Running head: Ethics Paper 1

ETHICS PAPER - GROUP #2

Alyssa Buffa
Nicole Chestnut
Colleen Fader

Madonna University
NFS 2000
Ethics Paper 2

Ethics are morals and values that decide how a person behaves and makes meaningful and moral
decisions. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has a Code of Ethics in place to provide guidance to
dietitians in their professional practice and conduct. The Code of Ethics helps guide dietitians to build a
solid ground to stand on when having to make a decision in a dilemma; it helps dietitians justify their
decisions made. In the profession of dietetics, the current Code of Ethics discusses the responsibilities to
the public, to clients, to the profession, and to colleagues and other professionals. The Code of Ethics
applies to all members of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and all credentialed dietetics
practitioners.

While all of the Codes of Ethics are important, there are a few that stand out as greatest
importance. Ethics code 9 states that the dietetics practitioner treats clients and patients with respect
and consideration; the dietetics practitioner provides sufficient information to enable clients and others
to make their own informed decisions; and the dietetics practitioner respects the client’s right to make
decisions regarding the recommended plan of care, including consent, modification, or refusal. This
ethics code is very important because if you don’t respect your clients decisions, they won’t respect you.
Everyone has valuable opinions relating to their chosen path of healthcare and it is extremely important
to respect clients beliefs, opinions, and decisions. Also, it is important for dietetics practitioners to
provide their clients with as much information as possible related to all their healthcare options. Holding
back information is not treating the client fairly. It’s important to be completely honest with clients so
they can form a trusting relationship with the dietetics practitioner.
Ethics code number 13 says that the dietetics practitioner presents reliable and substantiated
controversial information and interprets controversial information without personal bias, recognizing
that legitimate differences of opinion exist. Presenting accurate, fact based information to the client and
letting them make their decision without tainting their thoughts on the issue is very important. Allowing
the client to make their own decision is going to benefit the client the most in the long run. The clients
health and happiness comes before your own opinion on the subject. If the client asks for your opinion
of a decision they are making, help them decide by laying out the positives and negatives of both sides of
the situation, but giving your personal opinion is not giving them reliable information.
Ethics code 3 states that the dietetics practitioner considers the health, safety, and welfare of the
public at all times. While the entire makeup of the code of ethics is important, this particular point really
stood out because looking at the big picture of what a dietician does – it really is all about the health and
wellbeing of the patient. It is important that their needs are the number one priority and are addressed
in the correct manner. Being involved in any health profession comes with a huge amount of
responsibility and pressure. Patients must always be placed in the most suitable position, with their
health and safety being far from jeopardized. Realistically, a dietitian is tending to the needs a patient,
guiding them through a process with care and attention. This is why for me; this point was the most
important within the code. It represents perfectly the basis of what a dietitian does, and they carry
themselves out.

If someone disagreed with the ethical behavior of a RDN, a complaint can be submitted.
According to the Code of Ethics for the Profession of Dietetics, a complaint that a member or
credentialed practitioner has allegedly violated the Code of Ethics for the Profession of Dietetics must be
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submitted in writing on the appropriate form to the Ethics Committee. The complaint must be made
within one year of the date that the person making the complaint first became aware of the alleged
violation, or within one year from the issuance of a final decision in an administrative, licensure board, or
judicial action involving the facts asserted in the complaint. The complaint must contain details on the
activities complained of, including names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all persons involved or
who might have knowledge of the activities. The complaint must also cite the section(s) of the Code of
Ethics for the Profession of Dietetics allegedly violated. Then, the complaint must be signed and sworn to
by the complainant(s).

This ethical dilemma involves a Food Service Director of a hospital and a Food Service Equipment
Representative. The sale representative asked the Food Service Director to dinner and the dinner
invitation was accepted. Later down the road, the sales representative suggested to the Food Service
Director that their corporation would underwrite the travel, lodging, and registration if the Food Service
Director attended the National Restaurant Association Show, where their corporation would be
exhibiting their equipment. There are a few Codes of Ethics that apply to this dilemma, on whether or
not the Food Service Director should attend the show on the sales representatives tab.
Ethics Code 1 states that the dietetics practitioner acts with integrity, honesty and fairness.
Accepting the paid invitation from one company is not fair on a competitive level for other companies
wishing to sell their products to us. Although, it is not affecting other companies directly it is giving the
Speedy Heat Company an advantage by building a relationship that we financially benefit from.
Ethics code 3 states that the dietetics practitioner must consider the health, safety, and welfare
of the public at all times. The dietetics practitioner will report inappropriate behavior or treatment of a
client by another dietetics practitioner or other professionals. This code was violated because the Food
Service Director should have never went to dinner with a potential client. This was inappropriate on the
Food Service Directors behalf.
Ethics code 6 says that the dietetics practitioner does not engage in false or misleading practices
or communications. This code will be violated if the Food Service Director attends the show and doesn’t
end up hiring the sales representatives equipment. This would be an example of misleading
communications from the Food Service Director.
Ethics code 18 states that the dietetics practitioner does not invite, accept, or offer gifts,
monetary incentives, or other considerations that affect or reasonably give an appearance of affecting
his/her professional judgment. This is a very important code that would be violated if the Food Service
Director attends the show. The Food Service director would be accepting money and incentives because
the sales representatives corporation would be taking care of the expenses related to travel, lodging, and
registration. If the Food Service Director accepts these gifts/incentives, it would appear to affect the
Food Service Directors professional judgement when it comes to making decisions related to new
equipment for the hospital kitchen.
Ethics code 19 says that the dietetics practitioner must demonstrate respect for the values,
rights, knowledge, and skills of colleagues and other professionals. The dietetics practitioner must not
engage in dishonest, misleading, or inappropriate business practices that demonstrate a disregard for
the rights or interests of others. Again, it would be very misleading if the Food Service Director went to
show on the sales representatives tab and did not purchase kitchen equipment from their corporation. It
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would also be inappropriate for the Food Service Director to accept the gifts and incentives offered by
the sales representatives corporation.
Using the Tilt Method, the moral question for this ethical dilemma was established: Should the
Food Service Director attend the National Restaurant Association Show? There are two options: yes, they
should attend or no, they should not attend the show.
The best case to attend the show would be because the Food Service Director would be able to
attend a show for free, so there wouldn’t be any financial loss on the directors end. Also, if the director
attends the show, it would create a positive relationship between the director and the sales
representative. Additionally, a benefit of going to the show is that the director could see what other
companies, besides Speedy Heat, has to offer for their upcoming renovation without having to spend
excessive amounts of time researching different companies.
The best case to not attend the show would be because attending the show would violate many
ethical codes as previously discussed. Ethics code 3 would be violated because the director showed
inappropriate behavior by going to dinner with the sales representative. Ethics code 6 and 19 would be
violated because if the director attends the show, it would imply that the director plans to purchase
kitchen equipment for the hospital from the sales representative. Ethics code 18 would be greatly
violated because if the director attended the show, the director would be accepting many gifts and
incentives from the sales representatives corporation and it would appear to affect the directors
professional judgement when it comes to making decisions related to new equipment for the hospital
kitchen.

The Tilt Method concluded that not attending the National Restaurant Association Show is the
best decision for this ethical dilemma. There are many ethical codes that would be violated if the Food
Service Director attended the show by accepting the gifts and incentives offered by the sales
representative.
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REFERENCE:
The American Dietetic Association. American Dietetic Association/Commission on Dietetic
Registration Code of Ethics for the Profession of Dietetics and Process for Consideration of Ethics
Issues. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2009; 109 (8): 1461-1467.