"Statement of Ethical Values
- Integrity. We will conduct ourselves with integrity in our dealings with and on behalf of the University.
- Excellence. We will conscientiously strive for excellence in our work.
- Accountability. We will be accountable as individuals and as members of this community for our ethical conduct and for compliance with applicable laws and University policies and directives.
- Respect. We will respect the rights and dignity of others."-from my employers code of ethics
Every year I am required to take my employer's ethics PowerPoint presentation. In fact, I just took this ethics training two weeks ago. In this presentation, we are given example after example of how to conduct ourselves ethically. All ethical violations are expected to be reported through our employer ethics or whistle blower hotline.
For months I had been hearing from community vaccine coordinators, whom I had been training on vaccine management best practices, that they have let expire tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of funded adult vaccine (these are vaccines purchased by the government and given freely to qualified clinics to dispense to uninsured adults). The reasons are varied but the bottom line is the agency which oversees these vaccines failed to oversee and account for these vaccines. I was told multiple times from the vaccine coordinators that this agency not only told them not to worry about using these vaccines but it is okay for them to expire. And incredibly they did just that. At first, I didn't believe this was what true until I started running reports proving the vaccine loss they alleged was true.
As a vaccine advocate, an accountant of vaccines, and a taxpayer, I was shocked to hear of the exorbitant loss of unused and expired doses of vaccines. These vaccines were earmarked for uninsured adults who cannot afford the high cost of being protected from diseases such as shingles, meningitis, Hepatitis B, pneumonia, etc. This was not just the loss of vaccine but the opportunity to provide immunological protection to a vulnerable population reducing the burden and cost of getting the disease.
Immediately I notified the regional director of vaccine agency involved, my medical director, my administrative director, and the clinical nursing supervisor of public health. To say it caused even a blip of concern would be an understatement. It was unbelievable to me that my colleagues in public health did not even register outrage at the cost and loss of this amount of the vaccine.
I could not get my head wrapped around the institutional indifference I had encountered. Remembering my ethics training, I called the state whistle blower. That was a big mistake. The crackerjack ethics intake person could not even identify the Department of Health as being an agency under the state auspices he was suppose to be ethically counseling and kept wanting to dump me on the Federal whistle blower program. When he finally got the Department of Health is under our state government, he did everything in his power to be as unhelpful as possible. Quickly I realized that this is one of the many reasons why decent people who witness fraud and waste don't bother to report it. Not only are the ethics people uninterested in taking the information, but they couldn't even identify the very agency they are supposed to be providing ethical support. Exasperated, I gave up on the whistle blower idea. I had no idea of how to proceed but I wanted someone to acknowledge and accept responsibility for a costly systemic failure so it doesn't threaten the importance of continued funding for immunization.
An opportunity arose weeks later at our state conference. Coincidentally, state administrators were delivering a gloriously spun presentation on what a great job they did with the launch of their adult vaccine pilot; this included metrics on the number of vaccines which were administered. But they had no data noting the amount of wasted and expired vaccines. It was a risky political gambit to bring up the dirty laundry of vaccine waste in front of the whole state conference; doing this made me feel like a traitor. My disclosure brought audible gasps from the audience when I divulged how much vaccine was lost. Unbeknownst to me, the State Medical Director was also in that session and heard my every word. After the meeting, she met with me and vowed to audit the vaccine program. She is known to be a woman of integrity-I trusted her to do the right thing and she did. Now there is more oversight of this vaccine.
What did I learn from this? Though my State and university does a spectacular job promoting the idea of ethics, it is well known their whistle blower program is the last thing you would do if you have a serious issue with ethics. Why? Because they are first and foremost assessing their liability for lawsuits. You would be sincerely deluded to actually think they care about the outrageous unethical violation you discovered. The bottom line for them appears to be about face and money saving. That's why people go to the media instead of becoming a whistle blower-at least the media take us seriously. Secondly, no matter what the ethics people say, the employer will protect the powerful directors and managers from the consequences of their alleged violations to avoid embarrassment and scandal. And finally, there is no one to defend you from retaliation in spite of their assurances you will be legally shielded.
My colleagues at the agency I exposed have all frozen me out. Of course this is understandable; the emperor not only has no clothes but will have a hard time explaining where the clothes went. The question haunts me if I should have overlooked their costly mistake with silence. After all, they are all good workers and people I had previously respected. The grueling decision to speak out was agonizing. What always came back to me was, as an advocate and accountant of these very expensive vaccines, my conscience would not allow me say nothing. Because of this, I am in an unenviable position of exposing something I wish I had never learned. Until the day I retire, I will be considered a workplace snitch and be ostracized. Fortunately, they cannot retaliate openly against me because of my discussion about with their medical director.
We live in a schizophrenic world when it comes to integrity in the workplace. On one hand we are taught to revere the truth and do the right thing. On the other hand our character is impeached and we risk losing our job if we do. We are seen as disgruntled troublemakers, traitors, and 'leakers' for bringing to light flagrant violations we have been told to we are required ethically to report.
Previously I wrote a blog about working in the 21st century. It was an indictment of how conditions have deteriorated for those of us trying to contribute meaningfully in the workplace. The only thing that brings me solace is that I have about a year before I retire. Those I truly feel sorry for are the ones who have many more years in the workplace.
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