Gender Discrimination: Rolling Meadows Community Hospital ROLLING MEADOWS COMMUNITY HOSPITAL is a 200-bed acute care facility located in an affluent suburb of a major metropolitan area in the Midwest. The hospital is highly regarded in the community, especially for its obstetrics program and innovative birthing center, its ambulatory care program, and its geriatrics center. The hospital is supported by a large group practice of young, well-trained primary care physicians who occupy an adjacent medical office building owned by the hospital. Despite turmoil in healthcare delivery during the past decade, Rolling Meadows has remained financially strong. Indeed, it has prospered in an environment that quickly became dominated by managed care in recent years. Rolling Meadows was well positioned for such changes. Its financial stability, its strong primary care base, and its modern facilities predicted success. In addition, its location among the Rolling Meadows for which it is named and its proximity to an exclusive golf course make the hospital a desirable place of employment for professional and non-professional staff alike. John Waverly has been the CEO of Rolling Meadows for five years. The hospital’s governing board had conducted a national search and aggressively recruited John, who at 42 years old was an up-and-coming HMO executive on the West Coast. The board still congratulates itself on its foresight and wisdom. John was just what Rolling Meadows needed to make the hospital a major player in the then-emerging managed care market. The hospital has thrived under John’s leadership and has compensated him well for his efforts. In addition, John continues to enjoy the favor of a governing board that, although conservative, has remained supportive of his innovative management style. John is the envy of his peers in other, more beleaguered healthcare institutions and, at age 47, he feels good about his professional achievements and status. In retrospect, his decision to take the CEO position at Rolling Meadows had been a good one. At the time of his recruitment, John had major reservations about relocating to the Midwest, especially to the conservative community surrounding Rolling Meadows. He wasn’t sure his wife and children would easily adjust. Indeed, they have never fully embraced this community, a fact that continues to be a source of tension in John’s life. In the beginning, John had also been uneasy about his credentials and unsure about how well his educational background would translate to the delivery side of healthcare. John knew he would have to work especially hard to compensate for his lack of hospital experience. Six months ago, John hired a bright, ambitious postgraduate fellow from a prestigious university program in hospital administration. At the time, John was about to enter into discussions with two nearby powerful healthcare financing and delivery systems, both of which wanted Rolling Meadows to become a part of their multi-hospital structure. John knew that these discussions and evaluations of any proposals they submitted would be time consuming and demand a great deal of research and preparation. Having a capable postgraduate fellow on board to perform staff work appeared to be a win-win situation. The arrangement would provide both valuable experiences for the fellow and needed manpower for the organization. John especially liked the idea of working with someone who was well schooled in the latest academic trends in healthcare administration. Over the past six months, the partnership proved to be as fruitful as expected. The CEO and his young protégée worked closely together for long hours and weekends, and Rolling Meadows benefited greatly from their hard work. John and his protégée found themselves celebrating success after success. It was a most enjoyable partnership. She admired and respected John; he was flattered by her admiration. He found himself seeking out opportunities to spend more and more time with her. She began accompanying him to all of his meetings, even those unrelated to her assigned projects. He looked for educational conferences in attractive locations where the two of them enjoyed fine dining and upscale accommodations. Now her fellowship was nearing its close, and she approached John about her future career plans. Her performance evaluations had been outstanding, as indeed had been her accomplishments. Rolling Meadows had profited greatly from her efforts, and she fully expected to be awarded a postgraduate fellowship position. After all, many of her peers already had received job offers from their fellowship organizations even though they had no significant accomplishments to report from their fellowship experiences. John had been an outstanding mentor, and her admiration and respect for him bordered on hero worship. John was not unprepared for this discussion. After much thought, he had decided it would not be prudent for him to offer her a position at Rolling Meadows. He candidly explained the situation to her. Her performance was outstanding, many had noted her professionalism, and she was a brilliant strategist. But, he said, he was personally attracted to her and he felt this attraction was reciprocated. He believed that if they continued to spend time together, this attraction would escalate to a physical relationship. He offered to help her in her job search by providing impeccable references and contacting his colleagues in progressive, innovative organizations where her talents would be showcased. She was astonished and humiliated. In view of her accomplishments and her close working relationship with John, she assumed a position was a given. She felt used and betrayed. Angry, she said this treatment constituted nothing other than sexual harassment. John believed this remark was an idle threat and that reason would overcome her emotional outburst. The following day, John received a phone call from a member of the governing board informing him that an executive session of the board had been scheduled to discuss “this appalling situation” and the action that should be taken to avert a lawsuit. He told John to be prepared to respond to the allegations at this meeting, and if they were accurate, he should consider resignation to spare the hospital any adverse publicity. John was surprised by the call and by the tone of the conversation but felt confident that he had done nothing wrong. In fact, he believed he had honestly appraised the potential dangers of his relationship with the fellow and had avoided any misconduct. He believed his actions had been in the best interests of the organization and that the governing board would agree.
Question: In the above case study, a health care executive is faced with an ethical problem. a). Explain the executive’s issue. b) Proposed a solution to the issue
