Providing employer-arranged occupational medical care: conflicting interests

Abstract

It is said that ethics comprise principles of good conduct or standards governing the conduct of the members of a profession. These standards are unbending and strict, yet the reality is that occupational health professionals are subject to many conflicting pressures. Most of these stresses arise from the fact that employers and insurance companies, not worker-patients, fund OH services, and these two entities have overlapping, yet distinct, interests. OH professionals must consider the health and safety of individual workers as their top priority, while also addressing myriad other concerns. This is the moral challenge confronting practitioners.