Barnhardt Seminar on Ethics and the Business World

Many Second Year MHA students attend the Barnhardt Seminar on Ethics and the Business World on March 22, 2017. The guest speaker for this series was Carl S. Armato, President and CEO of Novant Health. Mr. Armato discussed the ethical dimensions of a recent situation Novant Health faced. The complicated scenario involved over 100 patients who might have been exposed to medical equipment capable of transmitting a rare disease.

Mr. Amato took the audience through a step by step account of the ethical principles Novant considered and the ethical reasoning behind their response to this incident. The potentially infected patients had a right to know what happened. Disclosing this information could increase Novant’s risk of malpractice suits and damage its reputation. Failing to disclose this information, however, could lead to a class action lawsuit.

From a probability side, the chances of contamination were incredibly low. Still, such matters are not to be taken lightly, and Mr. Amato immediately sought consultation from his board, his ethics committee, and several outside organizations. He analyzed similar cases from other organizations, consulted the CDC, and hired an external consultant to suggest the best way to approach this situation in a fair, transparent, and compassionate way.

The Board of Directors made the final decision. Novant approached all of the potentially affected families in a transparent manner, and invited them to learn more about the condition. Novant covered all associated costs and made other resources available to these families. Fortunately, no cross contamination had occurred. Through this response, Novant mitigated any backlash and kept its patients safe and involved, reinforcing the value of transparency in confronting ethical dilemmas.