What does it take to ‘settle’ a scandal? : The ethics of hearing and acting on safety concerns

Goodwin, Dawn and Taylor, Daniel (2025) What does it take to ‘settle’ a scandal? : The ethics of hearing and acting on safety concerns. In: Applied professional ethics in the doing of technoscience : Uncertainty, controversy and governance. Springer. (In Press)

Abstract

In this chapter, we explore what can be learned about the ethics of responding to safety concerns in healthcare from a UK case study. We draw upon The Report of the Gosport Independent Panel which documents an independent inquiry into the overuse of diamorphine on an elderly care unit between 1987 and 2001, and the sub-sequent struggle to bring this issue to light. Nurses’ concerns were silenced and families were branded as troublemakers. Complaints were raised with the hospital, and police investigations followed. Using scholarship on epistemic injustice, we explore themes demonstrated by this case including how prejudice and bias work through investigations of harm to undermine the credibility of those raising concerns, and how both agents and structures play a role in this. We end by exploring the implications of this case for current practice and the ethics of hearing and acting on safety concerns.