LETTER TO CHILDREN'S HEALTHCARE OF ATLANTA

Hello Fellow Sphere Citizens;

Below is a note I submitted through the corporate compliance website asking who can answer the questions that the Strong4Life staff is refusing to answer. I am not the best writer and I am not sure if this will create any action by the organization, but I was surfing the website of the hospital and came up with this below.... I will post any responses I get from them.




TO: Chief Compliance Officer, Beth Howell of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

Dear Ms. Howell,
.
I am writing you because I am confused about the conduct of the individuals running the Strong4Life advertising program. After having reviewed your organizations Mission and Value statement as well as your organizations Standards of Conduct, I just wanted to bring to your attention the actions of these individuals when asked about the potential harm that the program can cause. At first your staff was interested in answering the valid questions posed about the harm the ads can do. Data, published studies, and other scientific proof has been provided to your staff and they suddenly decided to stop discussing the harm the advertising campaign can cause. As I look at the various items I cut and pasted below from your corporate website, I cannot understand how an organization like yours thinks it is ethical to refuse to discuss something they are doing that has been scientifically proven to do harm. They have provided some justifications for the approach, however, when asked to provide the studies that they quoted as justification, they at first promised it would be forthcoming and most recently advised they are no longer going to discuss the harm they are doing.

This does not seem to comply with your stated values, your mission or your standards of conduct.

Is there someone that you can direct me to to answer the questions these staff are unwilling to discuss since the individuals running theStrong4Life facebook page have shut down all discussion about the harm they are perpetrating with these "Phase I" advertisements?

Thanks,


Ivan Greene
nycivan@gmail.com

FROM THE CHOA WEBSITE


MISSION To enhance the lives of children through excellence in patient care, research and education.

VALUES
Integrity Being honest, ethical and committed to all we do
Respect Appreciating all people, work and ideas
Nurturing Fostering the care, growth and development of the individual
Excellence Delivering the highest level of care and service
Teamwork Working together to achieve our goals

Children's recognizes the problems that both deliberate and accidental misconduct in the health care industry can pose.

"Children's is committed to ensuring that it operates under the highest ethical and moral standards…"

STANDARDS OF CONDUCT

QUALITY OF CARE
We will treat our patients, employees, physicians and visitors with dignity, respect,
compassion and courtesy.

We seek to inform all patients and their parents (or legal guardians) regarding treatment recommendations and alternatives and the risks associated with the care they are seeking.

We will respect the human dignity of each patient and parent or legal guardian by sensitively responding to questions, concerns and needs in a timely manner.

Employees are expected to follow the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Children’s) values, Standards of Conduct, policies and procedures, federal and state laws and regulations.

Betrayed by Hollywood, again

Last nights episode of "How I Met Your Mother" had a particularly hurtful fat joke. One character had proposed marriage to another. The woman was unable to have children and was scared to tell because she was afraid the male would rescind his proposal. The man was reassuring the woman of his love and she started machine gunning out different flaws about herself and after each one he still said he would marry her. She then confronted him and told him to stop being so nice and he said, there is nothing about you that could make me not want to marry you, unless you became a big fat fatty. The man then said "See, I do have my standards" For those of you who saw the episode I am sure I am not recounting it verbatim but sharing my impressions of what the joke was. I can tell you that this is one of my favorite shows. I can tell you tell you that over the years I have come to care about all of the characters on this show. I can also tell you that I feel sad and betrayed by the producers and the writers. Most of all I am sad and discouraged that our culture hates guys and gals my size so much that I have pretty much resigned myself to being alone which saddens me too. Now I have to go grocery shopping and inflict the world with the awful spectacle of having to look at my fat body.