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for PSWs and the need to develop disclosure standards that could
guide them. As is well known, a culture of open disclosure and a clear
framework for whistleblowers will have a positive impact on some
aspects of patient safety.46 Finally, health care institutions must intro-
duce processes for whistleblowing and should also create and foster a
culture of disclosure.
The framework should include several features, many of which
have been recommended by previous scholars and review bodies.
First, a statute must apply to all health care workers, from physicians
to cleaning staff, regardless of their employment status. Past inqui-
ries have noted that concerns raised by nurses, as opposed to doc-
tors, are not always treated with the “same respect or seriousness as
those raised by doctors.”47 Second, these instruments must extend to
all forms of reprisal, including threats of reprisal.48 Third, these instru-
ments should support disclosure by a health care worker in good faith.
Fourth, the anonymity of a whistleblower must be protected where it
is requested.49 Fifth, there must be robust penalties where these provi-
sions are breached.50
Conclusion
Health care workers have played two critical roles during the pan-
demic: as providers of patient care and as whistleblowers. The over-
whelming majority of health care workers have discharged their duty
to provide patients with care during the COVID-19 crisis. However,
46. Minsu Ock et al, “Frequency, Expected Effects, Obstacles, and Facilitators of
Disclosure of Patient Safety Incidents: A Systematic Review” (2017) 50 J Prev
Med Public Health 68.
47. Sinclair, supra note 325 chapter 10 at 1.
48. For example: under Manitoba’s Public
Interest
Disclosure
(Whistleblower
Protection)
Act, supra note 38, s 2: “reprisal” means any of the following measures taken
against an employee because the employee has, in good faith, sought advice
about making a disclosure, made a disclosure, or co-operated in an investigation
under this Act:
(a) a disciplinary measure;
(b) a demotion;
(c) termination of employment;
(d) any measure that adversely affects his or her employment or working
conditions;
(e) a threat to take any of the measures referred to in clauses (a) to (d).”
49. See for example: CDHO Whistleblower Policy, supra note 39 at 2; Public Interest
Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act, supra
note 38, s 32.1(1).
50. Public Interest Disclosure
(Whistleblower Protection) Act, supra
note 38, s 33(4).
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