The Case of Jeanette M. and the Phone Call
The Case of Jeanette M. and the phone call describes a situation as follow. Jeanette, an 80-year-old widow, early in a morning called her physician because she had shortness of breath. The physician was busy and Jeanette explained her condition to the receptionist. At the time of the call, the elderly woman did not have any other health problems so the receptionist said she will pass the message to the physician. Because of busyness the message did not get any special attention and was mixed with other messages that were placed on the doctor’s desk couple hours after the call occurred. It turns out that doctor called back at 5 pm and apologized for the delay.
In the meantime, Jeanette’s shortness of …show more content…
I feel like I am missing some information that can be crucial in this case. On the one hand, it is unknown if Jeanette was previously ill or if she was under care of the physician for any condition. If she had a history of pulmonary or heart diseases and needed to be monitored by a doctor, the physician supposed to take this call as an emergency and get back immediately. Also, receptionist in this office should be instructed to bring to the doctor’s attention any call from a medically compromised patient. In this instance, the case can be present as a legal …show more content…
Mary Pat Whaley, president of Manage my Practice estimates that “phone calls to physician practices have increased between 25 and 50% since 2008. But insurance carriers don’t pay doctors for any of those phone calls, which doctors estimate cost $15 to $20 each.” So, there is more then just one-time problem. The the main issue lies in the system failure.
In the three-step ethics model advised byKenneth Blanchard and Norman Vincent Pea to evaluate an ethical dilemma, there is three questions should be answered. First, is it legal? In this case, there is no illegal actions commited neither by a doctor, nor a receptionist since there are no specific rules that regulate doctor-patient telephone communication. Receptionist conveyed a message to the physician, and the physician called the patient back at the end of the day. Therefore, yes, it is
The Case of Jeanette M. and the phone call describes a situation as follow. Jeanette, an 80-year-old widow, early in a morning called her physician because she had shortness of breath. The physician was busy and Jeanette explained her condition to the receptionist. At the time of the call, the elderly woman did not have any other health problems so the receptionist said she will pass the message to the physician. Because of busyness the message did not get any special attention and was mixed with other messages that were placed on the doctor’s desk couple hours after the call occurred. It turns out that doctor called back at 5 pm and apologized for the delay.
In the meantime, Jeanette’s shortness of …show more content…
I feel like I am missing some information that can be crucial in this case. On the one hand, it is unknown if Jeanette was previously ill or if she was under care of the physician for any condition. If she had a history of pulmonary or heart diseases and needed to be monitored by a doctor, the physician supposed to take this call as an emergency and get back immediately. Also, receptionist in this office should be instructed to bring to the doctor’s attention any call from a medically compromised patient. In this instance, the case can be present as a legal …show more content…
Mary Pat Whaley, president of Manage my Practice estimates that “phone calls to physician practices have increased between 25 and 50% since 2008. But insurance carriers don’t pay doctors for any of those phone calls, which doctors estimate cost $15 to $20 each.” So, there is more then just one-time problem. The the main issue lies in the system failure.
In the three-step ethics model advised byKenneth Blanchard and Norman Vincent Pea to evaluate an ethical dilemma, there is three questions should be answered. First, is it legal? In this case, there is no illegal actions commited neither by a doctor, nor a receptionist since there are no specific rules that regulate doctor-patient telephone communication. Receptionist conveyed a message to the physician, and the physician called the patient back at the end of the day. Therefore, yes, it is