Racial Discrimination in Washington's Physician Offices

Ethical dilemmas are plentiful in the health care industry. We are in an industry where decision making is critical because decisions can determine the outcome of someone’s health and life. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge the significance of ethical decisions in health care. Racial discrimination still occurs in every aspect of our society and in all industries. In terms of discrimination, it occurs in the health care industry as well. After reading an article about research conducted in the state of Washington about African American patients being discriminated against, I felt this would be an appropriate ethical topic for this blog.

In health care there have been allegations of racial discrimination against patients as well as staff. For instance in research conducted in Washington, many patients felt they were not receiving the same care as other patients and were treated differently because of their ethnicity. The study was based mostly on African American patients.

Discrimination is an ethical issue that health care administrators have to address, regardless of their own prejudice. Racial discrimination can easily become a legal issue depending on the case. Therefore it is important for staff and administration to understand the ethics behind discrimination. In the study conducted by the state of Washington many patients decided to keep quiet about the discrimination they were facing in fear of not receiving treatment from that physician's office.

Patients should not be discriminated against because of their race. Minority patients should feel that they are really fair and quality services like everyone else. They should not feel afraid to speak up about the discrimination they faced. The administrators in these health care facilities should teach their staff about the importance of equality and treating every patient with dignity and respect. As stated previously an administrator needs to be able to set aside their own prejudices to provide care to the patients.

If they are not able to convey this message properly, they can consult with an outside agency that can educate the staff on ethics and discrimination to improve the care given to these patients. Although ethics is a subject that can become debatable because not everyone considers the same principles as being ethical, one should be able to determine that discrimination is not an ethical practice. Justice is an ethical principle that has been greatly disregarded in this case because they are not treating all patients similarly. There are also moral values that have been compromised in which they are limiting their compassion, conscientiousness, fidelity, and fairness due to the race of the patient.

Overall, the employees who were involved in discriminating should be reintroduced to the facility’s ethics policy and ensure quality is given to each patient.