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497Risking
It All: Providing Patient Care and Whistleblowing During a Pandemic
Similarly, the policies, codes of ethics, and guidelines of regula-
tory colleges and professional associations vary widely. Only a few
regulatory colleges have whistleblowing policies that impose conse-
quences on members who engage in reprisals.42 Certain professional
associations have instilled a culture of support for whistleblowers in
their codes of ethics.43
Stronger Protection for Whistleblowers
In our view, governments, regulatory bodies, professional associa-
tions, and health care institutions ought to support and encourage
health care workers to disclose unsafe, unethical, and illegal practices
and ought to address workers’ fears and protect them against repri-
sals. Otherwise, health care workers will be discouraged from rais-
ing the alarm where they believe it is necessary to do so. Although a
detailed analysis is beyond the scope of this chapter, there are advan-
tages and disadvantages associated with the regulation-making by
these various bodies.44 For example, laws with strong enforcement
provisions are often considered to be more effective than guidelines,
which provide recommendations but do not enjoy the same level of
enforceability.
We recommend a comprehensive framework to protect whistle-
blowers, one that includes statutory instruments, regulatory guide-
lines, and institutional policies. Statutory instruments should be
complemented by professional guidelines and codes of ethics issued
by regulatory bodies and professional associations. These instruments
should address workers’ need to balance disclosure with their respon-
sibility to protect confidential patient information.45 Professional
guidelines and codes may be viewed with greater legitimacy by health
care workers because they are created by individuals with expertise
in their field. Indeed, this may lend further support to self-regulation
42. See for example: College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario, Whistleblower Policy
(August 2017) [CDHO Whistleblower Policy].
43. For example, the CNA, Code of Ethics, supra note 7 at 16, provides that “[n]urses
support a climate of trust that sponsors openness, encourages the act of ques-
tioning the status quo and supports those who speak out in good faith to address
concerns (e.g. whistle-blowing). Nurses protect whistleblowers who have pro-
vided reasonable grounds for their concerns.”
44. Joanna Erdman, Vanessa Gruben & Erin Nelson, eds, Canadian Health Law and
Policy, 5th ed. (Toronto, LexisNexis Canada, 2017), chapter 6.
45. Gagnon, supra note 30 at 5.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Titel
- VULNERABLE
- Untertitel
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Autoren
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Verlag
- Ottawa Press
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Abmessungen
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Seiten
- 648
- Kategorien
- Coronavirus
- International