Ethical Dilemma For An Urban Hospital In Wayne Hills

Operations Management Christian Integration Paper

Meadow Fisk

College of Business, Grand Canyon University

MGT-455 Operations Management

Professor Shortridge

April 16, 2023 Operations Management Christian Integration Paper

Small-town hospitals, especially in urban areas, face the ethical dilemma of how much blood to keep in inventory. With lives at risk and risk of blood wastage, these hospitals are in a genuine predicament. Therefore, this essay will discuss the implications of this moral dilemma for an urban hospital in Wayne Hills.

Summary

Wayne Hills is struggling to decide blood inventory levels due to low population levels, high blood prices, and the short shelf life of blood. It is shown that blood typically has a shelf life

One biblical verse that can be applied is Matthew 7:12 "Do unto others as you would wish them to do unto you” (ESV, 2008). In other words, we should treat others the way we would want to be treated. This is the fundamental ethic that guides all religions. This relates to the ethical dilemma of blood inventory levels at Wayne Hills because when an individual such as the hospital's administrators put themselves in a patient's perspective at the hospital, their opinions would change. In that case, the cost of blood would not matter; they would always want enough blood on hand to potentially save their life. So why would this opinion change when we are not the patients currently being treated at the hospital? Therefore Matthew 7:12 states that hospitals should always be prepared to handle a natural disaster and do their best to manage their blood inventory amounts so that saving money is not their primary objective, but instead being prepared to save

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that focuses on outcomes to determine right or wrong. Act Utilitarianism holds that the best choice is the one that will benefit a more significant amount of people. Rule Utilitarianism justifies the validity of laws of moral principles that are prevalent in society (Van Staveren, 2007). In this example, the Utilitarian viewpoint would be that the hospital should stay overly prepared to save the lives of many versus keeping low stocks of blood to save money. Thus, from a Utilitarian perspective, the hospital should keep 100% inventory levels for the different blood