GeneralPheasantPerson554
Find and identify 10 unethical things that occurred during this…
Find and identify 10 unethical things that occurred during this story. Explain in complete sentences why it is unethical and what should have been done instead (ethical opinion)
Number each one that you identify.
What Were They Thinking?
It was twenty minutes past eight am when Dr. Bushwick pulled into the doctor’s parking lot and eased his Porsche into one of the handicapped spots. He was late for his first consult of the day, and Dr. Mike had taken his parking spot again. The parking problems at St. Swiftens Hospital were legendary, and he felt somewhat badly that he was using a spot for someone who needed it much more, but hey, he WAS the doctor, and he WAS important. Right?
He needed to speak to Dr. Mike about this. It had happened one too many times, but he felt uncomfortable about doing this. Dr. Mike was from some foreign country (who knows where) and had such a thick accent; he didn’t think he would be able to get through to him, and Dr. Mike probably wouldn’t understand him anyways. It would be a waste of time. Fingers crossed he wouldn’t have to park illegally again, but if he did…oh well.
After his first consult (if they had waited for him), he was going to check in on an elderly woman with congestive heart failure whose daughter had been calling him at home. He had complained to his wife about the daughter to let off steam and found out that she was the same lady who taught his own daughter’s yoga class. What a coincidence! They had all shared stories around the dinner table about how she was such a pain in the neck. How funny, and what a small world!
Dr. Bushwick had a full day ahead of him including visiting his obstetrical patients and completing rounds.
He had a bit of a headache and was hung over, even a little bit drunk if he really admitted it, from the last nights’ dinner party with some of his colleagues, so he popped a couple of OxyContin from the dispensary at the hospital into his mouth that were from a patient that had been discharged the day before and the medication had never been given to them. He took a long swig of water. Thank goodness he had them! He still felt a little wobbly, and even his drive to work had been fuzzy.
He then took a minute to gather his thoughts and make a few notes in his date book before getting out of his car. While he was scribbling away, he heard a noise behind his car and glanced into the rear-view mirror just in time to see Dr. Sam an esteemed surgeon and one of his colleagues from dinner last night sideswipe a sleek new Jaguar. Dr. Sam got out, checked the scratch, which was actually a large dent and quickly looked around to see if anyone had witnessed the accident. He then jumped back into his car and quickly drove away. It was obvious he did not realize that Dr. Bushwick had been sitting there all along and had indeed witnessed the accident.
Dr. Bushwick shook his head and laughed to himself. Ha! He must still be drunk too; and didn’t he have brain surgery this morning on a 19-year-old woman? He momentarily considered reporting what he had witnessed to the hospital traffic control officer at the front desk, or even to Dr. Sam himself, but decided it was not his problem. Dr. Sam was going to be fine after a couple of cups of coffee, and he most likely would say something to the person whose car he hit. Wouldn’t he? Oh well, time for work, now he was half an hour late for his first appointment.
But, instead of rushing to his appointment, he decided to go to the Starbucks across the street to get a coffee before heading up to see his patients. Their coffee was much better than the hospital’s. Waiting in line at Starbucks he saw that a woman two ahead of him in line was giving the barista a very hard time. Then the woman began yelling obscenities and calling the barista racist names because her latte order was not correct. No one came to the barista’s aid and she was shaken and visibly upset. Dr. Bushwick suddenly realized that although the woman was rude and ignorant, she was also the daughter of the elderly patient with congestive heart failure that he was going to see that morning. He decided it was best not to do anything even though her behavior was unacceptable. He pretended to look busy with his phone so that he would not have to get involved and have the woman recognize him.
Unfortunately, she did see him, and started complaining to him about the service she had received and how stupid the barista was. Dr. Bushwick just smiled and nodded, agreeing with her non-verbally. He actually didn’t agree, but thought he better just go along with her racist rant to not rock the boat later when he saw her and her mother at the hospital. He finally was able to get his coffee and leave.
Once in the hospital he double-checked on his patient room numbers with the receptionist at the front desk. Her name was Suzy, and she had worked at the hospital for quite a few years. She was eating a large breakfast sandwich, which smelled delicious. Dr. Bushwick thought I could really go for one of those. He noticed that she has several patient files spread out on the desk and had been leaving them open for the entire world to see. She was also playing a game of solitaire on the computer, and some of her breakfast had oozed on the computer keys and on to the patient files causing quite a mess. Lots of multitasking going on Dr. Bushwick thought to himself.
He asked her if his first consult for today was still waiting, and Suzy told him that no, they had left in a huff, mumbling something about making a complaint on wait times. They both shrugged and Dr. Bushwick asked her to please put the phones on to night service and run to the cafeteria to get him one of those delicious sandwiches. His hangover was craving some carbs and grease.
