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Physical Therapist: Ethical Dilemmas

Decent Essays

Given the scenario about the diabetic patient, the obvious ethical situation in what the physical therapist did is essentially steal from the hospital. They gave away inventory without billing the patient, thus shortchanging the hospital financially. Also, another important ethical dilemma is that special treatment was given to one patient that is not given to all. Both of these ethical shortcomings, left unattended, would ultimately lead to employees doing as they wanted and at their own discretion. This could result in detrimental impacts to the hospital's logistics, and even more serious, inconsistent patient treatments. In any professional environment this should not be tolerated, especially in the medical field. To fix this issue, I would take two major steps; the first dealing with the patient and the next dealing with the physical therapist. …show more content…

I would do my best to compassionately explain that what was done was out of hospital protocol and that the items must be billed as they are with everyone else. I would apologize for any inconvenience that this caused but it is policy that every patient be treated equally. That being said, and since the act of giving away bandages and dressings has already happened, I would try and talk to the patient on a personal level to get a better understanding of their situation. If able, I would give my time and effort to help with their problem. Whether that is by donating and collecting money to help financially, starting a GoFundMe.com cause for their medical expenses, taking the issue up in church and asking for help, or by talking to my superiors and seeing what else can be done to help them ethically and inside

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