Rose-Marie Chaperon

Deontology - Making the Right Decision Can Be Difficult Sometimes



Posted: Saturday, August 27, 2011

by Rose-Marie Chaperon
Chaperon Consulting, LLC

In life, career, and in our everyday interactions with others, there are certain rules which we absolutely have to obey and there are some actions that we must never perform. When I think of deontology morality comes to mind: Deontologists who are also moral absolutists believe that some actions are wrong no matter what consequences follow from them. I was once caught in making a decision where my moral duty and moral obligation would have been compromised no matter what decision I made at the time.

I was involved in a case while working as a consultant for a hospital. The company I worked for was called on to conduct an audit of a patient accounting system for a small hospital in the Midwest. The contract, upon execution would have generated over 2 million dollars for the company I worked for.  The hospital CFO signed the contact and, two days later I started working for the facility.  During my initial assessment, I uncovered a few discrepancies related to missing money and misapplication of patients and insurance refunds for closed to 1.7 million dollars. Upon the discovery I realized that the hospital CFO was the culprit. I reported the incident to my boss and notified him that I had a fiduciary responsibility to report the theft to the hospital board.

I found myself caught in-between a decision that not only would have caused my company to lose millions of dollars from the contract however; at the same time I was morally and ethically obligated to report the theft. Although my boss at the time forbade me from reporting the crime, I went against his rules and reported it. In my opinion, there was no way I was going to compromise my integrity for this person. A theft was discovered, I had to report it.

Opposing view: What if I was the owner of the company I was working for, would I have reported the crime? Would I allow my moral obligation to cost me to lose a two million dollars contract? Would I have acted differently by closing my eyes and allow this CFO to continue on committing his fraudulent acts. As the owner of this company and not reporting this crime, would the end justify the means? Would I have compromised my integrity to make a few million dollars? Perhaps yes and perhaps no. in this case I am not sure how I would have reacted. Deontological thought contests this way of thinking by contending that it is immoral not to report a crime despite the fact that my company’s future may be in jeopardy.  Deontology states that one does not need to impoverish oneself to the point of worthlessness simply to satisfy one's moral obligations.  In this case where would my moral obligation lie? With my company or the company I represent.     
Rose-Marie Chaperon also works as a Director of Revenue Cycle for healthcare operations. Rose-Marie's experience is process improvement and redesigning patient access and patient financial services areas. Rose Marie is an exceptional A/R guru and has held many Business Office and Patient Financial Services positions throughout her twenty-year tenure in revenue cycle. She is a very proactive leader and the kind of person who can direct a group of people towards their goals. Rose Marie has experience with a variety of software systems and led three hospitals through a system conversion during her assignments there. Rose-Marie is a Certified Healthcare Access Manager (CHAM). Rose-Marie can be reached via e-mail: rosechaperon@hotmail.com or rchaperon@shenahaiti.org

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