Introduction
Suzy Douglas, Medical Services Coordinator, TN Bureau of Workers' Compensation
Presenter
Kate Payne, JD, RN, NC-BC, Associate Professor of Nursing, Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Session Description
Fundamentally the ethics of workers' compensation is all about returning the employee to work. This was part of the “grand bargain” not to sue the employer for damages in exchange for compensation and treatment to get back to work. It can be an imperfect world. Some employees do malinger, some employers do use injuries for their own purposes, some physicians don’t return injured workers back to the workplace as quickly as possible, and in some cases they perform unnecessary procedures. The case manager may not be incentivized to close a case as quickly as possible, and rehabilitation professionals may not focus on reemployment issues to the exclusion of every other way they are able to make money.
Ethics lives in the infrastructure that governs practice and makes this happen. Workers’ compensation professionals must consider the interests of multiple stakeholders to whom a duty may be owed as they consider choices that may have ethical and legal implications, along with time, money and risk. It can be a tough balancing act. This session will delve into these issues and discover where conflicts exist and obstacles arise. Kate Payne, Associate Professor of Nursing, Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, will present this session.
Up Next: Decorum in the Court III: The Rise of the Mediator, Ethics for Attorneys [Part 1] at 1:30 PM