Ethical Dilemma Analysis
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Ethical Dilemma Analysis
Lizbeth Garcia
ETHC232: Ethical and Legal Issues in the Professions
Karen Ferber
October 16, 2023
Ethical Dilemma Analysis
Ethical Dilemma 2:
An airline pilot receives his regular medical checkup. The doctor discovers
that he has developed a heart murmur. The pilot only has a month to go before he is eligible for
retirement. The doctor knows this and wonders whether, under these unusual circumstances, she
is justified in withholding information from the company regarding the pilot's condition.
As a doctor my first thought during this process would be what consequences would
happen if either I do keep information private or if I don’t. Like the book says, “Often as not, we
are unable to arrive at certainty but must be content with probability” (Ruggiero, V. R. 2023, p.
100). I might not be able to know my exact consequences but at least I would have an idea of
what is possible. My first thought would be if I were to withhold information from the company
and allow my pilot to continue, there are many different outcomes that can happen. One would
be the best one, my pilot being able to do a full month with no excuses or no mistakes, just a
smooth sailing month. But that probability is close to none. My other thought would be if I do
withhold information and he continue to pilot but my pilot ends up making a mistake or getting
sick during the month long then I would need to show my evidence of his heart murmur which
ends up basically outing myself out which will have its own consequences to look at. My other
thought process would be thinking of just needing to not withhold information and let my
company know what is going on with my pilot, what consequences would that have, towards my
career as well as towards my coworkers and how they feel about me afterwards. If i went
forward and tell my company that my pilot has a heart murmur, I would feel like my morality
would be affected, by my own thoughts and my own guilt. For example, “As Greek philosopher
Aristotle’s view that moral ideals (virtues) are matters of character and that they are not inborn
but achieved by practice and strengthened by habit” (Ruggiero, V. R. 2023, p 123). My thoughts
and my doing at the end make my morality strong so needing to decide between being a good
person and allowing my pilot to finish until retirement and not worrying too much about my
career and the consequences or doing the “right” thing under my company’s rules and hope the
company takes care of my pilot the way he should being away from retirement.
Ethical Dilemma 1
: A newspaper columnist signs a contract with a newspaper chain. Several
months later, she is offered a position with another newspaper chain, offering a higher salary.
Because she would prefer to make more money, she notifies the first chain that she is breaking
her contract. The courts will decide the legality of her action, but what of the morality? Did the
columnist behave ethically?
It can be interpreted differently based on one’s ethical standpoint. In many professions,
there are codes of ethics that guide behavior. Like our book says, “If we are aware that an action
is wrong and freely choose to do it anyway, we are fully culpable for the action.” (Ruggiero, V.
R. 2023, p 136), If by her moving towards a new and better job automatically makes her into a
selfish person because the only reason she left was for higher pay, why would that be looked at
negatively? I believe if I was the columnist and my employer told me they were planning to
leave my chain for a different chain, and I consider that employer an employee that we need then
I would do what is morally right by offering her same pay or higher pay.
If the court’s
actions
are in line with journalistic ethics, which often emphasize truth, accuracy, fairness, and public
accountability, as well as then her actions could be seen as morally acceptable. Such as if the
courts action believes in personal and opportunity ethics then it might argue that it is acceptable
to pursue even if it means breaking the contract. If I were the newspaper company that she was
trying to break contract just because other company pays more, I would argue stating a signed
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contract is knowing and stating you will stay until contract ends. You ending the contract earlier
than should be also shows their work ethic. It shows me that the person is not capable of keeping
a signed commitment, knowing you have a contract, you went out looking for a new job. As the
book explains, “If through no fault of our own we are unaware that an action is wrong when we
perform it, we are not morally culpable. (
Ruggiero, V. R. 2023,
p. 137). She could have been not
thinking about the contract as she made the decisions of leaving one newspaper chain to the
other, but the action and performance of how she did it speaks volumes. I understand her point of
view of wanting to do better and be better in my career but at what cost? Cutting my contract
short and showing other companies I’m not reliable or cutting my contract short and showing
other companies I have no fear of becoming a better version of me even if that means cutting
bridges and contracts with other companies.
Ethical Dilemma 4:
The Mayor of a large city was given a free membership in an exclusive golf
club by people who have received several city contracts. He also accepted gifts from
organizations that have not done business with the City, but might in the future. The gifts ranged
from $200 tickets to professional sports events to designer watches and jewelry.
I believe the mayor was being polite by receiving these gifts, but by accepting this gifts
the Mayor could get in a controversial situation because he does not have any relation with
organizations. It can be viewed negatively because he is taking these gifts and using them when
in return we are using them, it can come back around and end up being bad karma, If I were the
mayor I would have accepted some of the the gifts but not all of them. I would want as mayor to
be seen as fair and responsible accepting random gifts is not so. Also when he received these
gifts from these organizations, they might misunderstand him and think that he has no other
choice but to make business with them. In a way Locke ethical way seems more highly available
in this topic. Locke's theory of ethics is the science of using the powers that we have as human
beings in order to act in such a way that we obtain things that are good and useful for us. Locke
would have accepted the gifts and would star a business or even just start a plan with them.
Either way accepting or not accepting these gifts I feel like ethically would have a negatively
impact in the future.
Reference
Ruggiero, V. R. (2023). Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues (11th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher
Education (US). https://devry.vitalsource.com/books/9781265692421