Ethical Decision And On Ethical Issues : The Three Schools Of Ethics And The Correlation Between All Three

This paper is about ethical decision making that involved a case study in a movie based on a true story. It is about a child named Lorenzo Odone, his disease, adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) and how both his parents relentlessly pursued to find treatment for him. Aside from Mr. and Mrs. Odones’ decision making, the doctors and scientists involved in Lorenzo’s treatment were just as affected. These characters were faced with ethical issues that arose when deciding proper course in finding treatment for Lorenzo’s ALD. This paper will discuss the four ethical theories of decision making seen in the movie and the effects it had not only on Lorenzo but everyone that was involved.

In the article, “Morality and Moral Philosophy,” the author, William K. Frankena, gives the reader an overview and definition of ethics. Frankena uses Plato’s dialogue as an example to illustrate “the sort of thinking” we ought to do when faced with a moral dilemma. The purpose of this article is to describe the nature of ethics or moral philosophy and to demonstrate the different approaches to thinking ethically in decision making. There are those who oppose the idea of thinking ethically about moral issues. One could argue that taking an ethical approach is not always the best answer to a particular problem. Ethics doesn’t always show the right answer to the problem. Others might say, however, that applying moral principles when making moral

Making decisions of what is right and what is wrong is in our everyday life (A. Puente, personal communication, November 17, 2015). Deciding what is right and what is wrong can be simple or it can be difficult. It may be related to individual context or multiple contexts in general. Ethical decisions should concern all levels of our lives, as in acting properly as individuals, creating responsible organizations and governments, and making our society as a whole more ethical (Brown University, 2013).

Many of us want to be the best version of ourselves and we strive to achieve this by doing what we believe is right. However, doing the right thing is much harder than what we think. When faced with difficult situations in life, we often find ourselves at war between choosing what we believe is right versus what the society think we should do. We all have different life perspectives, hence what’s right for us may not be right for others. When dealing with ethical dilemma, it’s important to weigh the good and the bad in order to be effective in decision-making. It’s also important to see things from other peoples’ point of view to avoid making assumptions and using unbiased judgment. These things are not easy to do, but they’re the best approach to

Ethical principles are applied when considering ethical decisions. Autonomy and beneficence are two out of the seven ethical principles. Autonomy is basically the right, that a person can make decisions for herself; while beneficence is the act to benefit and avoid harm to others (Alfaro-LeFevre, 2013). In this case of ethical dilemma, a 17-year-old patient with Hodgkin’s lymphoma wanted to stop her chemotherapy treatment. Although, the patient is displaying autonomy, she was under age at the time and her mother was her guardian. One would think her mother will go against her wishes of stopping her treatments, but in contrast her mother agreed to stop her chemotherapy. The court was involved in the case because the doctor advised against their wishes. The court then appointed a state guardian and the chemotherapy continued and the patient is now in remission (Macklin, 2015). In the latest new she now would like to be released from state custody and wants to continue and finish all her treatment (Briggs, 2015).

“Brad is a production engineer at a bicycle company and part of his job includes inspecting broken bikes and drafting the design repairs for their repair” (Bartlett). Brad is considering replacing a broken brake cable with a more durable material, even though the customer did not request it in their order and specifically requested that “No aesthetic changes be made to the bike” (Bartlett). Brad’s manager suggests that his considered actions would go against the company’s policy of “The customer is always right.” Should Brad disobey the manager and the customer to possibly lose his job or go along with

In today’s modern world managers from all companies have to take into account the works of ethical decision making, ethical decision making is an idea that will dramatically help any manager that takes this issue seriously. In the standpoint of the internal customer, ethical behavior improves the actual atmosphere at the job and helps motivate the actual employees, sets an example to the actual employees, and evokes a feeling of pride with the company and improves it is image within the eyes with the employees. From the standpoint of outer customer, ethical behavior improves the image of the company and enhances the overall progress of honourable behavior within the organization. Ethical behavior demands an atmosphere where it can be performed. Furthermore, it necessitates a knowledge about basic fundamentals of honourable behaviour. Eventually it contributes to cultural and behavioral enrichment amid internal staff with the organization.

