Providing employer-arranged occupational medical care: conflicting interests.
It is said that ethics comprise principles of good conduct or standards governing the conduct of the members of a profession. These standards are unbending and strict, yet the reality is that occupational health professionals are subject to many conflicting pressures. Most of these stresses arise from the fact that employers and insurance companies, not worker-patients, fund OH services, and these two entities have overlapping, yet distinct, interests. OH professionals must consider the health and safety of individual workers as their top priority, while also addressing myriad other concerns. This is the moral challenge confronting practitioners.
Higgins
Penny
P
Corporate Health Services Alexian Brothers Hospital Network, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Orris
Peter
P
D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D016265:Conflict of Interest; D017049:Employer Health Costs / Q000941:ethics*; D026690:Ethics, Clinical; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000941:ethics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D016272:Occupational Health; D009786:Occupational Health Services / Q000941:ethics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D009787:Occupational Medicine / Q000941:ethics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States