A young doctor at a local community hospital was upset by content posted by other doctors, nurses, and interns on a popular social networking site. These doctors and nurses discussed their work, including specific cases they had. Their postings included derogatory comments and slurs about the economically disadvantaged, mentally disturbed, and homosexual clients they treated on a regular basis. They also commented that the upper-class citizenry and politicians of the city deigned not to use the services of the hospital, preferring instead to go to a large privately owned hospital outside of town. Photos of these doc-tors and nurses on their pages showed them in hospital uniforms with the logo and name of the hospital clearly visible.
The young doctor who was upset by the material viewable on the website reported it to his supervising physician. The supervisor worked with hospital administration to pursue the complaints. The hospital made sure to work with the city’s legal department to respect the First Amendment rights of the doctors and nurses involved. A hospital review board met behind closed doors to examine the complaint and the behavior of the doctors and nurses to recommend discipline in the matter.
Ultimately, the review board recommended written censure of the doctors and nurses involved along with their loss of hospital privileges for six months, during which time they were to work in the local poverty health center. They were also to participate in extensive sensitivity training programs. The hospital administration accepted the recommendations and presented them to the doctors and nurses.
The doctors and nurses accepted their discipline with the stipulation that after completing the six-month they were to return to full hospital status. The expectation of hospital administration was that the doctors and nurses would be committed to moving ahead and working to get the incident behind them, while the hospital would work to improve relationships with the community.
Responding To The Case
1. Was it appropriate for hospital administration to discipline the doctors and nurses for behavior that occurred outside the hospital environment? Why or why not?
2. If you were the supervisor who received the information regarding the social networking site postings, what would your reaction have been?
3. Was this case an example of effective discipline?Why or why not?