Introduction
Risk management insulates organizations, employees, patients, and the public from harm and
liability. Risk management safety and security are arguably very different. Safety principles can
be applied across diverse healthcare entities. Security planning is site specific.
Resources
Antenucci, A. (2015, February 10). Building inspectors took bribes to ignore code violations: DA.
New York Post. (Links to an external site.) Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2015/02/10/nyc-building-inspectors-pocketed-bribes-from-landlords-contractors-da/
Macomber, J. D. (1989, March-April). You can manage construction risks. (Links to an external
site.) Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/1989/03/you-can-manageconstruction-risks
Sklar, H. (2012, July 6). Who is it okay to bribe? (Links to an external site.) Forbes. Retrieved
from https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardsklar/2012/07/06/who-is-it-okay-tobribe/#33fcba541f02
Case Study
Cage Wavell was the administrative intern from Trinity University assigned to Spohn Hospital, the
largest hospital in Corpus Christi. He had been working under the guidance of Tom Tucker, COO,
of Spohn hospital. Cage was 10 months into his one-year internship at Spohn. He was assisting
Tom Tucker in a new construction project at Spohn, approximately 30,000 square feet of new
building space for the current lab and X-ray. Tucker had asked him to walk through the new
construction area to see how the first-floor construction was going.
While walking through the new construction area he heard the construction engineer and the
hospital’s V/P for Clinical Services talking. The construction engineer was talking to the V/P
about some trouble with the city inspector concerning approval on some of the last construction
electrical work that must be corrected before they started work on the second floor. The V/P was
telling the construction engineer that they couldn’t afford any more delays on the new building.

The construction engineer told the V/P not to worry; that he would take care of the issues with
the city inspector so they could get started on the second floor construction. He assured the V/P
that a little “mordida” (or a bribe) to the city inspector would solve the problem. Cage was
surprised to hear this exchange.
He left the construction area and happened to run into the risk manager of the hospital. Cage
was red in the face and the risk manager asked him what the problem was. Cage explained what
he had overheard and got the risk manager’s attention. The risk manager took Cage to the
administrative conference room and asked Tom Tucker to join them. Cage explained what he
had heard, and Tom looked at them and said he wondered how much other construction had
been approved, but not built to code. Tom Tucker asks your assistance as the hospital risk
manager to address this problem.
Questions
1.What are the ethical, legal, and risk management ramifications of the problem?
2.Describe in detail the process to address it.
3.Who would you involve in the process