Bouville (2008) describes whistleblowing as the act of an employee disclosing what he or she believes is unethical or described as illegal behavior to upper management (internal whistleblowing) or to an external authorities or the public (external whistleblowing). Whistleblowers are often seen as traitors to an organization as they are believed to have violated that organization's terms of loyalty, while some are portrayed as heroes who uphold the values and ethics of humanity rather than loyalty to their company . In the medical community, it is the duty of a professional who is aware that the patient's care is under threat to make this known to those responsible and for those who are responsible to address the issues and act accordingly. The General Medical Council (GMC) has established this reporting act as a doctor's duty in its Guide to Good Medical Practice. This article will be based on an analysis of whistleblower experiences, why they chose or chose not to take such actions, and their personal views on whistleblowing in the medical community. In an ideal medical society, there should be no whistleblowing dilemma associated with medical malpractice or illegal behavior. However, these dilemmas arise when these whistleblowers disclose inside information to the public to address their personal concerns or conscience. However, it can be argued that they often have little or no choice. Lipley (2001) discusses a case in the UK where a nurse wrote to the media that elderly patients in her organization were not receiving adequate care and that this was putting their lives at risk. The appellate court ruled that its decision was right and it was reasonable and acceptable to raise these issues… halfway through the document… and at some point it absorbed the psychologically painful experience of being disloyal (Ibid ) .Works Cited Bouville, M. (2008) Whistleblowing and morality. Journal of Business Ethics. 81 (3), pp. 579-585. Jackson, D. and Raftos, M. (1997) In uncharted waters: addressing the culture of silence in a residential care institution. International Journal of Nursing Practice. 3 (1), pp. 34-39.Lipley, N. (2001) Whistleblower who wrote to newspaper wins court. Nursing standard. 16(12), p. 4.Martin, M.W. and Schinzinger, R. (2005) Ethics in engineering. 4th ed. New York: McGraw Hill.Rhodes, R. and Strain, J.J. (2004) Whistleblowing in academic medicine. Journal of Medical Ethics. 30 (1) Taubes, G. (1995) Plagiarism lawsuit wins: experts hope it doesn't set a trend. Science. 268Wilmot, S. (2000) Nurses and whistleblowing. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 32 (5), pages. 1051-1057.
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