Business Ethics Assignment Drafting A Code Of Ethics For Ramsay Health Care

Question

Business Ethics Assignment Task: You are required to research recent news articles and other information about Ramsay Health Care.

Here are a couple of examples of recent news describing some corporate governance issues in the Health Care Industry: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6919951/lost-opportunity-toimprove-healthcare-audit/ and https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/

You must then draft a Code of Ethics for Ramsay Health Care. The word limit is 2000 words.

Assessment Instructions
Your Code of Ethics for Ramsay Health Care must specifically address:

1. Discrimination
2. Exploitation
3. Corruption
4. Dishonest and Fraudulent Behavior
5. Whistleblower Protections
6. Enforcement

You will be required to include a minimum of 5 references in your Code of Ethics which must come from academic journals or textbooks.

Answer

Background Of Business Ethics Assignment

In order to give the best possible care to its employees and patients, the corporation has the right to implement an effective health care corporate governance policy. For example, Ramsay was sued by a couple who claimed they were discriminated against because the hospital declined to provide an interpreter so that the husband could attend prenatal classes. While drafting a code of ethics for Ramsay Health Care to address concerns such as harassment and exploitation of whistleblowers and the treatment of corrupt and dishonest individuals. Complex procedures, as well as treatment for mental illness, are among the services offered by the facility. In addition, the institution had to deal with charges of bullying and harassment from a worker who accused other coworkers of bullying and harassment. Healthcare provider Ramsay Health Care has a reputation for providing its patients with high-quality care. Ramsay's bad corporate governance policies may be seen in the company's lack of a code of ethics. For this reason, corporate governance is a system of rules and regulations designed to promote a high-quality and efficient workplace. There are a lot of difficulties at Ramsay Health Care's workplace that provide a bleak picture for the institution's governance capabilities.

Code of Ethics for Discrimination

Discrimination of any type has no place in the fields of communication sciences and disorders (CSD) or audiology and speech-language pathology. Those who are members of ASHA or possess or have applied for the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, or hearing scientists—are also required to adhere to local, state, and federal regulations pertaining to their practice and research (Principle IV, Rule R). Federal, state, and municipal anti-discrimination rules apply to educational and work contexts. An exception to these anti-discrimination legislations may be made by ASHA's Board of Ethics at its discretion. To forestall any future accusations of prejudice, Ramsay Health Care is implementing a new code of ethics for non-discrimination (Pyke 2018). These are the standards Ramsay should adhere to when it comes to discrimination:

• There should be no racial, ethnic, religious, or gender discrimination among the staff or doctors, or between them and their patients.
• When hiring new employees and physicians, Ramsay will consider not just their qualifications and experience, but also the person they are as a person and the circumstances in which they were raised.
• Ramsay does not tolerate any form of discrimination in the workplace, including but not limited to gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, age, and more (Pyke 2018).
• Any infraction of these rules will result in a formal inquiry and possible legal action (Flint et al. 2018).
• A healthcare organization dedicated to treating all of its personnel and patients fairly and equally.
• Employers must follow a code of conduct that prohibits discrimination in all aspects of the workplace from hiring to promotion to remuneration to termination (Flint et al. 2018).
• Educational and employment environments, and gives legal definitions for discrimination
• Ramsay provides an overview of the pertinent Code sections.
• Ramsay makes comparisons between Code and legal remedies for discrimination
• Ramsay examines a variety of occupations to demonstrate how the Board of Education (BOE) views discrimination in the workplace.
• They Consider the alternatives and services available to individuals.

A workplace devoid of discrimination, bullying, and harassment is what they believe in. Their relationships with others are marked by respect, regardless of their gender, age, color, culture, religious belief, ethnicity, or any other of the many other characteristics listed above. Disrespectful behavior by others is not tolerated by them. If you're still unsure about whether or not to handle a problem, the following questions may help:

• Is this behavior in conflict with the Ramsay Way's ideals or my own?
• Is there a chance that someone may be injured or otherwise negatively impacted?
• What are the company's rules, processes or standards regarding this?
• Is this kind of behavior against the law?

Code of Ethics for Exploitation

SEA, which Ramsay members recognise as a type of gender-based violence (GBV), can occur in any humanitarian or development situation. In humanitarian emergencies, however, the reliance of impacted communities on humanitarian services for their basic necessities imposes an extra ethical duty (Hardy et al. 2020).

