Assignment Task:
Read the attached assignment very carefully. It will involve, not just deliberating about a moral issue, but formulating a policy to deal with it. It will require some research into drug testing as it is practiced at numerous companies today.
You have been given the task of formulating a drug testing policy for Roosevelt Memorial Hospital. For a long time, the Hospital has resisted an industry-wide trend to rigorous drug testing of employees. That time is apparently coming to an end. An intern at Roosevelt made a fatal mistake with a patient's medication. This was the culmination of a pattern of erratic behavior on the intern's part, and it was determined that he was a heavy meth user. Local media have picked up this story, with resulting major legal troubles for the hospital, not to mention acute embarrassment.
So it is your job to formulate and justify a policy for drug testing. Questions abound. Which employees are to be tested: medical, clerical, custodial, managerial? Should all employees be tested? Should the testing involve only applicants for employment, or should current employees be subject to regular or random testing? What should the personnel department do when a drug test for someone comes back positive? Should the testing use samples of urine, saliva or hair? Should the testing apply to all illegal drugs? (For the record, Roosevelt is not located in a state where marijuana has been legalized.)
Most fundamentally, the question you have to answer is whether there is some alternative to an intrusive and expensive policy of drug testing.
Your report should set forth and justify the Hospital's new policy. As you research this issue, you will find much relevant material on the internet. You will find websites of companies that promise effective and economical drug testing, and you will find websites of companies that promise to give you the means to beat any drug test. Here is one survey of the situation you might want to look at:
Read: Pre-employment urine drug testing of hospital employees: future questions and review of current literature By M R Levine and W P Rennie
Any factual information you use in your report should be supported by citation of the source from which you obtained that information. If the source for some information is your personal observation, state this.