Doctors around the world are expected to uphold certain ethics while delivering their services to patients. The Hippocratic Oath outlines those guidelines by stating how physicians should conduct themselves in their field. Some of the moral principles a medical practitioner needs to uphold include maintaining confidentiality on the patient’s information and using professional knowledge and skills to save a life. Many societies expect medical professionals to practice a high level of selflessness and offer services without considering the material gain. However, there are some instances where doctors and nurses have deserted their services citing poor pay or an unconducive working environment. When such situations occur, the government usually blames medical professionals for negligence by putting their interests ahead of their professional and moral obligation. Healthcare professionals face a dilemma when trying to uphold a professional code of ethics and pushing for personal goals.
2020 South Korean Healthcare Workers’ Strike
In August 2020, tens of thousands of doctors in South Korea began a nationwide strike citing poor remuneration, lack of the government’s commitment to improving their working conditions, and an unfriendly reform plan which infringes on their rights. The strike came at the time the country was grappling with the Covid-19 resurgence and thus in dire need of medical professionals. This situation led many citizens to lack proper healthcare with many deaths experienced in South Korea. The government blamed healthcare professionals for negligence by abandoning their duties when the country was in dire need of them. According to the government and other critics, some of the demands those healthcare professionals made were for personal satisfaction and showed how the latter are driven by material gain instead of moral obligations. Critics also blamed healthcare professionals for taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to advance their agendas. On the other hand, medical practitioners blamed the government for manipulating the Hippocratic Oath to subject them to poor working conditions. Healthcare professionals argued that their rights were critical in ensuring quality services to their patients. The government also refused to engage in negotiations with medical practitioners and instead used threats to force them back to work. Those threats included revocation of licenses, imposing fines, and jail term to those who defied a return-to-work directive.
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I feel that healthcare professionals were right in undertaking the strike to fight for better pay and a conducive working environment. Various reasons strongly support my decision to side with healthcare professionals. First, healthcare professionals like other human beings have rights that need to be preserved. Governments across the world have a notion that doctors and nurses need to be selfless in undertaking their mandate of treating patients. According to the government, patient’s needs are paramount to every healthcare worker and thus one should leave personal aspirations when undertaking professional duties. However, the government may forget that a healthcare professional has equal rights as the patient, and thus there is no need to discriminate on any. Secondly, low pay and poor working may, directly and indirectly, lower the quality of services healthcare professionals provide. As a normal human being, a healthcare professional has personal goals that at times might collide with the career demands (Gakis, 2016) . Better pay is one of the goals a person may want to achieve when joining the healthcare sector in addition to saving lives. Lack of good remuneration may also prevent a healthcare professional from meeting personal needs like food and children’s education. A doctor or a nurse lacking such incentive may lack the motivation to offer quality services to patients. The third reason why I support healthcare professionals in their strike is due to the effect poor working condition has on doctors’ and nurses’ safety. Many countries across the world have recorded a high number of healthcare professionals succumbing to the Covid-19 due to a lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Such cases have put doctors and nurses in a dilemma as to whether to work in the prevailing conditions or taking personal safety as the priority. However, it is my view that personal safety should be the priority of any healthcare professional. Fourth, the government has neglected its duty in providing funds and other resources to the healthcare sector and thus burdening doctors and nurses. Hippocratic Oath states that a healthcare professional should strive to save lives by committing their skills and energy to provide appropriate treatment to patients. However, the government plays a significant role in ensuring healthcare professionals provide the appropriate services by providing finances and equipment for diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, doctors and nurses must remind the government of its mandate using various methods like strikes.
Healthcare Workers’ Rights and Responsibilities
Healthcare professionals just like other workers have various rights that their employer needs to uphold. In the South Korean case, the government violated some of those rights and thus endangering their lives or preventing them from undertaking their duties diligently. First, the government violated healthcare professionals’ right to health. Some of the issues those workers raised were poor working conditions which exposed them to various diseases. Many healthcare professionals in South Korea complained of a lack of enough protective gear which put them at the risk of contracting the contagious Covid-19. Instead, the government resorted to issuing threats to doctors and nurses without addressing their health issues. The South Korean government also violated healthcare professionals’ rights to health by threatening to revoke their licenses or fining them and thus affecting their mental wellbeing. A doctor or nurse undergoing such fear may not perform professional duties diligently. Secondly, the South Korean government violated healthcare professionals’ right to autonomy and decision-making by issuing threats without fully understanding their issues. Many countries across the world recognize the rights of employees to strike and picket when the working conditions are not conducive. However, the South Korean government resorted to an autocratic approach by issuing threats as a way of addressing the matter. Such approaches may prevent many healthcare professionals from raising issues that hinder them from undertaking their duties. Instead, the government should have engaged doctors and nurses in a negotiation to end the stalemate. Third, the South Korean government failed in its mandate in upholding healthcare worker’s right to fair treatment in the workplace (Reis, 2015) . The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly affected the healthcare sector with many doctors and nurses succumbing to it. This situation has forced many governments to mobilize resources for the safety of healthcare professionals who have stood at the forefront in controlling the pandemic. However, the South Korean government resorted to increasing the number of medical schools instead of improving the working conditions of the existing workforce. This discrimination eventually led to healthcare professionals’ strike. Lastly, the South Korean government denied healthcare professionals the right to freedom from degrading and inhumane treatment. The government failed to improve the working conditions of the healthcare sector and instead used threats to force medical practitioners into the same environment.
Healthcare professionals face a dilemma when trying to uphold a professional code of ethics and pushing for personal goals. This situation occurs due to society’s expectation of selflessness by doctors and nurses in saving lives. However, healthcare professionals fail to undertake their duties due to poor pay and unconducive working conditions. Such a worker faces a huge challenge of choosing between the Hippocratic Oath and personal needs. However, the healthcare professional should strike a balance between the two needs to achieve the ultimate healthcare goal.
References
Gakis, D. (2016). The Hippocratic Oath today. MOJ Surgery , 3 (2). https://doi.org/10.15406/mojs.2016.03.00039
Reis, A. (2015). Ethics in Epidemics and Disasters: Rights & Obligations of Healthcare Workers. Journal of Science, Humanities and Arts - JOSHA , 2 (5). https://doi.org/10.17160/josha.2.5.53