In order to keep Ramsay safe at all times, members of Ramsay's team are expected to:

• Know that serious wrongdoing, such as sexual exploitation and abuse by development and humanitarian workers, justifies a termination of a worker's employment.
• No matter where you live, the age of majority or the age of consent, you should never engage in sexual behaviour with minors. A child's age being incorrect is not a valid defence in this case.
• Do not take advantage of the fragility of any target group, especially women and children, in the context of humanitarian or development activities.
• It is against the law to trade jobs, products, or services for sexual favours or any other sort of humiliating, demeaning, or exploitative behaviour. Beneficiaries can expect to be reimbursed for any unpaid assistance (Senter et al. 2018).
• Do not use your position to withhold humanitarian and development aid, or provide preference, in order to obtain sexual favours or any other kind of money.
• Sexual connections with crisis-stricken communities are discouraged because they damage the legitimacy and integrity of humanitarian relief operations, given the greater susceptibility of populations in crisis situations (Senter et al. 2018).
• When dealing with children, avoid any acts or behaviours that may constitute bad practice5 and never act in a way that puts a kid at risk of being abused.
• Neither Ramsay nor the health center's workers are exploited in any way because of the modest wages they get under his leadership (Hardy et al. 2020).
• Patients and staff alike should be prohibited from engaging in any type of sexual exploitation of one another.
• The risk management and ethical department of the health care facility must be notified right away if there is any suspicion of sexual exploitation.
• Do not use, acquire, or recommend to others the use of any potentially harmful medications or medications to patients.

Code of Ethics for Corruption

There is no tolerance for fraud or corruption among Ramsay's members. When working with communities, partners, or other stakeholders, members of the Ramsay team are expected to uphold the highest ethical standards. To that end, employees must always:

• Encourage a culture of transparency and honesty amongst employees and upper-level management.
• In all work-related money transactions, be transparent.
• Always make sure that money and other resources are used only for the reasons for which they were allocated. A same rule applies to any other sources of revenue that could arise from the money, such as interest payments (Prihanto et al. 2020).
• Forgery, money laundering, accepting commissions, and manipulating tender processes to gain an unfair advantage and theft are all prohibited.
• All significant allegations of fraud or corruption should be brought to light in a discreet manner in the workplace.
• A person or organization doing a criminal conduct should never have your assistance deliberately provided (Janenova and Knox 2020).
• Attempting to influence or obstruct an inquiry into corrupt, fraudulent, coercive, or collusive charges by purposefully destroying, falsifying, altering, or concealing evidence or making false statements to investigators is not permitted.
• Maintain the highest levels of accountability and openness in all aspects of financial, managerial, and governance processes and procedures, as applicable (Prihanto et al. 2020).
• They are not permitted to misuse the institution's cash or property in any way.
• There will be civil and criminal penalties and fines, as well as serious consequences including dismissal and legal action, if healthcare facility personnel are found to be dishonest (Janenova and Knox 2020).
• No personal considerations should be taken into account while making judgments about treatment or other business-related issues.
• Anything of value that is not noted in Ramsay's health care books should be given.
• Only in the context of legitimate commercial transactions can money be transferred. Instead of threatening people, they strive to persuade them with actual reasons and rational reasoning (Janenova and Knox 2020).

Corruption is considered a threat to the reputation of health centers, and these rules are based on this belief.

Code of Ethics for Dishonest and Fraudulent Behaviour

There will be no tolerance for dishonesty, fraud, theft, or major waste of the Society's money or resources in the workplace of Ramsay, its members, volunteers, or employees. All of the following responsibilities fall on the shoulders of everyone associated with the organisation:

• Everyone who is aware of or suspects that someone is committing fraud, dishonesty, theft, or a major waste of society's money or resources, should come forward and report it (Fernandhytia and Muslichah 2020).
• As part of this effort, members are expected to assist in the prevention of financial or other resource misappropriation, as well as other forms of dishonesty or fraud.
• The Society's Board of Directors and management are in charge of overseeing and preventing fraud and dishonesty in accordance with the Society's risk management strategy.
• Ensure that the Society is steadfast in its determination not to tolerate dishonesty or waste of resources or money in the workplace (Fernandhytia and Muslichah 2020).
• The Society's zero-tolerance policy to such activity should be communicated and embedded.
• Offer clear definitions of what constitutes dishonesty, theft, and wasteful use of resources or money.
• Identify and explain to all stakeholders the duties they have for reducing waste, fraud, and other types of dishonest behaviour (Nwanyanwu 2018).
• Describe the ramifications of such behaviour
• All instances that fall under this policy must be reported by all Society members, volunteers, and staff members.
• Conceptual and organisational structures for creating, executing, monitoring, and improving the prevention of fraud and dishonesty in the Society are provided by these components (Nwanyanwu 2018).

Code of Ethics for Whistleblower Protections

Code of ethics for whistleblower protections allows employees in the workplace to report bullying and harassment effectively. The Whistleblower Protection service in Ramsay will let staff and patients to report harassment and bullying incidents. With regard to issues that they are not comfortable discussing internally, or that they feel have been handled with inappropriately, whistleblower policies and procedures relevant to the nation where they are working can be contacted for help (Chordiya et al. 2020).

• If an employee has reason to believe that the employee's conduct falls under federal mail and wire fraud and bank fraud laws as well as SEC rules and regulations, he or she must assist any federal regulatory and law enforcement agency or member of Congress conducting an investigation, as well as anyone who has supervisory authority over the employee (Chordiya et al. 2020).
• Aid in a proceeding involving suspected federal fraud or securities law crimes.

