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Medical Whistleblower Advocacy Network

Human Rights Defenders

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1

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"A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience."

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

"The Great Dissenter"

Ethical Principles - Medical Whistleblower Peer Support Network

As volunteers of the Medical Whistleblower Peer Support Network, we are committed to the following ethical principles in our work with individual Medical Whistleblowers, who have experienced whistleblower retaliation trauma. In addition, we have a dedication to each other as a supportive collegial network respecting all our levels of professional experience and training.


Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a natural emotional reaction to a deeply shocking and disturbing experience. It is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. Any human being has the potential to develop PTSD. The cause is external and causes a Psychiatric Injury not a Mental Illness. PTSD is not resulting from the individual’s personality – the victim is not inherently weak or inferior. We use Trauma Informed Care Principles.


Trauma Informed Care Principles


• Problems/Symptoms are inter-related responses and coping mechanisms to deal with trauma.
• Providing Medical Whistleblower’s choice, autonomy and control is central to healing.
• Primary goals are defined by the Medical Whistleblowers and focus on recovery, self-efficacy, and healing.
• Proactive – preventing further crisis & avoiding re-traumatization.
• Recovery requires giving the Medical Whistleblower a sense of power and control.
• Relationships should be respectful and support mastery.
• Services should address all of the survivor’s needs rather than just symptoms.
• Systems must discourage withholding information or keeping secrets from the Medical Whistleblowers.
• Efforts should instill hope and have future orientation.
• Support should be given with due consideration to cultural beliefs and customs and in recognition of the Medical Whistleblowers own Faith belief system.
• Medical Whistleblowers should be encouraged to make their own choices and identify their needs.
• Respecting the Medical Whistleblower’s right to open expression.
• Acknowledging that the loss of human potential is incalculable if the person is not involved in identifying their needs and finding the supports they need and want.
• Celebrating the infinite potential for human growth though the healing process.



We are dedicated to helping Medical Whistleblowers build on their unique strengths; to help enhance their coping skills, and, in the best possible time, encourage their strengths so that they once again become self-reliant and independent.


We utilize the Vulnerability to Strength Chart to assist individuals to identify where they are in their own healing process. We recognize that each Medical Whistleblower will proceed to recovery in their individual manner and on their own time frame.


Principle I: Respect for the Dignity of Persons


As volunteers we have an abiding respect for individuals who are often experiencing devastating traumatic events in their lives. We are committed to recognizing the inherent dignity that people possess, with all the personal, social, spiritual and cultural diversity present in our society. We make every effort to provide peer support with respect to the dignity of those we serve as a primary ethical commitment. It is not our right to judge others, but rather assist them to understand and ultimately come to terms with the devastating events they have experienced.

Principle II: Responsible Caring


Volunteers of the Medical Whistleblower Peer Support Network are dedicated at all times to approaches that are caring, compassionate, and positive. Our dedication is to an atmosphere of non-judgmental support for the Medical Whistleblowers. This commitment requires a dedicated sense of responsibility to those we serve. We have an essential commitment to extend our caring to ourselves and our colleagues.
We insure that we remain personally healthy as Medical Whistleblower volunteer responders, and contribute in supportive ways to our own well-being as we provide social and networking support to others. We are committed to engage in proactive self-care and on-going support and education. We are also committed to being available to provide cooperative support and help with the issues of personal stress associated with Whistleblower Retaliation.

Principle III: Integrity in Relationships


We are dedicated to a strong sense of integrity in the relationships we develop with the traumatized individuals and groups, including ourselves. We insure that the right of confidentiality and privacy is actively maintained for those we serve. We have a positive attitude about the well-being of others to the point where we are confident that our interventions "do no harm," as we engage in providing help. We believe in confidentiality as a guiding principle in the support we provide, and share information as directed by our clients. We are not afraid to indicate we do not have all the answers and will refer individuals to further support if needed. We insure that we refer traumatized individuals to the appropriate resources, providing on-going liaison support for those who need it until additional support can be obtained. Within organizations we insure confidentiality for those we help and do not engage in practices that interfere with their right to privacy, respect and dignity.

Principle IV: Responsibility to Society


The Medical Whistleblower Peer Support Network is founded on the belief that as volunteers of the Network, we are committed to responding to the needs of our peers at all levels, from individual events to the ongoing needs of traumatized Medical Whistleblowers within their community. In addition, we are committed to meeting the needs of our volunteers in the areas of continuing education including information on Trauma Informed Care, Bad Faith Peer Review, Medical Whistleblower Retaliation and Social & Legal Resources. Our ethical goal is a strong commitment to a mutually supportive group of colleagues who can bring trauma informed emotional and social support to the Medical Whistleblowers we wish to serve. As volunteers of the Medical Whistleblower Peer Support Network, we dedicate our responses to providing appropriate emotional and social support for individual Medical Whistleblowers and to enhance their ability to have meaningful lives and to provide information to State and Federal Law Enforcement about Medical Abuse, Fraud, and Neglect.

"Knowledge and timber shouldn't be much used till they are seasoned."

 

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Source:The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table

“Hold fast to dreams
for if dreams die
life is a broken-winged bird
that cannot fly

Hold fast to dreams
for when dreams go
life is a barren field
frozen with snow”

Langston Huges

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
 
― Leo Buscaglia

Medical Whistleblower Advocacy Network

MEDICAL WHISTLEBLOWER ADVOCACY NETWORK

P.O. 42700 

Washington, DC 20015

MedicalWhistleblowers (at) gmail.com

CONTACT

"Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself."  Confucius

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt- Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic", delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910