Case Study Blood Borne Pathogens

After researching investment opportunities, Jay and Leigh Carlos decided to open a home for the mentally retarded (Borden & Cooper, 2002). After fifteen years of operation, they had acquired two facilities to house the mentally retarded and an adult day-care, and they were looking to expand even further. Leigh was a registered nurse, and she was in charge of keeping the organization in compliance with all federal, state, and local regulations (Borden & Cooper, 2002). Although the facilities offered care given by licensed practical nurses, they did not offer round-the-clock care by this type of professionals. They also did not offer full service medical care such as hospitals, and injections were unusual for their facilities. Leigh had studied the risk of being exposed to blood-borne pathogens, especially hepatitis B, and she concluded with her findings that the company had met all necessary requirements (Borden & Cooper, 2002). A policy was written and implemented according to the study. However, all that had been learned was challenged when an OSHA representative paid a visit to the facility and requested the policy and procedures for handling blood-borne pathogens and hepatitis vaccination procedures. Although a policy had been put into place, a vaccination policy for employees had not been established. …show more content…
Although the vaccinations would be costly to the organization, the matter could be resolved in a short amount of time. If Jay chooses to challenge OSHA, the court battle could take years and be very costly. Jay and Leigh are being faced with very difficult decisions, but resolution will have to be hasty in order for the facility to continue to