AHIMA has provided its members and students with ethical scenarios as a means to practice examining and resolving ethical issues. Two such scenarios have been taken from AHIMA’s Ethics Case Studies – Supplement for the Ethics Self Assessment and are provided for you to examine and resolve. Use the ethical decision matrix outlined in the Sayles and Gordon textbook as a mechanism for the examination process. Post a paragraph for each one that answers the questions provided. Responses are required for this discussion.
Scenario 1:
A new hospital opens in your local community and recruits for an HIM director, requiring that the person have an RHIA. An HIM professional in the community applies for the director’s position in the HIM Department and is hired. Shortly after starting her job, she became the hostess at the Regional health information management Association meeting held monthly in the various hospitals in the community. At the meeting, the new director is introduced as an RHIA. Several of the local members know that she has the RHIT credential, not the RHIA credential. Is there an ethical violation, dilemma, or concern?
1. What was the intent of the AHIMA member’s actions that resulted in an ethics violation being brought forward?
2. What is the potential harm to the organization or AHIMA as a result of the act?
3. What is the status of the AHIMA member’s training, education, and awareness of the AHIMA Code of Ethics?
4. What AHIMA Ethical Codes have been violated?
Scenario 2:
Mary, a 20-year veteran of the HIM department, began her career as a nightshift file clerk when an innovative tertiary care center built a sister facility in her community. She has long been a strong supporter of the facility where she works, sharing her enthusiasm with friends and family by telling remarkable stories about her experiences, promotions within the department, and even about some notable patients. Recently promoted to supervisor over the EMR coordinators, she is clearly proud of this latest accomplishment in her career at the facility. During a lunch break, she has a chance encounter with a longtime benefactor who happens to be a well-known entertainer. This celebrity benefactor has also been a patient at the facility. Mary is so excited about meeting this media icon that she takes his photograph with her cell phone. She then shares the photos with her coworkers and posts them on her Facebook page the next day. When the CEO of the facility learns of this, she contacts Mary’s director. Is there an ethical violation, dilemma, or concern?
1. What was the intent of the AHIMA member’s actions that resulted in an ethics violation being brought forward?
2. What is the potential harm to the organization as a result of the act?
3. What is the status of the AHIMA member’s training, education, and awareness of the AHIMA Code of Ethics?
4. What is the history of the AHIMA member’s performance within the Association?
5. What AHIMA Ethical Code has been violated?
