Chapter 12, Problem 12.1CP

To determine

Ethical Case Study

Case Summary:

Dr. B and Dr. R are sole owners of two medical practices that operate in the same medical building. The two doctors agree to combine assets and liabilities of the two businesses to form a partnership. As per the partnership agreement the income will be divided equally between two doctors. After several months of partnership a conversation took place between the two partners, where Dr. B said Dr. R that he had noticed that the patient load of Dr. R has dropped over the last couple of months. When they formed partnership they both were seeing same number of patients per week, but the present patient record of Dr. R shows that he is seeing half as many as patients seeing by Dr. B. So Dr. B enquired if there is any issue with Dr. R which he should be aware of. Dr. R responded that there was no issue and one of his reasons of joining partnership was that he wanted to enjoy his life little more and scale back a little bit. To which Dr. B said that he is working as hard as when he was on his own, but making less money than previously. He said both of them sharing half of each other billings, and as Dr. R is working less than him so he is ending up on the short end of the bargain. Dr. R responded that it’s the agreement, and partnership is based on 50/50 split. To which Dr. B replied that it should be applied to the effort end of the equation as that is applied to the income end.

To discuss: If Dr. R is acting in ethical manner and how Dr. B can renegotiate the partnership agreement to avoid the dispute?