acting within their scope at the time of the injuries. As such, our hospital accepts the liability and associated legal consequences for the actions. (Pozgar, 2014).

Our hospital follows a Utilitarian theory of ethics; we believe that our actions should bring usefulness to the most people (Morrison, 2020). We cannot bring back Mr. Darling's leg, but we can help repair his world and also support him in his ambitions moving forward. As such, we are offering Mr. Darling a fitted prosthetic leg and all necessary physical therapy, from the provider of his choice. We will also sponsor his football team, which he now coaches, and offer collegiate scholarships to deserving players in need. These gestures are separate from the legal settlement, and we hope they convey our sincerity in restoring Mr. Darling and the Charleston community for these losses.

Relevance of the ACHE Code of Ethics:

In my assumed role of the hospital administrator, I crafted the above statement to the public in order keeping in mind the ACHE Code of Ethics. I believe that the words and actions above would instill trust and confidence in the public, and also reflects personal integrity and leadership. I also applied Aristotle's theory of ethics, in that simply stating an ethical course of action is not the same as actually performing and practicing sound ethics. (Morrison, 2020).

If I were the hospital executive, I would apply many of the principles from the ACHE Code of Ethics to ensure this does not happen again. We would begin by implementing assessment programs, to continually monitor the training levels of all of our providers and make adjustments as needed. The hospital would also become more supportive in public involvement programs, such as those mentioned in the statement above. Finally, I would work to have a culture in which clinical mistakes, such as this one, are minimized but when they do occur, disclosed and addressed effectively. (ACHE, 2022).

(READ THE ABOVE and ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW)

Which ideas or thoughts did you read that you found interesting or insightful? How did these ideas or thoughts inform your own thinking?

Are there any sections that you think you read that could expound upon? (e.g. "I'd really like to hear more about how you think political corruption is a primary factor in this case.")

Take the role of a corporate VP who is reviewing the case and charged with working with the administration at Charleston Community Memorial Hospital. Evaluate the passage as if it were a report guiding your corrective action plans and future discussions with the administrator.

Recommend several additional thoughts on the legal and ethical considerations provided, that will help guide your corrective action discussion. Fill in the gaps, expand and build on the existing comments.