Hypothetical regarding Whistleblower:
Remember the Challenger whistleblower, the “insider” at the tobacco company or the agent that brought attention to several of the FBI’s lapses on 9/11?
Cynthia Cooper at Worldcom has been the most fortunate since she is still employed as head of the internal auditing division and has been given more money and twice as many staff members. Colleen Rowley is still employed at the FBI, but the victim of backlash from her peers and associates. To this day, she is afraid of being fired – or worse.
These instances are not just given attention in the media or by congress but also Hollywood. Below is a list of the three most recognizable movies that portray and discuss whistle blowers and their experience:
Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts in 2000, discovered some medical records while looking through a real estate file for her lawyer boss. What did medical records have to do with a real estate transaction? What she and her colleagues uncovered was massive pollution caused by Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s Hinkley, California gas compressor station.
Silkwood (1983) recounted the story of Karen Silkwood played by Meryl Streep, the Oklahoma nuclear-plant worker who blew the whistle on dangerous practices at the Kerr-McGee plant and who died under circumstances which are still under debate.
Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, played by Russell Crowe in 1999’s The Insider, exposed corporate deceit and wrongdoing in spite of threats to his career and the personal lives of those around him. Jeffrey Wigand, the former tobacco company executive who became one of the most famous “whistleblowers” in history, exposed the American tobacco industry’s darkest secrets and endured public humiliation for his efforts. It also examines how CBS News betrayed its journalistic principles in the face of potentially ruinous tobacco industry lawsuits.
In response to the readings, can you name or find other national examples of whistleblowers in the health care industry?
For each you list, include the following:
Their name
The role they played in the organization
What, if any, reporting did they do internally?
How were they treated?
Where are they now & what are they doing?
What is the common characteristic of the whistleblowers we are discussing?