He then hurried to the elevators and waited with several other people. Once the elevator arrived, he stepped on and pressed the 10th floor where his elderly patient and her irritating, racist daughter waited. The elevator stopped at the second floor where the intensive care units were located. Several people got on including an intern and a respiratory technologist. It was apparent from their conversation that they had just come from a cardiac arrest that had resulted in the patients’ death.
“You’re getting pretty good at that intubation stuff.” The technologist said to the intern.
“Well, when I can’t bring them back, I get to practice a few times. That way, the next time hopefully I won’t screw it up. They call code on so many of the geezers around here that I get lots of practice.” They both loudly laughed and high fived each other.
The elevator stopped at the 10th floor and they got off. As they went down the hall, Dr. Bushwick followed behind them until he reached his patients’ room. Thankfully, he had a relatively quick and uneventful visit with his elderly patient while the daughter sipped her latte and stared out the window.
He then headed downstairs to the obstetrical floor where the atmosphere was generally a happy and fun one. The nurses’ station was filled with people for the early morning rounds that included doctors, nurses a patient education coordinator, a social worker, physiotherapist and a pharmacist. This floor truly believed in a team approach in the care of patients. As he walked up to the station, he overheard a conversation amongst the group of them.
“I think we should be doing everything we can to encourage her to maintain the pregnancy so that the baby can be used as an organ donor,” said one of the nurses. Several nodded in agreement.
I’m not even sure I agree,” said another.
The social worker chimed in, “I can tell you I wouldn’t want to be walking around knowing I was carrying a deformed baby. Just imagine what it would do to your mind. I would go crazy. It wouldn’t matter one bit to me that another child might benefit from my babies’ organs. I would be a basket case the rest of my life.”
Such a lively conversation, with so many opinions thought Dr. Bushwick to himself. He saw that several family members of a patient were sitting not two feet away and could hear everything. Oh well, they didn’t know who they were talking about, did they? Were they related to the patient they had all been discussing? It didn’t matter. Everyone has a right to his or her opinion, and there were so many patients on this floor, they would never guess it was their relative, right?
Dr. Bushwick quickly reviewed the charts of his new mothers and was grateful to see that they had all had normal deliveries with normal outcomes. Just before seeing them, his next stop would be the nursery. On his way, he went by Suzy’s desk and grabbed the sandwich she had bought him. He didn’t have any money on him. Ah, she was well paid, what was $10 to her? A drop in the bucket. He greedily wolfed it down and headed to the nursery.
“Good morning, Dr. Bushwick,” the charge nurse greeted him. “Are you going to do the circumcision on Baby Jones? Dr. Fence could not talk her out of it. He tried very hard, but the mother wouldn’t hear of it. Imagine putting your baby through so much pain. Crazy ideas some people have. I guess you are stuck doing it.”
Dr. Fence was one of his partners and this would not be the first time that Dr. Bushwick had done a circumcision on one of his patients. Dr. Fence believed them to be unnecessary surgery and refused to do them anymore. Dr. Bushwick always told his patients that it was the proper thing to do- his own sons even had it done so he knew what he was talking about. People are so ignorant, ignoring the right thing to do for their own flesh and blood. He ignored the charge nurses’ comments and went to see his new mothers.
At the end of his day, Dr. Bushwick headed to the dispensary to snag a couple more pills (Percocet this time, they were his favorite), He told the pharmacist they were for his patient who had just come out of surgery, and he was doing the head nurse a favor by picking them up since he would be ordering them anyways. His headache had just started to go away, so he was ready to go out and enjoy an evening of drinking and playing pool with his brother-in-law. Just had to make sure in case he woke up drunk like the last time they partied, having the Percocet readily available would be a huge help. He had an early meeting with a terminally ill patient and her family and didn’t want to be too out of it.
On his way out of the hospital, he heard a commotion. A group of people were gathered around two doctors, one of them being his colleague, Dr. Sam. The people were screaming at him and crying. Dr. Sam walked away when the hospital’s patient relations team and some other officials approached the people. Dr. Bushwick could hear the words, “Lawsuit, daughter, he was so out of it”, and knew immediately that Dr. Sam had killed the 19-year-old that he operated on that morning. Would they find out Dr. Sam had been drinking and was still under the influence? He would never tell that’s for sure.
As he drove home that night, Dr. Bushwick was grateful that his day went so smoothly. He didn’t meet up with any ethical dilemmas in his day, not like Dr. Sam. Actually, he hardly ever had to deal with them… he always made the right decisions.
There is no question that despite Dr. Bushwick’s perception, he did indeed witness or participate in many ethical dilemmas. To think that he did not encounter any is a very dangerous mistake for a health professional to make.
