Business Ethics in the Healthcare Industry

Newscasts and social networks denounce fraud and professional dishonesty in the healthcare domain quite frequently, even though a few of these are groundless fake news and even scams. This book aims a scientific approach to all forms of fraud, misconduct, and breach of ethics in the healthcare business. Chapters will be written by respected professors worldwide, emphasizing not sensation and impact but a reasoned and scholarly description of the problems, roots, impacts and solutions. A systematic analysis of each ecosystem and the most prevalent forms of misconduct and unethical procedures will be provided. This encompasses drug manufacturers, health insurance and health maintenance organizations, including telehealth and internet healthcare providers, analytical testing services for clinical services and consumer health purposes, including genomics and other “omics” sequencing, producers and distributors of surgical material, imaging apparatuses and general hospital equipment, personal electronic health monitoring devices, and robotic developers for assistance to small children, the handicapped, the elderly and other medically relevant populations. The emphasis will be descriptive and constructive, about the roots of the issue and involved environments, agents and stakeholders, and concerning what can and should be done to curb the prevalence and consequences of abuses. Medical, scientific, and ethical authorities will be most of the contributors; however, social professionals, lawyers, and economists will help from different vantage points to enrich the messages. Students, trainees, and professionals are the target, primarily in medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and nutrition, along with business administrators, accountants, and lawyers. All areas of the healthcare business are envisaged, encompassing the related fields of law, social sciences, and the rapidly growing ethics/bioethics field. Policy makers and government agencies should not be overlooked.