Willful Blindness
The deliberate omission of information that might be upsetting or difficult to see is referred to as “willful blindness,” according to Margaret Heffernan. Individuals, organizations, and groups may engage in this activity, which can be harmful. Heffernan uses the town of Libby to demonstrate how W.R. Grace & Co. purposefully exposed the community’s residents to asbestos over time, resulting in significant sickness and fatalities. Despite clear warnings and proof of the risks associated with asbestos, the company tragically decided to continue operating. A psychological condition known as “willful blindness” occurs when individuals or groups consciously choose to ignore or avoid upsetting, uncomfortable, or challenging information. This behaviour can sometimes have terrible consequences and lead to passivity (Shane, 7). Willful blindness is frequently associated with unethical behaviour, even though it can occur in other circumstances, such as safety, security, or regulatory compliance.
Initially used in a legal context, the word “willful blindness” has since been used in several contexts, including business, medicine, and politics. In the business world, willful blindness can manifest in various ways, including disregarding unethical behaviour, failing to address safety concerns, or breaking the law. It can also occur at all organizational levels, from entry-level employees to senior executives. To solve the willful blindness issue, a business must create a culture of honesty, accountability, and moral behaviour (Pappalardo and Kylie, np). Employees should be urged to bring up management concerns, provided with the resources and assistance they need to do so, and held accountable for their actions or omissions. Companies ought to encourage a learning atmosphere where mistakes and failures are seen as opportunities for improvement.
A good example of deliberate ignorance in business is Enron. The company’s top executives knowingly ignored or misrepresented its financial position, which led to its collapse and significant harm to investors and workers. In the medical field, willful blindness can occur when physicians fail to reveal errors or safety concerns, putting patients in danger.
Unrocked Boat
According to J. Shane, the idea of the unrocked boat emphasizes the dangers of organizational mishaps because both active failures and latent conditions can cause them. Active failures, such as human error, subpar machinery, and environmental variables, directly and instantly cause accidents. However, the real causes of accidents are latent conditions, such as organizational culture, management choices, or resource limitations (Shane, 7). In contrast to the immediate causes or active failures, the phrase “unrocked boat” refers to the root causes of accidents or incidents. The unrocked boat can be compared to the latent conditions that increase the likelihood of mishaps occurring or the severity of those that do. The unrocked boat model was developed by psychologist James Reason, who studied the factors that lead to accidents in high-risk industries, such as incidents or components; accidents are usually the product of a combination of latent conditions and active failures.
Things like company culture, resource constraints, communication issues, or a lack of adequate training and supervision can all contribute to latent conditions. On the other hand, active failures are the real causes of an incident, such as human error, faulty machinery, or outside factors. According to the unrocked boat model, avoiding accidents by focusing only on active failures is ineffective because it neglects their underlying causes. Organizations need to understand the fundamental problems that result in latent conditions, which cause accidents, and deal with them. To handle the unrocked boat at Rutgers Business school, organizations must adopt a systemic approach that addresses both the underlying and immediate issues (10). This involves fostering a safety culture, spending money on oversight and training, setting up effective reporting and communication systems, and ensuring that rules and regulations are followed.
An example of an incident that meets these definitions occurred in 2010 with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The explosion that caused the oil rig to sink and the subsequent massive oil spill that severely harmed the ecosystem and economy of the Gulf of Mexico was an active failure. The accident’s underlying causes, however, were also significant. These included a need for more suitable safety procedures and training, shoddy coordination among the various parties concerned, and a preference for cost-cutting over safety. Another example is the Volkswagen (VW) Diesel Fraud Scandal, where defeat devices were put in diesel engines to avoid being subjected to pollution testing (Shane, 7). The driving force behind this active failure was the strain to succeed in the competitive automotive industry. However, there were underlying causes, including a profit-driven culture, a lack of responsibility and transparency, and ineffective governmental oversight.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011 exemplifies an unrocked watercraft at work. An active failure occurred when the reactors broke down and discharged radioactive material due to the earthquake and wave. However, among the root causes of the disaster were a dearth of crisis planning, poor management-to-worker communication, and insufficient safety measures (Pappalardo and Kylie, np). Another example is the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, which claimed 72 lives in a high-rise domestic structure in London. There were underlying problems with inadequate fire safety procedures, a lack of supervision and regulation, and a culture of cost-cutting and carelessness, in addition to the obvious failure of the fire that began and spread rapidly.
