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When the diagnosis of tuberculosis was confirmed, Mr Muhammad Mustafa was admitted to the special TB ward where he would be isolated to prevent him from infecting others. He was agitated because he was a man with social influence and many people would come to visit him. He did not want it known that he had TB a disease associated with people of lower class. He begged the medical officer to admit him to the normal ward. The medical officer refused and explained that the hospital procedures did not allow that. Mr Muhammad could not give up. He called a senior consultant under whom the medical officer worked. He had some social and business contacts with the consultant and expected the matter to be resolved. The consultant sympathized with Mr Muhammad but said he could not reverse the procedures. Mr Muhammad did not give up. He telephoned the hospital business manager who had worked with him in business before joining the hospital. The manager agreed to help. He called the medical officer and told him to heed Mr Muhammad ’s request. The medical officer refused saying that this was a professional medical issue and not an administrative one. The hospital manager was furious and told the medical officer as he was leaving the office ‘remember who pays your salary and approves your promotions!’. The hospital manager later arranged with the chief nurse to have Mr Muhammad admitted to a private room. He also found another medical officer who was compliant to look after him
Q1. What ethico-legal violation can you identify so far?
As required by regulations of the Ministry of Health, the hospital laboratory reported Mr Muhammad ’s case to the disease control unit by phone. A clerk from the unit visited the hospital the next day and asked for Mr Muhammad . Mr Muhammad refused to talk to him or give him information about his contacts arguing that he does not want his condition to be known or recorded anywhere since that would ruin his social reputation and consequently his business reputation. He threatened the clerk with dire consequences if he reported the diagnosis anywhere. The clerk was afraid and went away. He did not report the incident to his superiors at the Ministry to avoid getting into trouble.
Q2. What ethico-legal issue do you identify. How can it be resolved?