Ethical Dilemna

The other night I was taking care of a Vietnamese patient who had just had a c-section as I came on my shift. As opposed to when I admit a patient to Labor & Delivery, attend the delivery and then recover her from the birth, all I had to do was recover this particular patient from her c-section for an hour, then transfer her to the Mother-Baby unit. During the recovery, her mother approached me with her hand extended to thank me for my work. As I shook her hand, I realized that she was slipping me money. I tried to hand it back and tell her that I couldn't accept it, but neither she nor her daughter spoke a word of English, and she adamantly refused to take the money back.

At the nurses' station, I opened my hand and saw that it was $20!

I knew this was an ethics violation (we can't accept monetary gifts!), but there was nothing I could do.

Am I now going to be known as the nurse who needs to be paid off for good care?

Comments

Chameleon Man said…
Does your hospital have a policy for dealing with unsolicited gifts? I'd be surprised if this is the first time something like this happened.
March 31, 2008 10:21 AM
SKBK said…
Maybe you could use it to by her flowers. :)

(I'm sure the hospital has an ethics committee that could advise you, though.)
April 01, 2008 2:40 PM
Grand Marnier said…
No, I am sure this is not the first time anyone has been offered a monetary gift, and had the mother or the patient have spoken English I would have gladly explained why I couldn't accept the money. (As for gifts, we get non-monetary gifts all the time--food, lotion, etc.)

The hospital does have an ethics committee, and I am sure that there is a policy on our intranet somewhere, but we couldn't find it at 4 am on a Saturday morning.
April 01, 2008 8:43 PM
Josh said…
Don't hospitals take donations? I mean, even front people whose names don't go on the building or random pavilions?
April 24, 2008 4:37 PM
Anonymous said…
Try buying everyone donuts. That always works out well! (unless everyone in your unit is on a diet...)
April 25, 2008 10:17 PM
Grand Marnier said…
yes, generally hospitals do take donations, but again, trying to find who/where/when to give that money to(that, truth be told, would probably go to the administrative fees for running the hospital's foundation) at 4 am was impossible.

As for the donuts--that is TOTALLY what I should have done!

As it happened though, it paid for several lunches while I was at work.
April 26, 2008 10:02 AM
Post a Comment

Popular Posts