This Code has been fairly developed to prohibit misbehavior and to encourage good behavior:

• Integrity in personal and professional relationships, including the ethical treatment of perceived and real conflicts of interest (West and Bowman 2020).
• SEC filings and communications by the Company must provide complete, factual information; public statements by the Company must be clear and intelligible;
• The observance of all relevant governmental statutes, regulations, and ordinances
• offenders who have been recognized by code
• An individual's responsibility for adhering to the Code (West and Bowman 2020).

Code of Ethics for Enforcement

Code of conduct rules should be enforced in a certain manner. The enforcement policy is critical in responding to complaints, effectively delivering information to identify the suspect and complaints received, providing information on the victim of the crime and reporting an emergency situation. Code of ethics of the business should also include a section on the enforcement of policies. The goal of the enforcement processes and conducts is to make sure that everyone at the health center who may be experiencing complaints or other workplace difficulties is treated equally. As a result of the new code of ethics, Ramsay has instituted:

• Interviewing the complaint, the subject, the appointed health department official, and any witnesses as soon as possible.
• In order to perform an efficient preliminary investigation, it is necessary to provide adequate details and evidence.
• The timely evaluation of documentation submitted by the complainant and witnesses at the time of the allegations.
• In order to resolve the problems, the compliance department must respond quickly to the complaints that it receives.
• After a thorough examination and in compliance with the applicable legislation, the necessary action should be performed.
• In order to keep it updated, the compliance committee does the heavy lifting of monitoring and updating it.
• Ramsay's processes for enforcing the code of ethics ensure that it is being followed to the letter at the healthcare facilities.

Conclusion
Having a code of ethics that covers a wide range of topics helps the company to adhere to the law and the rights of its employees and patients. Additionally, Ramsay's new whistleblower protection rule will make it easier to conduct investigations and decrease employee complaints in the future. By implementing these measures, the health facility can avoid the accusations of harassment and discrimination that have been levelled against it recently. Ramsay's rules and procedures are designed to ensure that employees are treated fairly and that the services they get are worth what they are paid for, including those related to discrimination, exploitation, corruption, and fraud. Discrimination against patients has occurred in the workplace, and a new code of ethics will make it easier to deal with similar incidents in the future and prevent them from happening again. In addition, it will provide a comfortable setting for patients to get their therapy in. Because of this, Ramsay's rules and standards serve to guarantee that all physicians and staffs operate in a respectful atmosphere devoid of bullying and harassment. Ramsay's code of conduct contributes to building a diverse and inclusive workplace atmosphere.

References
Chordiya, R., Sabharwal, M., Relly, J.E. and Berman, E.M., 2020. Organizational protection for whistleblowers: a cross-national study. Public Management Review, 22(4), pp.527-552. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14719037.2019.1599058

Fernandhytia, F. and Muslichah, M., 2020. The effect of internal control, individual morality and ethical value on accounting fraud tendency. Media Ekonomi Dan Manajemen, 35(1), pp.112-127. http://jurnal.untagsmg.ac.id/index.php/fe/article/view/1343

Flint, S.W., Nobles, J., Gately, P. and Sahota, P., 2018. Weight stigma and discrimination: a call to the media. The lancet Diabetes & endocrinology, 6(3), pp.169-170. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(18)30041-X/fulltext

Hardy, V.L., Locklear, A.K. and Crable, A.R., 2020. Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Adolescents: Gender-Specific and Trauma-Informed Care Implications. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 17(1). https://jswve.org/download/2020-1/articles-17-1/Commercial-sexual-exploitation-of-adolescents.pdf

Janenova, S. and Knox, C., 2020. Combatting corruption in Kazakhstan: A role for ethics commissioners?. Public Administration and Development, 40(3), pp.186-195. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pad.1873

Nwanyanwu, L.A., 2018. Accountants’ ethics and fraud control in Nigeria: the emergence of a fraud control model. https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/27384

Prihanto, H., Murwaningsari, E., Umar, H. and Mayangsari, S., 2020. How Indonesia Attempts to Prevent Corruption. Business ethics assignment Oceanide, 12(2), pp.70-85. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hendi-Prihanto/publication/353356567_How_Indonesia_Attempts_to_Prevent_Corruption/links/60f7bd81169a1a0103a850a5/How-Indonesia-Attempts-to-Prevent-Corruption.pdf

Pyke, K.D., 2018. Institutional betrayal: Inequity, discrimination, bullying, and retaliation in academia. Sociological Perspectives, 61(1), pp.5-13. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0731121417743816

Senter, L., Bennett, R.L., Madeo, A.C., Noblin, S., Ormond, K.E., Schneider, K.W., Swan, K., Virani, A. and National Society of Genetic Counselors Code of Ethics Review Task Force (COERTF), 2018. National society of genetic counselors code of ethics: Explication of 2017 revisions. Journal of genetic counseling, 27(1), pp.9-15. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1007/s10897-017-0165-9

West, J.P. and Bowman, J.S., 2020. Whistleblowing policies in American states: A nationwide analysis. The American Review of Public Administration, 50(2), pp.119-132. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0275074019885629