In conclusion, the concepts of willful blindness and the unrocked boat highlight how important it is to handle both the immediate causes and underlying causes of accidents, unethical behaviour, and other kinds of damage. In the wake of business scandals or public health disasters, organizations must adopt a proactive approach that promotes accountability, transparency, and ethical behaviour. Additionally, this proactive approach must address problems like cultural pressure to succeed, a lack of regulatory compliance, and a reluctance to recognize potential risks. This will help minimize damage to individuals and society as a whole, promoting sustainability and long-term success.
Work Cited
Pappalardo, Kylie. A New Framework for Intermediary Liability: Copyright, Causation and Control on the Internet. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023.
Rutgers Business School. Supply Chain Risk and Disruption Management. (2013) 1-13
Shane. J. Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework. (2013): 1-14 http://www.springer.com/978-3-319-00040-4
Health Issue Analysis Paper Free Writing Sample
For more years, American families have been plagued by the high cost of healthcare and impact choices regarding insurance reportage and treatment seeking, among other things. Steven Brill’s “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us,” published in Time magazine in 2013, and T.R. Reid’s “America’s Bitter Pill Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System,” featured on NPR Health News in 2015. These pieces critically critique the American healthcare system and a gripping story that illuminates the institution’s inner workings. This study will extensively analyze these two studies, emphasizing their primary concepts, the author’s conclusions, and the potential consequences of their results.
Bitter Pill Presents Four Major Ideas
Steven Brill’s patch “Bitter Pill” delves into the shortcomings and unforeseen repercussions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the larger healthcare business in the United States. The chase is the four major principles provided in the essay, as well as examples used by the author to exemplify each point:
Healthcare is Expensive
The writer examines how the United States has the world’s highest healthcare prices and how these costs are ascent at an alarming pace. Scophthalmus rhombus provides various instances of outrageous hospital rates and compares them to what Medicare pays. For a troponin rip test, one hospital, for example, emotional a non-Medicare affected role $199.50. A Medicare patient was supercharged $13.94. A CBC at another institution would have cost the patient $157.61. A Medicare patient was charged $11.02 (Brill, 2013). The legislation has helped millions of Americans access health insurance, but it has yet to resolve the system’s issues entirely.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has flaws, but it is a positive move in the right direction. Republicans were ferociously opposed to the ACA, resulting in concessions that undermined the bill. Even though millions of Americans obtained insurance coverage and other advantages due to the ACA’s policies — the uninsured population vanished by 9-12 million during the first year the law’s primary reportage measures were enacted – the law’s political roots remain unstable.
Hospitals’ Role in Cost Increases
The writer argues that hospitals are often the primary driver of rising healthcare expenses. Hospitals often engage in aggressive charge methods and demand high charges for anything from medical examination treatments to simple materials. The clause also discusses how third-party intermediaries like pharmaceutic profit managers (PBMs), medical equipment providers, and insurance firms have contributed to inflated healthcare prices. For example, the author tells the incident of an emotional patient, $18,000 for medical equipment that only undefined $300 to manufacture. A third-party distributor supplied the token to a medical exam equipment provider, who sold it to the hospital. Each jobber increased their profit margins, greatly raising the device’s price (Brill, 2013). another model of exorbitant medical checkup expenses cited by the writer is a $1,500 tear for a unity Tylenol tablet.
The Economic Effects of the Healthcare Industry in the United States
Steven Brill argues in his piece “Bitter Pill” that the healthcare industries’ effect on American thriftiness has resulted in a system of rules in which healthcare expenses are not suitably controlled. The writer points out that the healthcare business is a John Roy Major engine of the US economy and spends more money on lobbying than other manufacturers in the country. Brill claims that the senior high school cost of healthcare is the moment of a complex web of variables, including high school undefined and administrator salaries, the expense of medical malpractice insurance, a miss of damage transparency, and the usage of expensive medical equipment (Brill, 2013). Besides, he claims that the pharmaceutical industry’s lobbying activities have resulted in a lack of medicament pricing control and soaring prescription drug expenses.
Brill also emphasizes that some hospitals and healthcare systems function as non-profit entities, allowing them to keep off paid taxes while making enormous profits. He observes that senior executives’ wages at these non-profit hospitals surpass $1 trillion annually, and numerous executives earn considerable bonuses on top of their already high incomes. This concept is demonstrated by the story of a lady who got a $31,000 charge from an infirmary after getting a Connecticut scan (Brill, 2013). The instruction contained a $3,800 bung for using the Constitution State equipment, which the hospital had already paid off.
