Ethical Issues: The Case Of The American Red Cross

Financial reporting practices and ethics have manifested an ocean of literature. This has mainly come from organization theorists that address accounting practices. These theorists and professionals have given fresh accountability measures. Their ideals give this industry the tools needed to survive, grow and prosper. The way an organization prepares and reports its financial information and handles its daily operations is in essence financial practices, and in the way it accomplishes this reveals their ethical standards to which they adhere to. This paper will discuss the financial practices, ethical standards, and

In the late summer of August 2005 the Gulf Coast was preparing for a hurricane that no one ever imagined would be such a detriment to the beloved town of New Orleans, LA. Hurricane Katrina was a category five hurricane, according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. On August 29, 2005 Katrina made land fall as a category three hurricane with wind speeds around one hundred and forty miles per hour. Evacuation efforts in the state of Louisiana were non-existent for many families including the local hospitals and nursing homes. The hospitals became shelters for the surrounding nursing home facilities, current patients, the staff, families of the staff, and even pets. One of the most unethical debates from this disaster occurred in a local hospital where patients were given lethal doses of drugs and euthanized by Dr. Anna Pou. The conditions at Memorial Hospital were anything but ideal, but no person is obligated to decide who survives and who perishes.

As aforementioned, the Sarbanes Oxley Act’s requirements reduced fraud and increased corporate governance across both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. That said, the SOX act has, in my opinion, been absolutely effective in regulating ethical behavior among for-profit as well as not-for-profit health organizations. The establishment of this law has contributed greatly to the investigations of fraud among health care organizations. According to attorneys at Post and Schell, several federal, criminal investigations have been started after the law’s enactment, making it clear that healthcare organizations were within the same scope of corporate governance and would not be immune from the same criminal prosecution. In 2003, United Memorial Hospital in Michigan—a not-for-profit healthcare organization—signed a guilty plea in federal court admitting to fraud for over use of pain management surgical procedures after the death of a patient. Even though sentencing has been deferred, this admittance of and plea agreement contained many of the corporate “not-tos” from the board down. The system of reporting for the hospital, its internal audit investigation, conflict of interest disclosures and response to complaints were all held as objects of interrogation (Levine & Short, 2004).

2001-2006: UWW local associates faced terrible scandals due to corrupt CEO’s and employees who used hundreds of thousands of dollars, which were donated to this charity organization, for their personal use and luxury. Resulting, in mistrust of administrators and workforce of this organization by the public

There are many ethical dilemmas that occur daily in our hospitals across the world. Not everyone agrees with standards and policies that are required in hospitals or even with the law. If not everyone obeys the law, ethical cases form. In Springfield, Missouri, a holistic nurse got fired for fighting against Cox South hospital policies. Carla Brock has been a nurse at Cox South hospital and not only refused the flu shot, but also refused to wear a mask. She refused due to religious beliefs, she gets short of breath while wearing the mask, and she feels the mask is meant to intimidate and humiliate those who refuse the shot. The ethical question in this case study is to decide if Carla should have been fired for not wearing a mask after refusing the flu shot and what are other potential proposals. The four-way method will separate out what are the truths, consequences, fairness, and character, of this ethical case study.

When people don't obey the code of ethics it can tarnish their representative's as well as the group's or organization's reputations. This can diminish their standing in the community and have an unhealthy affect on business and sales

Discuss: Laws are set rules that may help guide our conduct but they do not always agree. Some ethical issues are not legally required, but ethically warranted. We have recently seen a prime example of someone standing by their ethics, but breaking the law in the recent case of the Kentucky woman refusing to provide a certificate of marriage to a gay couple. There is a connection between ethical behavior within an organization and its chances of long-term survivability. Any unethical issues will come to light at some point and they will destroy the company. Although some unethical behaviors may not be unlawful, they can destroy a brand. Kathy Lee Gifford did not do anything illegal by allowing children in other country to sew her clothing

Without a good example from upper management it is hard for other employees and volunteers to set a good example. Another ethical problem in the Red Cross is embezzlement and theft of Red Cross Funds. Employees and volunteers are given no ethics training, therefore there is no way of knowing which employees have the same morals and values as the

