A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know with the award winning hyphenated Dr. Nsenga Burton. Dr. Burton. What do we need to know?

Good afternoon and welcome to Need to Know with Dr. Nsenga Burton. I am she. I hope all is well in your world. Today we're going to talk about integrity in the workplace and how sometimes practices that just because they are legal doesn't mean that they're ethical and that can lead to some devastating consequences. Um, I You know, even unintended so before I even start on this, I know everyone is caught up in enthralled with the, um, United healthcare CEOs assassination. I would say it was an execution and that the culprit has been picked up. Um, so this is no way, shape or form has to do, um, wants to make light of what happened to, uh, Brian Thompson is terrible. What happened to him and his family, his colleagues. It's terrible that people are in fear for their lives and all of the things. Um, and it's terrible that that happened to him as he was just going to work. Right. Um, so having said that, um, What I'm talking about today is related, uh, not to UnitedHealthcare per se, but it's corporations in general and how, uh, you have to navigate these kind of spaces and I have to change with the times. So, um, you know, there's another company that I won't name, but following the execution of Mr Thompson, they changed their policies on anesthesia. You know, how they cover it, so they will only cover it for a certain number of minutes. And then after that, it was minutes past, the patient would be required to pay if they indeed continued receiving anesthesia and, you know, anesthesia is given typically when you're having some type of. Surgery. So we were a little bit shocked. Some people know this because they have medical issues. I have medical issues. Thankfully, I haven't been on anesthesia in a long time, so I didn't even know about this. But, um, you know, I was, you know, people were shocked when they learned this. Um, and even though that's something that you can legally do, that is really a terrible policy and it shouldn't take, uh, because it's inhumane, it's inhumane. Like, you know, if you're, you, a doctor has said that you need this service, right? A surgeon has said that I have to do this. The surgeon has said you need to be put under, uh, if it goes longer than it's supposed to, or you run into some kind of issue or complication, you, uh, you shouldn't have the burden of having to either suffer through it, because we're learning, um. with these laws that are impacting women's bodies that, you know, some doctors are really afraid of the insurance companies. They're afraid of the law. Uh, and so they're letting women bleed out in cars and parking lots, um, or, you know, letting them sit for hours and in some cases days, um, and either, you know, die or what have you. So we have to, what I think We should come out of this case, uh, or this issue, uh, is that we as leaders in our professions have to think in a humane and ethical way. Is it humane to deny people services that have been prescribed by a doctor? Is that humane? You know, I mean, it has, it happens a lot. And when I think about this boy, I'm just trying to figure out, I mean, I know he's 26, but you know, I'm old, so he's a boy to me. Um, but when I think about this young person who didn't have enough sense to pack a sandwich, Right, didn't have enough sense to pack a sandwich, didn't have enough sense to be in Pennsylvania and go to Amish country where he could have just lived forever, and nobody would have known he was there, except if there was a basketball tournament or something happened and then he might be spotted, but that was like, gonna be later in the year, summer. Um, but you know, in Pennsylvania, doesn't have enough sense to go there if he's gonna stay in the, in the, uh, in the country or starve his way to Canada. Right, the nearest crossing border crossing, but, um, I'm trying to figure out and I'm looking forward to finding out if this is indeed the person what it was that motivated this person to do this to commit this heinous crime because those of us who have been dealing with. Hospitals and doctors for an inordinated amount of time, you know, it could be us, it could be your parents, it could be friends, whatever, know that there are many, many challenges with the insurance agency. So I can't even imagine what at twenty six he has endured that would make him do this. Relative to all the horror stories that we hear about as full functioning adults, um, you know, and all the go fund me's we see, um, that are related to people's medical issues because they're bankrupting them, um, you know, and a lot of issues and these people who have insurance. So, uh, I think it's an opportunity for us to really think about as leaders. What does it look like to operate with a very specific ethos? And that is elevating people's humanity to the very top, particularly when you are in such close proximity to it, right? When you have, um, the tools and resources to either help someone live or to make sure that they succumb, right? If they don't have access to those tools or resources. So what does leadership look like? When you have the opportunity to impact people's lives on such a specific level. Right? And I would just want to say that we need to know that times are changing. People are not going to accept and deal with what they were accepting and dealing with previously. You're going to see this in this next election. You know, there is fear that they're going to get away with so much stuff. People are not going to accept what they accepted in twenty twenty. All right. Um, you're going to see this in your workplaces. You know, um, if we have another pandemic, people are not going to accept what they accepted previously, this next election, U. S. presidential election, Democrats are not going to accept what they accept. Uh, Previously, it's not going to happen. So at some point you have to change and you have to, uh, change with the times and you can either lead, be a real leader and say, listen, we've been doing this long enough and no longer serves us no longer serves our population. We need to change our policies or the way we deal with this, or we need to have, you know, uh, uh, something in place to deal with these types of issues because it is no longer serving our, our, uh, patients or clients. Or you can be dragged there. Because of a P. R. crisis crisis communications is what we call it. So a P. R. crisis where you're like, oh, my God, this is happening. What are our policies? Oh, my goodness. Look at all this stuff on social media about how terrible we are. Let's start to clean this up. That should not be the driver. The driver should start from the top. It should be with the company and people should be made aware of not only what you're trying to do, um, but with what you're What the measurable outcomes will be right? So, if we make this policy change, we hope to save, you know, hope to increase the number of lives that we save by 10 percent next year. Right? So that's also like, not only being ethical, but also being accountable and really making yourself when you have measurable outcomes. It makes you really think about. What really needs to happen in order to create the change that you seek. So on need to know today It's there's value in packing a lunch When you need to get somewhere quickly and you don't have time to stop and go into a fast food restaurant And then I'm like, why are you mad at the health care company when you eat McDonald's, but that's another story So need to know is pack a lunch that's number one number two Um Know your environment and where you are at all times, right? And then number three to really lead and think from a perspective of how do I help the most people possible? When you are making billions in profits, you can afford to help the most people possible. You're not going to always get it right. You can't save everyone. But when people are going through hard times and medical issues are hard, especially when you're looking at something that can be critical or that is critical or could be fatal, it's hard. It's hard to stress on your families or what have you. The last thing that people should be having to think about is, Lord, I hope this surgeon finishes this surgery on time so I don't wake up in the middle of it or, oh my gosh, If they don't finish on time, I'm going to have this big, uh, balloon payment waiting for me after I heal. So if I, if, if the surgery, if I survived the surgery, the stress of having to pay this bill or having it hanging over my head, uh, will kill me instead. Right? Um, we should not be doing that in 2024. We should be better than that. And I do believe that we are better than that. I know 50 percent of us are not, but the other 50 percent of us are, so we need the other 50 percent to use your influence. And, uh, to really ask our leaders, particularly our leaders of multi billion dollar corporations, um, to do better and to be better and to make better decisions. Um, you know, so that we can avoid tragedies, further tragedies, uh, and just. Just violence that is unnecessary. Violence is never necessary, but certainly in this instance. Um, so I just wanted to put that out there. Uh, I think it's terrible again. Don't chop this up and pretend like I said that it was okay. It's not. It's horrible. We should not be out here assassinating, executing people. Period. Period. And it includes the incoming president. Period. Uh, but we also have to learn how to treat people, um, with empathy, with kindness and with integrity. Uh, so that we can avoid, uh, these types of instances, um, in the future. And that is Need to Know with Dr. Nsenga and tune in to A Black Executive Perspective Podcast next week, where we'll have more for you. All right. Have a wonderful day.

A Black Executive Perspective.