Ethical Dilema
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Ethical Dilemma
1. Give him the deadly drug as he wishes. 2. DonЎЇt give him. 3. Kill the oxygen and turn it on again after he dies. 4. Give the drug to his family, and let them decide. 5. Turn to a lawyer.
It was interesting to read the introduction to ethical dilemma by Philip Wheelwright, especially to see his set of methods of solving such dilemmas. I would like to try out the methods with one of the dilemmas presented in the passage, the one concerning ÐŽoeuthanasiaÐŽ±. It is about Benjamin Bates trying to decide whether to give his friend a deadly drug. He has been asked to do so by one of his friends. The friend is slowly dying of and suffering from a painful and incurable disease.
Standing at BenjaminЎЇs place, I will try to solve the dilemma by following the steps introduced by Wheelwright. There are five steps before making the decision. The first step is to figure out all the alternative actions I may take. This step has been done at the beginning of this paper-in a hand writing font. The second step is to figure out the consequences of these actions. The third and fourth steps are to live through the consequences both as myself and as those who are most seriously affected.
For simplicity, I will only compare the first two alternatives I gave at the beginning of this passage. The first action I can take is to give him the drug as he wishes. He will take it and die. Nobody will know who has given him the drug. I will be safe from legal sue or blame from the family. In addition, my friend will be able to relief from the pain of the disease, and he will be glad that his family does not need to spend any additional money for him to linger on. For myself, I will grief as a friend has passed away. However, if he thinks that is the best choice, I will also be glad for him. But that is just for me, how will other people be affected? Suppose that I am his wife. I discover that he has died suddenly, perhaps with a letter describing his intention for the suicide, what will I feel? Well, I do not know what type of person his wife is. Suppose she has the same character and logic as me, she will be glad that her husband has chosen the best choice for himself. She will suffer the pain of losing her husband. She will also blame him that he did not discuss with her before choosing to commit suicide.
Apart from family, there is another party which is seriously affected-the hospital and the involved doctors. If the patient simply takes some strange pills and dies, what responsibility will the hospital take? Well, the letter written by my friend may help to clarify that the suicide was by his own intention. However, his wife may accuse the hospital of giving her husband the killing drug without getting the agreement from his family (although the drug is given by me). The wife may do even worse things to the hospital in order to wring money. In that situation, the help to my friend will become a disaster for the hospital.
If I donЎЇt give him the drug, he will live for a longer time, but his wife and I will take the pain of losing him all the same just after half a year. He will go through immense pain before he dies. The family will have to spend huge amount of money for him to live half a year