Health Care Incident Reported in the News Essay

Health Care Incident Reported in the News - Essay Example Courtois is a diabetic patient who was treated in Redding Hospital in 2010 did not consent to the decision of the hospital’s chief executive and medical officer in disclosing her treatment information. This followed allegations that the hospital was involved in overbilling Medicare. The officials of the hospital also failed to report the violations of the patient’s privacy as postulated by the HIPAA. Courtois daughter said that â€Å"we are appalled by the number of people they shared the information with" (Terhune, 2012). Among the journalists into whom the patient information was disclosed were those from the Times. It is reported within the news article that Prime Healthcare Inc. is to face up to $ 250 000 fines for these violations (Terhune, 2012). This essay is based on this story and aims at examining and evaluating how governance, organizational structure, culture and lack of social responsibility led to the violation of the patient’s privacy by the hospi tal. The essay also presents recommendations on resources and changes that would help to preventing future violations of patient privacy in relation to the ethics of patient care. The health care situation that is described within the Los Angeles Times is a case where the rights of patients for confidentiality and privacy of treatment information are violated by a health care system. ... It is in this regard that it is apparent that the hospital is obliged to take responsibility for its legal and ethical misconduct. Nonetheless it is important to note that the violation of HIPAA provisions for patient privacy is legally wrong regardless of the number of people with who patient information is disclosed (Moore, et al, 2009). Darlene Courtois’ case however received the attention of the media and the legal system because many health care providers and journalists got access to the patient’s treatment records without consent. The organizational structure at the Redding Hospital’s hospital is topped by the chief executive. This official is followed by the medical officer. Below these officials are the medical health records officers and other workers. The fact that private patient information was disclosed to the journalists by the chief executive and medical officer reflects that they had direct influence on the medical health officers from whom this information was obtained. This reveals an organizational culture where the top executives exercise roles beyond their lines of duty. Moreover, the health records officers were coerced to provide the patient information to the senior executives. This demonstrates that the health records officers failed to adhere to the ethical and legal requirements for confidentiality and privacy of all patient data. This case also reveals an organizational culture where workers fail to take legal responsibility by reporting medical misconduct in relation to patient data. This is revealed that the health care workers who were emailed the patient data failed to report the violation HIPAA provisions. This case came into light of the legal system because it was featured in