As a business student, the topic of legal vs. ethical is not
lost on me, as it is a very important topic in both the business world and the
medical world. There is no clearly drawn line between the two, and this is
where the problem arises. There are many activities that are completely legal,
but are probably not considered the ethically correct thing to do. This is a
particularly touchy subject in healthcare, as many choices a physician makes
have an ethical position behind them.
Consider this: a doctor is brought up on a criminal charge of
negligence, but is found not-guilty. In most cases, once the not-guilty verdict
is read, the case is over. But for a doctor, the person who was allegedly
harmed may turn to the civil courts to sue, saying that his unethical (but not
quite illegal) actions caused the injury. A doctor is held to a much higher standard
of ethics than you and I are, and for this reason, acting within the law with
no regards for the morality of the decision is impossible. There are ethical
codes in place at most medical institutions, and as such, doctors and
healthcare administrators must research both the legality of their actions as
well as the ethicality of them.
The textbook offers the case of the drunken surgeon, and the
legal responsibility to remove him from the operating room. It also, however, deals
with the ethical responsibility of the administrator to report this behavior,
as it is very dangerous in the healthcare field. She is most likely not legally
bound to report the incident, but ethically, she should.
This will continue to be a big problem as technology
increases and the boundaries between legality and ethicality are blurred further.
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