The described case study involves multiple legal, ethical, and financial implications for a hospital administrator. First and foremost, it involves critical ethical implications: the information about a nurse with HIV is received from a third-party source (besides, this source is in close informal relationships with the administrator). Second, just as any HIV-related information, the received information is associated with multiple biases and stereotypes in society (many patients will most likely fear being treated by a nurse with HIV) (Kontomanolis, Michalopoulos, Gkasdaris, & Fasoulakis, 2017). Third, the information is legally sensitive in the sense that the nurse with HIV is concerned about the administrator’s protecting her personal data. Patients (and, most likely, the board), in turn, are concerned about being warned that they are treated by someone with HIV.
The problem solving process will primarily involve identifying key stakeholders. In this respect, there are at least four groups of stakeholders: Betty and other journalists, the nurse with HIV and employees, employees and patients, and the board. I intentionally place employees into two groups because, on the one hand, this situation relates to them because it implies threat to their privacy (in this case, they belong to the group with the nurse with HIV) and, on the other hand, it can be associated with HIV-related biases (in this case, they belong to the group with patients). Overall, the problem solving processes will focus on two tasks.
The first task is to make it clear for Betty, other journalists, the nurse with HIV, and other employees that I, as the hospital administrator, protect personal data and will not disclose it without the consent of an employee. The second task is education which is critical to eliminating stigma (Mill et al., 2014). In this respect, it is necessary to educate the board, the journalists, patients, biased employees, and other stakeholders about HIV so that they get rid of the irrational fear of working with (or being treated by) a specialist with HIV.
