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Running head: ANALYSIS OF AN ETHICAL DILEMMA

Analysis of an Ethical Dilemma: Government Shutdown
Anthony Bacon
Grand Canyon University
NRS 437V
7/12/2011

There are many ethical dilemmas present today that are affecting our world and communities. In this paper I will talk about the government shutdown affecting the state of Minnesota. I will describe how this government shutdown has created many ethical and non-ethical problems for the people of Minnesota, and how this shutdown has affected healthcare in particular. The ethical background of the Minnesota government shutdown has a wide variety of problems behind it. One major problem is political in nature, and is caused by democrats and republicans not being able to solve the budget crises. Healthcare in Minnesota has also paid a price because of the government shutdown. A hospital in Southern Minnesota was unable to move forward with their expansion, this is still being help up because inspectors for the state are not able to come to the hospital and look over the building (Fox 12 Mankato, 2011). There are also other problems associated with the government shutdown, items include: nurses inability to obtain licenses, inability for nurses to start work due to background checks being shutdown, and nursing students not able to sit for boards after graduation. In addition according to kare11 this shutdown has caused 22,000 state jobs to be idled, and closed 66 parks across Minnesota (Kare11 Minneapolis-St. Paul Minnesota, 2001). Also according to the StartTribune “79% of Senate members, and 65% of House Representatives collected their paychecks in July” (Startribune, 2001). The problems associated with the government shutdown affects thousands of people across Minnesota. The people affected are left with no jobs and have family members to feed; this has caused many ethical dilemmas to occur. The problem: Legislators including Democrats, Republicans, and House of Representatives need to come together and collaborate about the budget crisis, which has paralyzed the state of Minnesota and its people. Values & ethical position: I support the people of Minnesota through this difficult time and crisis. This has caused many problems, and many people have lost their jobs. I feel terrible for the families who now have to worry about eating, or worry about the homes that they live in, and worry about being able to afford living in their homes still. This has not only affected healthcare providers but also the patients that we serve. With the shortage of nurses due to the board of nursing being shut down nursing units are left understaffed, this leads to delayed care to patients and the potential for serious harm. This is a hard issue for me to deal with; we are nurses to provide high quality and compassionate safe care to our patients. This is not possible with shortages of nursing staff. Ethically it is hard for me sit back and watch as nursing staff rush around and try to provide care to so many patients. Alternatives for problem: There are many alternatives present for this detrimental crisis. One of the most obvious alternatives would be for lawmakers to try a little harder to come to an agreement concerning the budget crisis. Lawmakers should have been more on top of time management. They know every year that his happens at the same time. Instead lawmakers where worried about their political outlook instead of looking out for the Minnesota people. Another alternative would have been to ask the people of Minnesota for feedback into this issue long before the issue turned into a shutdown. Another alternative would have been to ask for voluntary lay offs a few months back. Layoffs would have provided the state with more income and maybe a way to help balance the crisis and prevent a government shutdown. Finally, the government should have realized that fighting with each other was not going to solve any problems, and that time lost fighting has caused a state crisis. If I were going to prioritize the alternatives I would start with asking the people of Minnesota early for voluntary layoffs to help balance the budget. Next, I would have sent a survey out to the people of Minnesota for suggestions on how to fix the crisis. Finally, I would ask lawmakers to be more organized, and prioritize the problems they work on, they are aware that each year this is a concern that comes up. The consequences that are present for the alternatives above include Minnesota people have a poor attitude about layoffs, and the people not wanting to provide feedback to the State. This is especially a problem for the people of Minnesota who are not interested in politics and those who will not, or do not care about the shutdown. Plan of action: My plan of action towards this crisis would include sending out surveys to the people of Minnesota with specific questions about resolution topics. In this survey I would give sample idea about resolutions and I would have them rate the choices on a scale from 1-5, with 1 being a poor choice, and 5 being the best possible outcome. After collection of these surveys I would take the information back to the house and explain that the people of the State have spoken, and try to persuade the house to listen to the people, and try to come to a resolution. If this action has a poor outcome I would move onto my next idea and send letters to state workers asking for voluntary time off. Evaluation: The action that I chose to do above was the correct thing to try in solving a very difficult situation affecting the state of Minnesota. Even though results are not available to tell whether the actions above would solve the crisis I feel inside that they would have had a positive affect on the issue. In this paper I have discussed the budget crisis that is affecting the State of Minnesota, I have talked about alternatives that I think would help to solve this difficult situation. I have also talked about a plan of action, and have included my evaluation about the actions taken. While being faced with a situation like the one presented above is daunting and nerve racking, solutions are present to try and limit the harm that is caused to Healthcare and the patients we serve.

References
Burkhardt, M. A., & Nathaniel, A. (2008). Ethics & Issues in Contemporary Nursing (3rd ed.). Australia: Delmar-Thomson Learning.
Fox 12 Mankato (2011, July 8). Shutdown affecting inspections at Mankato Hospital. Retrieved July 12, 2011, from http://www.keyc.tv/story/15049666/shutdown-affecting-inspections-at-mankato-hospital
Kare11 Minneapolis-St. Paul Minnesota (2011, July 11). Budget impasse, shutdown enters 2nd week. Retrieved July 12, 2011, from http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=929889
Startribune (2011, July 12). Legislators shouldn't be paid during shutdown. Retrieved July 12, 2011, from http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/125428593.html

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