An organizational ethics decision-making process.

The management team of Memorial Medical Center must make a decision regarding the continuation of one of its outpatient clinics, which provides needed healthcare to a low-income part of the metropolitan area.

Abstract

The management team of Memorial Medical Center must make a decision regarding the continuation of one of its outpatient clinics. To provide better community service, MMC developed three outpatient clinics throughout a large metropolitan area. Over the past several years, one of the clinics has consistently been a financial loser. The losses have grown even as the costs of maintaining the clinic have increased. A primary reason for the negative financial performance is the high amount of nonreimbursed healthcare services-the clinic provides needed healthcare to a low-income part of the metropolitan area. Several members of the executive management team believe MMC has no alternative other than closing the clinic. One member of the management team, however, believes that the situation raises ethical concerns, and that executive seeks an ethics-grounded response to the problem.