Susan Wade is the president of the Illinois Hospice Organization (IHO). IHO is a state organization affiliated with a national non-profit organization, the National Hospice Organization. Both the state and national organizations have members from both

Question

for-profit and non-profits hospices. Susan Wade is the director of a non-profit hospice in Illinois. A Chicago newspaper has printed a story about hospices and what they do. Susan was interviewed extensively for the piece. In one quote in the article, Susan expressed her concerns about for-profit hospices. "It has become the sort of franchise of the decade. They're not all bad, but I think the original spirit of hospice is becoming very adulterated. There's one time in a person's life when he shouldn't be looked at as a number, as a piece of an actuarial problem. If your first and last priority is making money, it flies in the face of what hospice is all about. It's the end of the health-care chain. It's the place of last hope for patients. Dollars should not be the issue here." A chief operating officer of a for-profit hospice has written to Susan complaining that her remarks are libelous and misinform the public about for-profit hospices. a . Does Ms. Wade have a conflict of interest? b. Is Ms. Wade properly executing her role as the president of the state organization?

Answer 1

a . Ms. Wade has a conflict of interest in the sense that as president of the state organization she represents all members and should not speak favorably of one type of member and unfavorably about another type. It is not, however, the traditional type of conflict of interest in which she benefits. Ms. Wade works for a non-profit institution and discussing the problem of for-profit will not change whether she has a job. The remarks could have an impact on how many patients her hospice has, but because of the non-profit nature, there is no financial gain to her.

b. As an elected representative, Susan should represent all members and not divide the organization or question the motives of some members. Perhaps her issues that she raised for the newspaper stories could be topics of seminars and debates for the members. But she should not be in a position, because of her role as president, to use opportunities with the media to lessen the standing of some members of the organization.