In today’s world several people face many different types of ethical dilemmas. When it comes to a person’s life, everybody has the want of wisdom. Also everybody has the aptitude to decide the best way of making decision and how to see those decisions out. These decisions can be anywhere from life-altering to daily choices and each person needs to keep in mind that every decision has a consequence that follows. A person can have a good or bad consequence depending on the situation, so it is imperative to keep this in mind when following the path of wisdom cautiously (Waddell, 2015). When making choices in life one might want to take into consideration the ethical dilemma, core beliefs, resolution, evaluation, and comparison before coming to a final decision.

After reviewing several ethical decision-making models, reviewing the code of ethics and its foundations, and examining personal beliefs and values surrounding ethics, I have come up with an ethical decision-making model. This model incorporates aspects of pre-existing models, including the social-constructivist model, practitioner’s guide, feminist model, and Herlihy and Corey’s (2015) “elements of ethical decision making” (p. 20). This model is broken down into seven steps, which are meant to be followed chronologically but may be returned to throughout the decision making process when necessary. The steps can be easily remembered with the acronym, DR. CAREFUL. The following are the names of each step and subsequent sections in this model.

The first step to make prudent decision-making is anticipating possible dilemmas, alternatives and answers; then reflects objectively and analytically about them. For these alternatives be considered reasonable, it is essential that these are aligned with the standards, laws, and institutional policies that shelter us. Supported decision-making methods will conduct professionals to strong sound objective ethical decisions. Moreover, these allow professionals to meet the challenges whether legal or personal with integrity and a clear understanding of the proper way to behave. The ethical decision-making should be a continuous educational, maturation, and personal process. Additionally, decision-making involves the responsibility of operating

The person develops and follows self-chosen ethical principles in determining what is right. Since laws usually conform to those principles, laws should be obeyed; but when there is a difference between law and conscience, conscience dominates. At this stage the ethical principles followed are part of an articulated, integrated, carefully thought-out and consistently followed system of values and

Ethical dilemmas arise when moral considerations are relevant under a circumstance where there is no right decision and one must choose the best resolution to the situation (Robinson, 2015). An action is morally right if the person is willing to have everyone act the same in a similar situation, however, humans are rational and inconsistent in terms of decision making. There are three

Ethical theories are rooted in the previously explicated ethical principles. These theories each lay emphasis on a variety of features of an ethical dilemma and bring about the most morally accurate solution in accordance with the guidelines of each of the ethical theories. The society normally bases its personal choices of ethical theory on each person’s life experiences. Ethics can be referred to as well-based standards of knowing what is right and wrong which prescribe what human beings should do when it comes to fairness, benefits to society, obligations, rights and identify virtues (Tännsjö, 2013 23-36). Ethical theories direct virtues of loyalty, compassion and honesty. The following paper shall discuss about the roles of ethical theories, explaining each concept in detail.

Nurses often encountered various ethical dilemmas in the practice setting. Both virtue ethics and caring ethics support good ethical decision making for nurses (Park, 2012, p. 149) but these are inadequate to assist in solving an ethical dilemma (Park, 2012, p. 149). For that reason an ethical decision making tool is helpful for the nurses or clinicians to come up with an ethical decision (Kelly, 2012, p. 571) that allows them to gather information, identify any gap of understanding on the issue or the disagreements between the involved parties through a clear communication (Park, 2012, p. 140). Several authors presented an ethical decision making processes (Park, 2012, p. 141), here presented the two processes that can be applied in resolving an ethical dilemma. One example of ethical decision making process is the DECIDE model by Thompson, Melia & Boyd (Allen, Chapman, Francis, & O’Connor, 2008, p. 5) and the Integrated ethical decision-making model which was derived from the combination of the different ethical decision-making models strengths (Park, 2012, p. 140). These two ethical decision-making model steps are identical to each but differ on the detailed instruction on how the steps are to be done or used in actual case. By comparing the two models the integrated ethical decision-making model have a detailed instruction. The

Ford and Richardson (1994) the model of ethical decision-making is generally detached by individual factors and situational factors, which in situational factors is the most important.