The Grandness of Reform
The American healthcare system has long wanted change, and Steven Brill’s Bitter Pill patch highlights the fundamental problems in the existing system. Among the challenges are excessive prices, more transparency, and a focus on profits above patient worry. The Affordable Care Act was a huge take-up in the right direction, but it is meager to figure out the fundamental faults in the healthcare system (Brill, 2013). health care prices have been a barrier to access for umpteen People, and this is a make out that must be addressed. Moreover, the need for price transparency and the system’s complexity makes it unmanageable for customers to make educated healthcare choices. The system’s core flaws must be addressed to accomplish the operational transformation. It will need legislative assembly measures to guarantee acceptable and obvious pricing and populace pressure to ensure that the healthcare system is focused on patient care rather than profits.
The Four Main Concepts in the NPR Health News Article
The article “America’s Bitter Pill” examines many key themes near the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its probable mold on healthcare in the United States. The pursuit is the four key themes self-addressed in the article:
The ACA’s Unintended Consequences: The Growth of High-Deductible Health Plans
According to the report, the ACA has sudden repercussions, such as increased high-deductible health plans. As reported to the author, the ACA has increased high-deductible insurance plans, which put the responsibility of healthcare expenditures onto consumers and English hawthorn cause financial trouble for populate with substantial medical problems. Although the ACA has improved access to insurance for many individuals, it has not necessarily successful healthcare more inexpensive or accessible, according to the author. To demonstrate this argument, the writer provides instances of individuals who had experienced fiscal difficulty due to vaunting deductibles and out-of-pocket payments, even when they had insurance. The article likewise mentions how high-deductible plans might deter individuals from getting medical treatment when needed, which can top to more substantial health concerns later on (NPR, 2015)
The ACA as a Profession Compromise
According to the report, the ACA was a professional compromise that eventually failed to turn into galore of the first harmonic issues in the healthcare business. As reported to the author, the ACA was a faulty answer to the issue of healthcare get at and cost because it was created to be a professional compromise that could pass through Congress quite than a nail solution to the United States healthcare dilemma (NPR, 2015). The author points out that the ACA was unsuccessful in addressing some underlying healthcare issues, such as a lack of terms transparency, the high school cost of medical procedures, and the influence of insurance and pharmaceutical firms in pushing expenses upwards.
To demonstrate this argument, the writer gives instances of medical providers charging wasteful costs, such as a hospital asking $77 for a box of veiling pads that could be obtained for $1.27 at a nearby drugstore (NPR, 2015). The author also emphasizes lobbyists’ and special interest groups’ participation in designing the final form of the ACA, which resulted in concessions that watered down several of its essential features.
The ACA’s Ineffective Approach to Addressing High health care Costs
According to the paper, the ACA did not properly address the problem of excessive healthcare prices. Undefined its objective of making health care cheaper, the ACA needed to address the fundamental factors contributing to the country’s high school healthcare expenditures. According to the author, the miss of price competition in the healthcare business, along with the highly undefined medical procedures and the pharmaceutic industry’s influence, has contributed to the high undefined for healthcare in the United States. To demo this argument, the author gives instances of immoderate medication prices, such as one that costs $93,000 for a course of therapy and a lack of transparency in checkup procedure pricing (NPR, 2015). The author also points out that the Affordable Care Act does not address the large administrative expenses involved with the healthcare system, which are among the highest in the world.
Reforming The Healthcare System On an Operational Level Will Be Difficult Because of Political and Economic Forces.
The essay argues that the professional and economic barriers preventing improving the healthcare system for pregnant women are still in place. The author contends that the same political and economic reasons that prevented successful healthcare reform in the past, such as the influence of lobbyists and the business interests of medical providers and insurance corporations, continue to exist and prevent significant change. These reasons include the influence of lobbyists and the business interests of medical providers and insurance corporations. If these underlying concerns are not addressed, the author believes that healthcare reform will become a political football passed back and forth between various professional organizations.
The author provides examples of the impact that special interest groups have had on formulating healthcare policy, much like the pharmaceutical industry’s lobbying tactics to secure its earnings, to establish the validity of this notion. In addition, the author discusses how the financial interests of medical practitioners and insurance companies could cause conflicts that impede the successful straightening of healthcare issues (NPR, 2015).
