WHY DO GOOD PEOPLE DO BAD THINGS?
On 29 December 2020, in Houston, Texas, Dr Hasan Gokal, 48, who immigrated to the US from Pakistan as a boy, had 10 precious doses of COVID-19 vaccine remaining at the end of his shift and no eligible people waiting to get vaccinated. The doses would have expired and become unusable within six hours. He decided to not let these doses go to waste and scrambled to find 10 eligible people to inoculate. Dr Gokal made house calls and phone calls inviting people to come his home outside Houston. Some were acquaintances, others were strangers. By midnight he had managed to find and inject nine eligible recipients. The tenth would-be recipient called to say that he would not be coming. Finally, with just minutes before the last remaining dose of vaccine would have become unusable, the doctor gave it to his wife whose medical condition makes her particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. In the aftermath of this night, Dr Gokal was fired from his government job in the county’s public health department COVID-19 response team and charged with the theft of 10 vaccine doses. While his lawyer defends his actions as responsible, even heroic, prosecutors call the doctor a cold opportunist.
Dr Gokal lost his job and his reputation. Until his case has gone through all the court levels, he will not be able to work again.
He took a decision, acting against the values and rules of the organisation he was working for, breaking trust that was put in them, circumventing or overriding controls, leading in the end to a ‘bad’ outcome.
Jul-Sep 2021 Issue
Novartis