Speaking to a group as part of a breakout session to medical equipment sales reps last week, one of the attendees (not so timidly) expressed that healthcare ethics was a sick joke. Is healthcare ethics a sick joke? I don’t think so.
In my role as a healthcare industry ethics speaker, healthcare industry ethics consultant and author, I am aware of medical-ethical issues and how they relate to healthcare. In fact, the American Medical Association published a short piece on “humor” and medicine (July 14, 2020), and by the way, did you know there is an organization named the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor? As it turns out, there are fine lines in “being humorous” in clinical settings and medical malpractice.
But as a healthcare ethics keynote speaker and ethics consultant, I know first-hand that just in the past two years, the healthcare industry has been rocked by scandal, fraud, charges of price gouging, elder abuse, illegal opioid sales, bribery, fake vaccination card schemes, billions in Medicare over-billings and numerous HIPAA violations. No wonder there is so much cynicism.
The sick joke is on all of us
When one of our most precious of life’s relationships is violated, the relationship between patient and provider or the relationship between provider and “vendor” and/or healthcare facilities and insurers, every one of us loses.
In the matter of patient and provider, as a healthcare ethics speaker, I routinely touch upon issues around PCC or patient centered care, a manner of ethical healthcare thinking established in the mid-1980s.
Under the banner of PCC, we should have an ongoing system of supporting patient values and desires; the coordination of treatments and support services, free and open communication; physical and mental health support; access to care and the recognition that ethical treatment and considerations should extend to the entire family.
If I take the PCC elements above, and match them to the numerous scandals and frauds perpetrated in real-life, it is obvious that there has been – and continues to be a huge ethical mismatch. The mismatch between what is, and what should be, results in cynicism such as what I heard from that audience member.
Back in 2017 (now ancient times) Forbes magazine did a survey on the cynicism of patients toward healthcare. Of the 2,000 patients surveyed:
“Over half (56%) of Americans said that they feel the U.S. health care system does not work for them. Seventy-three percent said it is in need of reform. Forty-one percent say that the system has gotten worse, not better.”
More seriously, patients felt that the system has been rigged against them, with the true beneficiaries being insurance companies (34% believed that) and pharmaceutical companies (19% believed that). In general, patients felt that in general, healthcare had not been innovative.
These beliefs strike at the heart of ethical behavior (pun intended). If the system is seen as rigged, why wouldn’t providers, equipment manufacturers, pharmaceutical sales reps, clinics and ultimately patients be cynical about the entire, multi-billion-dollar industry?
Is healthcare ethics a sick joke?
As a healthcare ethics speaker and ethics consultant, I would say that healthcare ethics is sick, but it is hardly a joke. To be frank, and somewhat crude, everyone in the system is involved in a circular firing squad. Fingers are finger pointing, and no one wants to take responsibility. I think it is time for a re-set. The entire system is, and was, always built on trust that started with a deep sense of ethics.
The cynicism generated from all corners of the industry is largely due to the fact that ethics and ethical training are often disregarded and, in most cases, not refreshed. Healthcare Industry analysts feel that this loss of ethics is key to begin solving the problem. As a healthcare ethics keynote speaker, I believe it is key as well.
The industry is sick. It needs the kind of help that only ethical training can provide.
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