Medical Kickbacks Accounting (Essay Sample)

Accounting (Case 3-2)
Student Names
Institution Affiliation
Executive Summary
It is the responsibility of medical companies to monitor and report the post-market complaints to the food and drug administration authorities. It is unethical to ignore customer complaints and remain in operation. Similarly, it is unethical for the company to punish the internal whistleblowers who are acting for the best of the public by exposing the wrongdoings of the enterprise. A company that fails to comply with the federal laws can face some lawsuits, and this may jeopardize its operations. This task concentrates on the lawsuits facing the Amgen Company based on case study 3.
Amgen’s Unethical Behavior’s Contribution to the Medicaid Kickbacks
The Amgen's unethical behavior constituted to the problems currently faced by the company in some ways. For instance, any medical company is supposed to take a keen interest in following the customer complaints regarding its drugs once they have hit the market (Moulton & King, 2010). Such claims are supposed to be reported to the food and drug administration so that the appropriate actions can be taken. However, as witnessed by the case study, Amgen Company did not put more effort in make a follow up of the customer complaints regarding its products once they hit the market. Failure to report review, analyze and report such complaints to the relevant authority made the company experience its current kickbacks. For instance, there are some lawsuits the company must attend. The raised lawsuits imply that the company is going to spend more time in the courts, and this impacts negatively on its public image. Failure to address the post market complaints also will significantly affect the market perception regarding Amgen's products. Additionally, the company's code of ethics restricts the employees from reporting issues concerning the business and this denies them freedom of expression or correcting the company's mistakes. Failure to adhere to such codes can lead to termination of employment, and O'Brien's case is a good example.
Meaning of Whistleblowing
Whistleblowing is a process in which an employee or any other person within a company exposes scandals committed by the enterprise to the public or the relevant authorizes (Bowen et al., 2010). Whistleblowing can either be internal or external. The internal whistleblowing occurs when the person from within the company or agency exposes the wrongdoing of the institution to the public. For instance, the internal whistleblowers can be employees of the company. External whistleblowing may occur when the people from outside the company expose the wrong doings of the company (Miceli et al., 2013). External whistleblowers can be customers, suppliers, contractors, consumers’ societies and other civil government organs. Regarding Amgen’s case, the O'Brien is an internal whistleblower. He is not satisfied with the way the company handles customer complaint's after the company's product has hit the market. Failure of the company to report such complaints to the food, and drug administration goes against the federal laws that govern drugs' production and distribution. From my personal opinion, I support the steps taken by O'Brien to expose the wrongdoings of the Amgen to the relevant authorities. The company is going against the federal laws that require it to report post-market complaints to the food and drug administration. Similarly, the mechanisms put in place by Amgen to deal with the post-market complaints is inadequate, and the company is doing nothing to make the system effective.
Why the Public Considers the Scandal Unethical Dilemma
The pu...