The Gosport Scandal: Impact of Ethical Misconduct on Patients and Hospital Reputation

This report analyzes the impact of ethical misconduct on patients and hospital reputation using the Gosport scandal as a case study. It also suggests approaches to avoid such misconduct in the future.

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Executive Summary
Ethics is a code of certain rules and regulations that are essential for any particular profession. It
is really essential for the professionals to make sure that they are able to strike a proper balance
between ethics and their actions. This report has mainly tried to analyze the impact of ethical
misconduct and how can the same be avoided. For an instance, there can be a situation where a
doctor might face some ethical dilemma. He might be in a situation where he has to take a proper
decision on whether to save his position or to stay true to the ethics. The doctors and the nurses
have to be very alert during this situation. They have to make sure that nine of their actions or
decisions are causing any harm to the patients. This report has mainly tried to analyze the impact
of ethical misconduct and how can the same be avoided.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Analysis...........................................................................................................................................4
Customers or Patients-.................................................................................................................5
Managers-.....................................................................................................................................6
Board-...........................................................................................................................................7
The industry or the sector –..........................................................................................................7
Damage caused to the reputation of the organization......................................................................8
Approaches that must be taken by the company to rebuild the reputation......................................9
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
Appendices....................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
Ethics can be considered as a set of given rules and regulations that a person has to abide
by while carrying on his medical practices. For an instance, a doctor might often face several
instances where he must stay true to his ethics. The doctors and the nurses have to be very alert
during this situation (I.E et al.2017). They have to make sure that nine of their actions or
decisions are causing any harm to the patients. One such incident happened in Gosport War
Memorial Hospital. Back in the year 1990, about 456 people died because of the wrong medicine
that was given to them. These deaths were mainly caused by a drug called opioids. Dr. Barton
was the one behind prescribing g this medicine. The more shocking thing is that the show could
continue this practice until 2009. This ongoing malpractice was well known to the other staffs
like the nurses and the other medical consultants.
There were no legal actions taken place against her. However, in the year 2009, she was
brought before the general medical council and a criminal charge was filed against her. Similar
cases have taken place in other places as well. Three patients died in one of the cottage hospitals
in Portsmouth due to the heavy doses of painkillers. However, no action was taken against this
and it was said that they have been given the right amount of medication for their conditions.
This is really a scandal on the part of the hospital authority (Grigorean et al.2014). This is
because the patients come to the hospital by keeping a faith that the doctors will help them to get
rid of their disease.

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Analysis
The harmful impact of the medical professional misconduct on the lives of the patients
and their families
Customers or Patients-
To assess the impacts of professional misconduct on the patients and their family members
Janssens and Kaptein (2016) are of the opinion that ethics is one of the most important
aspect that must be kept in mind by the doctors while taking care of their responsibilities. It has
to be kept in mind that they cannot take any decision just for the sake of making any personal
profit or for the sake of staying true to the hospital policies. However, Philip Darbyshire and
Darbyshire (2018) is of the opinion that it is often very tough for doctors. Therefore, they have to
keep a proper pace and maintain a balance between hospital ethics and the patients as well.
Therefore, it is often a very tough decision for the doctor (Keyvanara and Sajadi 2015). It has to
be noted in this context that the doctors can under no chance take any risk with the lives of the
patients.
They have to make sure that they are maintaining a proper transparency with their
patients and with their family members as well. A patient has the full right to know about his or
condition. As per the ethics of the medical profession, none of the treatment or intervention
procedures must take place with the proper consent of the patients. However, just the opposite
happened in the Gosport War Memorial Hospital. Dr, Barton was found guilty of committing a
huge crime. Jaafaripooyan et al. (2018) have suggested that this crime can be rightfully called
ethical or professional misconduct. She was responsible for the death of about 456 elderly
patients who were given high doses of opioids without their consent (Liu et al.2016). This is

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indeed one of the very heinous crimes to be committed by a doctor. Moreover, not only the
doctor but also rest of the nurses and the other medical staffs were found of this similar guilt
(Philip et al.2018). They knew about this malpractice that is going on around in the hospital but
they could not do anything about it. It was only in the year 2009 when this crime was brought
before the General Medical Council and a criminal case was filed against her.
Managers-
The irresponsibility of the Gosport War Hospital managers shows the beliefs of unethical attitude
and bias.
The incident that took place at the Gosport War Hospital shows that unethical and
irresponsible acts can lead to a huge negativity and ill consequences. There was a very lame and
invalid excuse that was forwarded by the managers. It was said that they do not feel it prudent to
terminate the accused that is Dr.Braton. They thought that as the retirement period of the accused
is approaching so this is really bad on the part of the Management. It must have been the duty of
the managers to stay fair and do the fair judgment. Being the managers they must have looked
after their organizational management. Being one of the senior doctors it was not at all right on
the part of Dr. Braton to prescribe such doses to the patients.
It is clear from the case study that in spite of knowing about these malpractices they did
not take any active step to put an end to it. The unethical nature of the managers is clearly visible
from the statements that they made while the evil deeds of Dr. Braton came to the notice of the
management. However, it was only after the tough battle for 20 long years that the nurse started
giving out the shocking reality that they have witnessed at the hospital (Liu et al. 2016). They

