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