In the article “America’s Bitterness Pill,” by Steven Brill, the author describes how an organism and a patient’s function influenced his viewpoint on healthcare. Because of his health problem, he had to undergo several medical examinations and procedures, so he became familiar with the workings of the healthcare system. As a writer, he was still responsible for addressing systemic problems in the healthcare industry, such as the excessive cost of drugs and the lack of openness regarding the extent of the damage. Nevertheless, as a patient, he experienced firsthand the difficulties associated with dealing with insurance companies, ambiguous medical bills, and difficulty obtaining affordable care (NPR, 2015). Because of this, he concluded that the healthcare system is broken and urgently needs reform.
A Brief Analysis of Two Articles
“Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us” and “America’s Bitter Pill Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System,” shed light on the intricacies and issues of the American healthcare system. The book “Bitter Pill” by Steven Brill reveals the excessive expenses of healthcare and the hidden fees and markups that make it difficult for individuals to finance medical treatment. On the other hand, “America’s Bitter Pill” delves into the professional and economic aspects contributing to the country’s flawed healthcare system.
These stories demonstrate that the married States’ healthcare system desperately needs change. Inefficiencies, high school expenses, and restricted access for galore people hinder the system. Although the ACA has resulted in advances, more is needed to turn to the fundamental issues. Both publications suggest increased openness and accountability in the healthcare system are needed as possible remedies. It involves tackling the problem of unexpected medical expenses, instituting pricing limits, and letting down administrative costs. Moreover, they recommend policies that encourage preventative care and go by the intensity from profit to patient care.
I concur with the authors’ findings. The American healthcare system desperately needs change, and although the ACA was a move in the right way, it needed to go further to solve the industry’s subjacent flaws. But, it is equally critical to recognize that healthcare sees the light as a complicated topic without simpleton answers. With the Sami data, strange conclusions English hawthorn be formed, such as the need for stronger government control of the healthcare business or the want to tackle socioeconomic problems that lead to poor health outcomes. Before passing judgment on the respect and significance of these publications, it is necessary to pass judgment on other selective information, such as the perspectives of healthcare stakeholders, the standard political atmosphere surrounding healthcare reform, and the possible repercussions of various reform plans. Viewing these publications critically is necessary, acknowledging that the writers have biases and opinions that may bear upon their results.
To conclude, the United States healthcare system is in undefined require of change, and these two documents give useful insights into the difficulties and possible solutions. By addressing the fundamental concerns of undefined access and the political and economic forces that contribute to the impoverished system, the married States may progress toward a healthcare system of rules that inevitably prioritizes patients while promoting overall wellness and well-being.
References
Brill, S. (2013, April 4). A Bitter pill: Why medical bills are killing us. Time. Retrieved March 22, 2023, from https://time.com/198/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/
NPR. (2015, January 5). ‘America’s bitter pill’ makes a case for why Health Care Law ‘won’t work.’ NPR. Retrieved March 22, 2023, from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/01/05/375024427/americas-bitter-pill-makes-case-for-why-health-care-law-wont-work
Health Promotion Plan Essay Example
Health promotion is more important than ever when it comes to solving problems with public health. It is all about giving individuals more say in their health care and giving them tools to make positive changes. This strategy shifts the emphasis away from changing people’s actions and toward changing larger systems in society and the natural world. Health promotion is essential to public health because it helps communities, organizations, and people face and overcome health issues. Teenage pregnancy is one public health issue. Pregnancy among teenagers rises when women are denied autonomy over their sexual and reproductive lives. This paper aims to discuss teen pregnancy and highlight factors favoring its occurrence and a hypothetical health promotion plan to address this issue. Teenage mothers need information and support to make informed choices about their health and futures, including access to quality healthcare and sex education.
Scenario
Mary, a sixteen-year-old girl, gets into a romantic relationship. According to Mary, all her female friends had boyfriends, and thus she would not be the odd one out. The two hang along in their relationship, and within eight months, Mary gets pregnant. According to Mary, inadequate reproductive and sexual education contributes to many teenagers getting pregnant. As a result of the pregnancy, Mary drops out of school to nurse her pregnancy and the unborn child. Apart from keeping her away from school, this condition exposes Mary to several adverse outcomes, including being a single mother and living in poverty.