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talked about a device called syringe driver that was attached to the back of the seriously ill
patients in order to inject the opioid drug (Janssens and Kaptein 2016). It was told that patients
having the syringe drivers would always die shortly. Hence it can be said that even if the doctor
faced a huge dilemma on whether or not to use the syringe driver she must have tested the ill
effects before using it on the patients.
Board-
The unethical behavior and misconduct of the Board of Directors had a very harmful
effect on the customers or the patients. It can be said that the Board of directors of this hospital
was also not fair. There is a huge amount of unethical practices that were going on in this
organization. Knights, Knights and Barclay (2018) have suggested that it cannot be the case that
this malpractice was kept hidden from the eye of the Board for all these years. It must also be
noted in this context that this unethical practice was being conducted from 1990 till 2009. So, it
is much unlikely that the entire incident took place without being noticed by the Board. It is also
evident from the given case study that one of the nurses fund out this unethical conduct and
wanted to bring it to the limelight but she was discouraged from doing it.
The industry or the sector –
The Gosport War Memorial Hospital incident shows the impact of such unethical
behavior on the entire reputation of the industry. This is a hospitality sector and its main
concern must have been to take care of the patients. This kind of irresponsibility is totally
unexpected as it costs the lives of so many innocent people. This was naturally intolerable by the
families of the patients who lost their lives (Ordóñez and Welsh 2015). All the family members
made it a point to fight for justice. They were also infuriated by the fact that even after being
proved guilty Barton's medical registration was not being canceled. They carried on arranging for

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several campaigns. The families of the victims made sure that Barton gets the right punishment
for her misconduct. Even after being caught red-handed Barton made some statements in front
of the media that was beyond tolerance level. She said that she was irritated from the low
resources of the hospital. She wanted to cover her fault by giving this excuse.
Damage caused to the reputation of the organization
She was of the opinion that whatever she did was because of the constant under resource
of the hospital. However, these statements triggered the anger of the families of the late patients.
They countered this statement by saying that if such were the grievances of Barton, then she
must have left the job long ago. So, it is evident that Barton was really to blame for this kind of
misconduct. It is because of her unethical behavior that all the customers develop a kind of
agony and ill feeling about the hospital. They could not keep faith over the doctors (Sguera et al.
2017). Former health minister Jeremy Hunt, however, took the responsibility of apologizing on
the behalf of the entire industry to all the families who lost their loved ones. This might be one of
the means to show that the Hospital did not overlook their ethics and their responsibilities. At the
same time, it has to be noted that apologizing cannot act as any compensation in such serious
crimes.
Thus, it is evident that the hospitals did not feel it prudent to bring this case to the
limelight. There was a very lame excuse that as given by the Board and the authorities. It was
said that they are not taking any strict actions against Dr. Braton because she will be retiring
from her post soon. However, this is really proof of sheer negligence and unethical practice on
the part of the hospital authority as they totally overlooked the death of so many people. They
also did not show any condolence or support towards the families of so many patients who lost

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their loved ones just for the irresponsibility of the people of the hospital (Keyvanara and Sajadi
2015).
Approaches that must be taken by the company to rebuild the reputation
The hospital authority must send all their equipment for proper tests in the laboratory
before using them on the patients. This will ensure that the hospital is not using any devices that
will be harmful to the patients. However, the doctors might often face some dilemma in deciding
whether or not to use any particular medicine or any particular kind of device for the patient. In
particular, if the hospital is trying to install some new devices like that of syringe drivers they
must be sending those instruments for proper testing. The hospital authorities must know about
all the good and bad impacts that any particular device might have on the patients. The hospital
must always consider keeping a thorough contact with the family members of their patients.
They have to make sure that none of the decisions are being taken without proper consultation of
the patient and their concerned families. This is one of the most important ethical considerations
of the medical field that the caregivers or the doctors make it a point to inform each and every
detail about the treatment to their patients.
Conclusion
So, it can be concluded that ethics can be termed as them moral rules and principles that
form a part of the profession. It is essential that a person tries to abide by all these rules and
regulations while he is trying to carry on all the activities of his job role. It is essential for the
hospital management to make sure that they are not implementing any rule or regulation that

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might be hindering with the ethical conduct of the doctors. There can be a policy that the doctors
have to use the newly launched medicines on their patients and see if the same can be used in the
future. Gosport War Hospital is found guilty of showing unethical behavior. This is not only an
irresponsible behavior on part of the doctor but on part of the entire management. So, it is the
duty the hospital that in future they abide by all the ethical rules and regulations of the company.
Recommendation
Thus, it can be recommended to the hospital that they must be very alert about their roles
and policies. It is the duty of the hospital authorities to make sure that they are keeping a strict
eye upon the activity of the doctors. It is the joint responsibility of the Board of Directors to
make sure that they are not becoming bias or trying to cover up their own faults. It is the duty of
any organization to accept their fault if they are really responsible for any harm caused to their
customers. The hospital must appoint a special team of inspectors who would be keeping a strict
eye upon the activities of the employees who are working with them.

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References
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Darbyshire, P., and Ion, R. (2018). The Gosport War Memorial Hospital Panel report and its
implications for nursing. Journal of advanced nursing.
Darbyshire, P., and Thompson, D. (2018). Gosport must be a tipping point for professional
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Janssens, M.R. and Kaptein, M., 2016. The ethical responsibility of companies towards animals:
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Ordóñez, L.D. and Welsh, D.T., 2015. Immoral goals: How goal setting may lead to unethical
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Appendices

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