Ethic Case Study
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Running head: THE COMPLEXITY OF ETHICAL DECISION MAKING
The Complexity of Ethical Decision Making
From a content aspect, this was a well-written paper. You provided an excellent overview of ethics in general and then followed that up with examples from the workplace. The personal examples that were provided in the paper clearly illustrated the impact ethics can have in the operation of a business or organization. The paper itself flowed well and was structured in a logical fashion.
15 points
The Complexity of Ethical Decision Making
In every professional field there is ethical decision making, some practices put a strong emphases on making these skills a daily part of the helping process for your client. The concept of ethical decision making could take someone a life time to master, interpret and understand. It involves many variables of questioning yourself and the decision you are face with. There are to two basic sides of ethical reasoning those which enhance the well-being of others–that warrant our praise–and those that harm or diminish the wellbeing of others–and thus warrant our criticism. (Paul & Elder, 2003, 9) In the spectrum of Human Services ethical encounters are faced on a daily basis.
Ethical situations can sometimes start out being a simple issue and in the end result in something unanticipated. The following example is one that can be considered simple turning into something complex: An admission clerk at the hospital admitted a patient that is a citizen
from another country. The admit clerk is also a citizen from the same country as the patient. The admit clerk and the patient are both in the USA on student visas. The admit clerk has a temporary work permit. The patient was admitted with severe problems from an aborted pregnancy. The country of where the patient is from has very strict laws pertaining to women who have sex out side of wedlock. The most sever penalty is death to the woman. The clerk, being very aware of the penalties of their country decided to take the medical records and falsify the information. The clerk indicated the patient was admitted for an appendectomy, which was not the case, this was found out and the admittance clerk was terminated. The District Attorney brought the case into court in the state of Georgia. The admit clerk who is twenty five years old was prosecuted and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. The masters degree that she would have earned from the local university was not given to her because the occurrence that happened three weeks prior to the semester ending. The intentions from the clerk are admirable. She did not realize or contemplate being caught. The laws in this country for falsifying
medical records are a federal offence.
There are many angles in which one can argue the good and bad points, ethical and non-ethical plane of this story. The professional final act was in good faith from an ethical stand point. When her patient approached her with the problem, the professional knew of her culture and certain consequences women from that country faced. Anyone finding out what had happen could result in death for her. In America our views are more liberal allowing us certain liberties. Ethical judgment must trump religious belief shown by the undeniable fact that many persons have been tortured and/or murdered by people motivated by religious zeal or conviction.
We must turn to ethical principles to protect ourselves from intolerant and oppressive religious practices. (Paul & Elder, 2003, 24) When encountered with an ethical dilemma there are questions we should look at to help us determine the outcome. One of those would be the main assumptions I am using in reasoning through this ethical issue? How do your assumptions affect the way you see the ethical issue? Are there other reasonable assumptions you should begin with? (Paul & Elder, 42) The things that are taken for granted in study are the range of consequences of where this ethical dilemma can end. Which from the study it crossed from ethical into legal, while she should question her assumptions I believe in the end its justifiable. Another question to consider asking is the points of view I need to consider before coming to conclusions about this ethical issue are What viewpoints would a reasonable person consider in reasoning through this issue? (Paul & Elder, 42)
The views that need to be considered are the professional, that patient and the hospital. From the stand point of the professional she knows first hand knowledge; she can place her self in the womans situation. While the professional current circumstances are not currently in danger like the patient, she can see the view point of how the patient life could be in danger. From the hospital stand point they are going to look at that situation from a legal view. Whereas when the professional reacts to the situation they act alone and are held responsible for their actions, the hospital acts and respond as a whole which they will use a universal reaction. Their reaction would be binding to the law, when you are working with ethics you have to keep an open mind and not derive your thoughts from a legal view. Anyone interested in developing their ethical reasoning abilities should be able to differentiate ethics and the law. What is illegal may or may not be a matter of ethics. What is ethically obligatory may be illegal. What is unethical may be legal. There is no essential connection between ethics and the law. (Paul & Elder, 31) So from a clear point of view the professional would have to examine the critical issues, she would be the only that could provide an unbiased thought. While she does have ethics turning in governing laws which she can be held accountable to its at a different level. She can stand back and see the all the view points.
While the patient would only likely see her own needs in the situation, and the hospital will only see whats law. When it comes to a final moment of deciding what option she would make she has to decide what type of person she is. Is she the uncritical person, the self-serving critical person or the fair minded critical person? As an uncritical person shes a good hearted person but she often would deceive herself, she most likely would allow herself to be victimized or blindly victimized by others. If she was the serving critical type of person her thought process would only evolve to benefit herself, and manipulate others who may not have the knowledge resulting in the harmful acts of others directly or indirectly. She