The main issue described in this USA Today newspaper article involves ethics involving data inaccuracy and reporting of information by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The public agency identified is: United States Department of Health and Human Services. This nursing home chain reported the highest COVID death rate. Then it deleted deaths for the USA Today newspaper, which then sent a letter to its subscribers in July 1, 2020 describing this incident. The complaint made by the USA Today newspaper is that they were informed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that Ms. Nellie Copeland Sr. is the Executive Director of the nursing home chain and her agency is responsible for informing the best nursing homes. The newspaper also states that Ms. Copeland corrected a previous error made by her agency, which she was proud of. USA Today then questions a new error that was found by saying “Now, that pride has turned to frustration.” The issue of concern is how data from nursing homes are reported to the public and auditors from the Secretary of Health Human Services’s Office (HHSO).
The key issues that tend to arise when public servants cannot be trusted are that our democratic society cannot function properly when the citizens cannot trust public officials to carry out their duties. There are a number of political implications, among them being an increase in governmental power that can be abused by those who hold it. Unfortunately, corruption is a common occurrence throughout all sectors of society, including in our government officials. The question that arises then is how to best approach this issue so that it doesn’t occur at all or has minimal impact on the people they serve while still being able to maintain some level of respect within the public sphere.
When public servants act as whistleblowers to safeguard the public the key issues that may arise are issues to do with trust, loyalty and confidentiality. The video entitled “The Flint Water Crisis” discusses this issue in more detail. Many other whistleblowers uncover issues that are not significant enough for the public to be worried about at the time and these issues often go unnoticed for some time, like in many cases, up to 10 years. Sometimes there may be a problem with the way that these kinds of whistleblowers communicate their complaints which may make it harder for them to achieve results, but also lead to there being no change in what is happening, as a result of their actions as a whistleblower.
References
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2022/04/15/trilogy-nursing-home-deletes-covid-deaths-medicare-medicaid-investigate/7319020001/https://youtu.be/nTpsMyNezPQ