Nutritional well-being plays an essential role in the overall health, independence, and quality of life of older persons as well as disabled persons. This nation has a responsibility to at risk populations such as the elderly. Today, there are close to 6 million seniors in the United States facing the threat of hunger. Some of these citizens were raised during the Great Depression, they went on to protect our independence in the Second World War and won the cold war. America's older citizens have been called the greatest generation by many. It is morally wrong that the citizens that built this country should suffer starvation in this land of plenty, which they helped to form. Our country

It is only during moral lapses and corporate scandals that interest groups and the broader public ask themselves the fundamental ethical questions, who are the managers of the organization and were they acting with the ethical guidelines. For a long time, the issue of ethics was largely ignored, with organizations focusing on profit maximization. However, this has changed, and much attention is now focused on ethics management by researchers and leaders. The issue of ethics has arisen at a time when public trust on corporate governance is low, and the legitimacy of leadership is being questioned. Leaders are expected to be the source of moral development and ethical guidance to their employees.

Everyday, healthcare professionals are faced with ethical dilemmas in their workplace. These ethical dilemmas need to be addressed in order to provide the best care for the patient. Healthcare professionals have to weigh their own personal beliefs, professional beliefs, ethical understandings, and several other factors to decide what the best care for their patient might be. This is illustrated in Mrs. Smith’s case. Mrs. Smith is an 85 year old who has suffered from a large stroke that extends to both of her brains hemispheres which has left her unconscious. She only has some brain stem reflexes and requires a ventilator for support. She is unable to communicate how she wishes to proceed with her healthcare. Mrs. Smith’s children, Sara and Frank have different views regarding their mother’s plan of care. The decision that needs to be made is whether to prolong Mrs. Smith’s life, as Sara would like to do, or stop all treatments and care, as Frank feels his mother would want. In the healthcare field, there are situations similar to this case that happen daily where moral and ethical judgment is necessary to guide the decision that would be best for the patient. The purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss, compare and contrast the personal and professional values, ethical principles, and legal issues regarding Mrs. Smith’s quality of life and further plan of care.

Many of the reasons for the American Red Cross' ethical dilemmas was because of their untruthful presidents and CEOs as well as some of their employees' greed. Many of the ARC's staff were greedy and were only concerned about padding their own pockets and not about the welfare of others and this is one of the biggest reasons for the ARC's ethical dilemmas. Also, the organization had to many people that were not looking out for the welfare of the company as a whole. Another reason for the dilemmas of the ARC is because they did not have to account for their actions and did not have to report to someone who would hold each and every one of them accountable (www.citizen.org). The company should have all of their members held to the highest standard possible in ethics and values when they are hired and randomly throughout one's employment. Not just anyone can work for an organization like American Red Cross, but it has to be someone that holds themselves at high standards, both

Ethical and legal obligations apply to all members of society. As one in society, the obligation to act in an ethical, law abiding manner on a daily basis is vital to the integrity of daily life. Many professions have their own code of ethics. Financial reporting is not exempt from such ethical and legal standards. One’s lively hood depends on decisions made in the business world. Business transactions are done daily and can impact one’s economic stability. Trust is placed in the hands of corporate America and an obligation of financial reporting to reveal a complete honest and legal picture of an entity’s accounting practices is important in attaining trust. This paper will discuss the obligations of

Businesses, investors, creditors rely on accounting ethics. The accounting profession requires honesty, consistency with industry standards, and compliance with laws and regulations. The ethics increase the responsibility and integrity of accounting professionals, and public trust. The ethical requirements influence the management behavior and decision-making. The financial scandal of Enron and Arthur Anderson demonstrates the failure of fundamental ethical framework, such as off-balance sheet transactions, misrepresentation of financial statements, inaccurate disclosure, manipulations with earnings, etc. The confronted accounting profession and concern for ethics in businesses forced regulators to revise the conceptual framework of accounting processes.

There is a fine line between what is ethically right or wrong with an action committed by an organization. According to Audi, “sometimes ethics is compromised without dishonesty but by deficiencies in clarity or candor or both” (Audi, 2009). Being dishonest and not telling the entire truth are examples of ethical dilemmas.