Whistle-Blowing in the Workplace

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how whistle-blowing is a method by which individuals or organizations can have an impact on what is perceived as a wrongdoing or unethical practice. Many industries, countries, organizations, companies and professions have rules, guidelines and legislation that set the parameters for and deal with the reporting of wrongdoing. The paper looks at how in many cases there are private industry-specific rules and practices that govern how whistle-blowers and their message(s) are to be treated and discusses some examples within the healthcare industry.

From the Paper:

"Two cases in the 1990's in Japan illustrate the problems associated with whistle-blowing and these types of problems in the health care profession. In the first case, in 1995, a nurse leaked information to the press after she had taken the information to the hospital board. She leaked the information because she believed that the board would 'not take any action'. The board did take action but only after the information had been leaked to the press. In the second case, at the end of May 1996, an anonymous man called the police to inform them that a doctor had administered a drug to a male patient at the hospital that killed the patient. Police immediately initiated an investigation. Surprisingly enough, in the second case a number of patient's and their families expressed support for the doctor, but many of the hospital's nurses were very vociferous in their outrage against the doctor, with some going so far as to say they would quit if the doctor was not fired."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Akabayashi, Akira. "Euthanasia, assisted suicide, and cessation of life support: Japan's policy, law, and an analysis of whistle blowing in two recent mercy killing cases." Social Science and Medicine 2002 pp 517-27.
• Bolsin, Stephen. "Whistle blowing." Medical Education 2003, Vol 37, Issue 4, pp 294-96.
• Goldie, John., Schwartz, Lisa., McConnachie, Alex., Morrison, Jillian., "Students attitudes and potential behaviour with regard to whistle blowing as they pass through a modern medical curriculum." Medical Education. 2003 Vol. 37, Issue 4, pp 368-375
• Johnson, Carrie E., Sellnow, Timothy L., Seeger, Matthew W., Barrett, M. Scott, Hasbargen, Kathryn C., "Blowing the Whistle on Fen-Phen: An Exploration of MeritCare's Reporting of Linkages between Fen-Phen and Valvular Heart Disease" Journal of Business Communication. 2004 Vol 41, pp 350-369
• McClearn, Matthew. "Snitch in Time". Canadian Business. 2003 Vol 77, Issue 1, pg 60 -67

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