In this case study, Mr. X has made various problematic decisions that would have played a substantial role in the prevention of Mr. Y’s eventual suicide. Mr. X, being a caseworker in the human service department, is responsible for seeing Mr. Y through all his issues. Besides that, Mr. X is in charge in ensuring a successful transition of Mr. Y from the program towards living on his own. The first problematic decision made by Mr. X is not giving Mr. Y and essential means of communication such as his personal telephone number. Mr. Y has some trouble that needs necessary guidance from his caseworker. However, he communicates via Facebook and sends a request for an immediate appointment. Mr. X is out on calls and does not see Mr. Ys request resulting in suicide. Thus, the questionable decision was Mr. X’s failure to give the client an available phone number to reach him during his desperate times. The outcome of this effect was suicide that would have been solved by principal means of communication between Mr. X and Mr. Y.
The second problematic decision made by Mr. X was not being there for Mr. Y when he desperately needed him. Both Mr. X and Mr. Y were friends on Facebook since Mr. X was helping Mr. Y in the transition from the program offered in the county human service profession to living life on his own. During the transition period, a caseworker should be in close communication with the client to assess if they are fit to work by themselves. Instead, Mr. X was out on other duties and forgot to communicate with the customer through any means. If Mr. X has seen Mr. Y’s suicidal threat on Facebook, the outcome could have been different since they would have talked and Mr. Y would not have committed suicide.
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Some of the choices that Mr. X would have made to resolve the issue would have been to give a personal phone number to the client that would facilitate an easy form of communication. The second choice would be to check Mr. Y’s page on Facebook continuously since most individuals tend to express their feelings on social media sites. Thus, this would have kept him updated on Mr. Y’s situations and would have given him the necessary help. Another choice Mr. X could have made to reverse this case study’s outcome would have been to foster regular communication with Mr. Y. As a result, this would have made him aware of Mr. Y’s situation and would have given him the help required.
Some of the implications of this case study include lawsuits against the service providers. In the world today, suicide could be an increasing cause of death for the young adults and the general population as well. The stigma of suicide to a mental health care provider is intense, and in most cases, they fail not to speak about the issue. When a patient commits suicide such as in Mr. Y’s case, lawsuits could be filed increasingly among the service providers. Thus, one possible implication of Mr. Y’s death is a lawsuit that could be filed against Mr. X. According to the law, the role of a caseworker is to help clients that have been assigned to them in solving their problems. The fact that Mr. Y committed suicide and had been assigned a caseworker could show signs of negligence to the county human service profession. Another implication of this case study could be the fact that most people would lose trust in the county human service profession and their reliability in solving life issues for a person. Mr. Y was under Mr. X’s care to help him in solving his life issues. However, since he could not get the support required from Mr. X at the most trying period of his life, he decided to commit suicide. When the public hears the story, they could lose trust in the human service profession and could result in the failure of the facility leading to an eventual closure. Therefore, this shows that several negative implications could affect a service especially in a situation whereby a client commits suicide.
Various risk management techniques exist. Some of the risk management techniques include risk avoidance. Risk avoidance involves the engaging of activities that are not perceived to carry risk. In this case study, the best way of reversing the situation would be staying in constant communication with Mr. Y. Constant communication would have avoided the risk since Mr. X would have been aware of the various issues that Mr. Y is encountering. Risk avoidance happens to be the best way of managing any potential threats that could affect a company or an individual as well (Merna & Al-Thani, 2008). Another risk management technique is risk mitigation that involves lessening any negative impacts when the business risks tend to be unavoidable. Risk reduction requires detailed analysis of a particular risk with the intention of reducing the consequences of a particular risk. In this case study, risk mitigation could not be an option since Mr. X was not aware of the problems his client was facing before Mr. Y opted to commit suicide.
Risk transfer is another risk mitigation technique whereby companies could choose to transfer risk away from their organization. The process of risk transfer involves the purchasing of a premium from an insurance company that would help a company protect itself from financial losses. For example, the insurance of a property is a good example of risk transfer that helps in protecting a family from the financial losses that could be incurred from the damage of property or a building within an organization. In the case study, risk transfer could not be an option since the risk, in this instance, involves a client supposed to have acquired help from the county human service profession but instead, has committed suicide since Mr. X was not at reach.
Risk acceptance is the last type of risk management technique (Deventer, Imai, & Mesler, 2013). The process of risk acceptance involves situations whereby companies could retain several risks brought about by a particular investment in a case where the anticipated benefit is greater as compared to the risk identified. An example of risk acceptance is a case whereby pharmaceutical companies could retain a particular danger in the development of a new drug. In this case study, the county human service profession could accept the risk but manage it in that it applies amended programs that could enable clients to get in touch with the firm at any available time to prevent a recurring event such as that of Mr. Y.
In conclusion, this paper focuses on a case study that involves a patient in the county human service profession who committed suicide due to the issues he was facing. However, the client tried communicating with the assigned caseworker, but the caseworker was out to carry out other duties. The applicable risk management techniques in this case study are the risk avoidance that could be achieved by ensuring a flow of communication between a client and the assigned caseworker. By doing so, the firm would avoid a recurrence of a suicide of their customers hence maintaining the legacy of the organization.
References
Deventer, D. R., Imai, K., & Mesler, M. (2013). Advanced financial risk management: Tools and techniques for integrated credit risk and interest rate risk management . Singapore: Wiley.
Merna, T., & Al-Thani, F. F. (2008). Corporate risk management . Chichester, England: Wiley.