Demographic Data
Teenagers compose of individuals between 13 years and 19 years. This paper takes special interest in evaluating teenage pregnancy among Hispanic Americans. At 18.9 percent, they are the second largest racial or ethnic group in America, behind non-Hispanic whites. There has been a steady decline in the teen birthrate in the United States, with 2019 decreasing to 16.7 births per 1,000 females (Liang et al., 2019). Teen birth rates in 2019 were more than twice as high for non-Hispanic Black at 25.3%, and Hispanic adolescents at 12.5% for non-Hispanic White teens.
Factors Contributing to Increase in Teenage Pregnancy and Benefits of a Health
Promotion Educational Plan
Hispanic adolescent pregnancy and birth rates are disproportionately high, mostly due to their low socioeconomic status (Zori et al., 2023). Similarly, Hispanic teenagers may not think the challenges they encounter as parents at that age are any more significant than the challenges they confront as members of a minority group. However, during economic stability, adolescent pregnancy rates among the poor fell, indicating that young people would wait to have children if given a chance. Pregnancy rates were shown to be lower in households where parents were very supportive. However, low-socioeconomic status concerns, including family breakdown and parental imprisonment, may impede the provision of such help. Hispanic youth with low levels of parental supervision are more likely to engage in sexually hazardous conduct and have children at a young age.
Health promotion activities would increase access to contraception. This can be achieved by intensifying reproductive health education in schools and remotely. Remote reproductive health education can be done via posters in public areas and the issuance of informative fliers or booklets in schools and public offices. A holistic health promotion incorporates teenagers, parents, religious leaders, and the education system. Parents should be free with their children to discuss and guide them on sexual reproduction.
Health Promotion Goals
Health promotion initiatives aim to reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy among Hispanic populations by at least 10% annually. Using a sociogram, the key stakeholders can identify the demographic skewness of populations affected by teen pregnancy and place equal effort to contain the situation. Access to such information effectively mobilizes people and marshals them toward a new view of things. It is vital to address cultural and economic factors that facilitate teen pregnancy. Sexual and reproductive health education among the affected populations should be available to everyone (Plesons et al., 2019). This way, it becomes a community burden to contain the issue.
Potential Learning Needs and Group’s Current Behaviors
The greatest need for this population is building awareness. Through integrated sexual and reproductive health, teenagers, parents, and society are empowered to act against teenage pregnancy. This endeavor calls for collaboration among healthcare providers, religious leaders, and the education sector. The SMART goals here are to reduce the prevalence of teenage pregnancy by 10% every year, to promote the attainment of quality health outcomes and avoid health complications like fistula associated with teenage pregnancy, and to achieve healthy births for all. Most children born by teen mothers are often underweight, making it a goal for this initiative to achieve healthy births for all. This is achievable through collaboration among responsible stakeholders.
The individual behavior of this population is engagement in irresponsible sexual affairs facilitated majorly by low economic status. Through education, this population is enlightened on the negative outcomes associated with teenage pregnancy and how it affects their social and economic development. Thorough awareness and increased education for the population is effectively prepared to address the challenge.
Conclusion
The financial, social, and health expenses of parenting a child at a young age are high. It is well documented that teen mothers have a far higher educational failure rate and career difficulties. Children born to teenage mothers are more likely to have health problems, be institutionalized, die as infants or young children, and grow up to become teenage mothers themselves. For Hispanic youth, alone or with their families, to make the healthiest, most educated choices possible, there has to be a balance between cultural awareness and the availability of a wide range of resources.
References
Liang, M., Simelane, S., Fortuny Fillo, G., Chalasani, S., Weny, K., Salazar Canelos, P., Jenkins, L., Moller, A., Chandra-Mouli, V., Say, L., Michielsen, K., Engel, D. M. C., & Snow, R. (2019). The state of adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Journal of Adolescent Health, 65(6), S3-S15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.09.015
Plesons, M., Cole, C. B., Hainsworth, G., Avila, R., Va Eceéce Biaukula, K., Husain, S., Janušonytė, E., Mukherji, A., Nergiz, A. I., Phaladi, G., Ferguson, B. J., Philipose, A., Dick, B., Lane, C., Herat, J., Engel, D. M. C., Beadle, S., Hayes, B., & Chandra-Mouli, V. (2019). Forward, together: A Collaborative path to comprehensive adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights in our time. Journal of Adolescent Health, 65(6), S51-S62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.09.009
Zori, G., Walker, A. F., King, L., Duncan, R. P., Dayton, K., & Foti, S. (2023). The impact of state policy on adverse teen sexual health outcomes in the United States: A scoping review. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 20(1), 160–176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-022-00770-3