Thursday, February 16, 2012

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.

2 comments:

  1. mwgvp,
    Ivan shared your comment with me. I am very interested in speaking with you further about the information you provided, which I'm checking into today.

    I am one of the people who fought against CHOA and Strong4Life, writing daily blog posts for three months, exposing everything I could about their hypocrisy.

    http://fiercefatties.com/category/scarred4life

    Sadly, it wasn't until the end that I began to hear more about Linda's leading role in this campaign. So, I would love to speak with you further, but I understand your desire for anonymity and privacy. So, if you would like to work with me, please create an anonymous email address and contact me at atchka at hotmail (since I am just an amateur journalist, the anonymous email will ensure that I cannot be subpoenaed for your info).

    You can reach me at atchka at hotmail. In the meantime, I will be digging into your claims. Thanks for speaking out!

    Peace,
    Shannon
    Fierce, Freethinking Fatties

    ReplyDelete