Scenario 1,
What challenges are present in the scenario, and what are some steps that can be taken to
address them?
If I noticed any questionable behaviour, I would stop working on the data. If I am employed for his
project, I will be his research assistant, and my name and position will be there until it is published,
and occasionally even after. I have their trust to work on their research knowing exactly how we
will handle the data and what ethical decisions must be made. I, as his research assistant, must be
aware of the conditions under which he is conducting the research and whether he has a goal of
profiting from it or not. All pertinent information about data manipulation, use of the results, and
ethical considerations is clearly to be mentioned in the research proposal.
After reading the complete research proposal, I would clearly grasp the study kind, how the
methods and results will be used on the study, and what the study's risks and advantages are. I
would just sit down with the physician and inform him that I've noticed some of the data I've
entered is missing, being careful not to implicate the doctor in erasing it. In addition, I would offer
my opinion on how various patient and case settings could lead to a variety of outcomes and lots
of open issues that could lead to novel research areas.
What is the relationship between ethics and policy? Do they always match up with one another?
While health policies lead practical courses of action, ethics seems more interested in theoretical
reflections. However, if ethics does not direct specific, practical policies, it is no longer serving its
role. Even though ethics and policies can overlap, ethical commitments typically take precedence
over legal ones. The law sometimes demands moral behaviour which can be considered as ethics.
Examples of how policy is used to ethics include employment law, governmental rules, and codes
of ethics (Petrini, 2010).
If individual ethics do not align with organizational policy, what might be the end result?
Personally, I think you should not accept a position at a company if your personal ethics do not
largely align with its principles. You will eventually come upon an ethical problem that you disagree
with, and depending on the circumstance, it may be quite challenging to resolve. Employees who
act in ways that go against the organization's expectations or rules are more likely to find
themselves in ongoing disputes with the management. If an employee continues to violate
organizational policies, they may be placed on probation or even fired. Because of this, regardless
of their ethical convictions, all employees are compelled to comply with corporate policies.
Scenario 2. I can relate to this scenario as I was carrying a laptop to support on-call issues when I
was vacationing on this past July 4th weekend. Losing a laptop with company information
represents a potential breach of HIPPA and Code of Federal Regulations 42 – Public Health (CFR
42). CFR42 imposes stricter rules than HIPAA (Substance Abuse Confidentiality Regulations 2022). e I
know that my agency would be facing potential Justice Centre reportable incident. Depending on
the nature and how I handled the situation compared to organization policy, the Justice Centre can
pick the incident up as an active investigation which could result in me being put on administrative
leave until the investigation concludes. Depending on the investigation findings, there could be
serious implications such as loss of license/credentials and inability to work in the field of human
services again.
It is very important to follow agency policy, so I would certainly contact the IT department before
the plane took off so that they could make sure that anyone that broke into the laptop would be
denied access to our internal systems. Some of the steps that should have been taken before this
was to have a strong password to access the laptop and my contact information attached to the
laptop so that it could be returned to me.
Ethically, we must do everything we can to protect client confidentiality while also being able to
have access to agency information while out of the office. The agency policies may seem restrictive
but are meant to ensure compliance and as an employee, I feel that if I follow the policy, that I will
fare much better than if I try to cover up or delay reporting the issue.
References
Justice center. Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs. (n.d.). Retrieved July
13, 2022, from https://www.justicecenter.ny.gov/
Substance Abuse Confidentiality Regulations. SAMHSA. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2022, from
https://www.samhsa.gov/about-us/who-we-are/laws-regulations/confidentiality-regulations-faqs
Petrini, C. (2010). ETHICS-BASED PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY? American Journal of Public Health,
100(2), 197–198. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2009.181511
