Ethics Case Study

Kimberly Peralta

HCS/335

April 19, 2011

Terry Matherne

Jerry McCall is Dr. Williams’ office assistant. He has received professional training as both a medical assistant and a LPN. He is handling all the phone calls while the receptionist is at lunch. A patient calls and says he must have a prescription refill for Valium, an antidepressant medication, called in right away to his pharmacy, since he is leaving for the airport in thirty minutes. He says that Dr. Williams is a personal friend and always gives him a small supply of Valium when he has to fly. No one except Jerry is in the office at this time. What should he do?

Ethics Case Study – Jerry McCall

As an office assistant Jerry has certain duties and obligations to fulfill within his field of study, knowledge, and expertise. In this case as an office assistant Jerry has the authority and obligation to answer all phone calls and respond to them promptly, ethically, and efficiently. In this case the office assistant not only has administrative training but a limited amount of clinical training, the amount of clinical training that he does have does not qualify him to issue this refill. As an office assistant Jerry has the authority to call in only prescriptions or refills approved by the doctor. In this case as he is the only one in the office he should explain the situation to the patient and let him know that he will try his best to get in touch with Dr. Williams in order to have this prescription called in. He should let the patient know that it may not be possible to get it done within the time frame but that he will try and that he will call him back as soon as possible to let him know. Jerry as an assistant for Dr. Williams should have contact information for Dr. Williams, he should try calling the doctor and getting permission to call in this refill. However, if the doctor can not be reached then he must let the patient know that refilling this prescription at this time is not possible. Under no circumstances should he call in this refill without the doctor’s consent. If the medication requested by the patient had been to control high blood pressure it could have made a difference if the patient had been taking the medication in the past with no adverse reactions and the patient had recently been seen in the office. If the patient has recently been checked by the physician and has tolerated his blood pressure meds well in the past it is usually permissible for the assistant to call in the refill but only if this is something that Dr. Williams permits or has permitted in the past. Jerry should never do anything that Dr. Williams does not approve of under any circumstances.
Respondent Superior Respondent Superior first established in England in the seventeenth-century, is a common law doctrine that holds the employer responsible for an employees actions when they are within the scope of their job duties. If it is common for Dr. Williams’ assistants to call in prescription refills of this sort without the doctor being there then yes, Jerry would be protected under the common law Respondent Superior. (But, if this is a common practice in Dr. Williams’ office I personally would have to question the doctor’s work ethics). If it is not common practice and Jerry calls in the prescription for the medication then he would not be covered under the common law Respondent Superior. If it is something commonly done then the doctor cannot avoid liability by saying that it is note in Jerry’s normal scope of work but, on the same coin, Jerry cannot act carelessly under the assumption that he will be covered by the “ let the master answer” common law Respondent Superior.
Conclusion – My Advice to Jerry The bottom line is that Dr. Williams should have clearly defined and understood rules for each of his employees’s to follow. He should make sure that everyone in his office works within the scope of their training and that everyone knows his or her roles as an employee. Jerry and other employees should never do anything out of the scope of their area of knowledge or ability. A good role of them is when it doubt check it out. Good advice for Jerry would be to never call in a controlled substance without the doctor’s consent. Always verifying controlled substance prescriptions with the doctor is the best policy for any employee who is not qualified to prescribe medication. This is not only a good policy but sound work ethics in use. In the healthcare field all employees have the obligation to always look out for the good of the patient. In order to accomplish this obligation to the best of one’s ability no employee should ever take it upon themselves to do anything above or beyond what they were trained and taught to do.

References:

ftp://195.214.211.1/books/DVD-022/Fordney_M.T.,_Follis_J.J._Administrative_Medical_Assisting_(1998)(en)(327s).pdf

http://www.gtcc.edu/programs/healthSciences/medicalAssisting/docs/Description.pdf

http://www.lpnduties.com/