ETHICAL PROBLEMS
Susan A. Salladay PhD, RN

$3.95 		Nursing2013
April 2011 
Volume 41  Number 4
Pages 12 - 13
 
  PDF Version Available!

ABSTRACT
Last week I received a request that caught me off guard. The vice president (VP) of nursing asked me to tell him what I know about a colleague's behavior. The colleague in question has been accused of discrimination by another employee. I do have some concerns about this colleague because I've heard certain nurses complain about her demeaning comments to them.I told the VP that I'd get back to him, but now that I've thought it over, I'm reluctant to say anything. I'm not sure how fairly hospital administration is handling the situation, and I don't know that my input would be objective or factual. Ethically, do I have a responsibility to share what I know with the VP?-J.F., COLO.Humorously (but realistically) speaking, check your job description to see if it requires colleague surveillance. Hearsay describes information that you didn't hear yourself but that someone reported to you second-hand. Another word for it is gossip. I doubt your professional responsibilities include a requirement to share gossip with administration.If you're uncomfortable responding to the VP's fact-finding mission, by all means, don't. You can refuse diplomatically with a simple e-mail stating, "I don't have any information to share with you about the individual or the situation you asked me about." Just be careful not to use anyone's name in the e-mail. You're not obligated to explain your statement or justify your decision. Your personal opinion about your colleague's behavior is nobody's business but your own unless you have reason to believe that patient safety or a nurse's competence is compromised.As a home healthcare nurse, I care for two home-bound patients whose family members are "killing them with kindness." One patient is too debilitated from emphysema to go out for cigarettes, so he pays his teenage grandson to buy them using a fake ID. The other patient, who can't get out of bed due to her obesity, bullies her son and daughter-in-law into feeding her junk food by threatening

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