Lance Armstrong Ethical Dilemma Case Study

In this case study we were asked to draw upon deontological ethics, and briefly discuss how Adelphia Communications’ executives violated the trust of the company’s shareholders and the trust of that of the larger public. Throughout this paper I will highlight two key ethical problems that were raised by the Adelphia Communications case. Utilizing Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative, “deontological ethics” or so duty rights will be shared. Then I will apply the deontological framework of business ethics to the two key ethical problems that will be identified. Finally Kant’s Categorical Imperative will be applied to those two ethical problems as well.

It has one further category of action, the superogatory: actions that are morally good but not obligatory for they are over and above the requirements of duty. One of the main problems with this theory is the possible clash of duties that such a rigid system of rules will inevitably entail, when applied to the real world. However, there is some merit in the adoption of universal regulations covering, for example, health and safety of employees, and employee rights, in businesses internationally. The Kantian deontological position also suggests that people should be treated "with respect and as ends in their own right, not solely as means to other's ends." (Legge, 1998) However, in a profit-motivated system such as a business organisation, even a highly enlightened one, it is difficult not to perceive workers as a means to a profitable end.

Performance Enhancing Drugs(PEDs) shouldn’t be used in sports, because of its adverse health consequences. According to an article called Performance-Enhancing Drugs Can Have Severe Long-Term Impact on Health: Expert, in the long term, PEDs can cause impotence, worsening acne, balding and “steroid rage.” This conveys that if athletes use PEDs there will be serious effects and severe consequence to their health. Also, the drugs aren't subject to government safety standards and could be impure or mislabeled.(Article: Performance-enhancing drugs: Know the risks?) Therefore, the illegal drugs and supplements that the athlete consume are dangerous, damaging and potentially deadly. The drug could be made out of something that gives you a disease or even kills you because it doesn’t meet the government safety

These are referred to as maxims (401). Unlike the categorical imperative, a maxim is subjective and does not exist a priori or objectivity. Simply put, maxims were devised to guide human will, only due to the fact that humans will is often tainted by subjective concerns (422). Maxims act as supplementary assistance in translating objective rules to improve a persons pure will (395). Kant specifically expresses four particular maxims that will help guide humans to reasonable good will; do not lie, do not commit suicide, do not allow talents to go to waste and finally be philanthropic

The results found that the majority of the athletes thought PED use was a form of gaining an advantage over the competition. Knowing at a young age, before one has fully matured, that using PEDs to enhance one’s skills is cheating shows that the athletes are more than capable to make the better decision to not take PEDs to help them improve their skills without hard work. Another psychological study (Murray) took a stance on why athletes take the PEDs. The conclusions found in this study suggests that athletes using PEDs regularly have a hard time socializing. This leads to awkward face-to-face communication and the study also found that there was also a break in the Social Learning Theory (Murray). Using these studies shows that taking PEDs is bad for communicational purposes, which is important if an athlete takes them since the press wants to talk to the

First of all the side effects are horrible, and you will have to live with them the rest of your life. Second, you will have the regret of taking PEDs, and setting a bad example to children around the world who look up to you. And you could be the reason that a teenage athlete dying because of drugs. Third, you could kill yourself, the ones you love, the opponent, or an innocent citizen that you happen to come across when you are taking out your anger. And you can get depressed, or go insane. PEDs should be ban from all professional sports, because they, have horrible side effects that can’t always be fixed, they set a bad example for children, and they can hurt many people including yourself, or make you go insane or get

To conclude, PED’s should be illegal in sports. They are unhealthy, they make the body more prone to disease and injury. They show poor sportsmanship, they take the competitive edge out of sports. They aren’t that popular, only one in every fifteen athletes use them. Of course trying to ban something is challenging, but the faster we act, the more safe athletes lives can

Mr. Smith states “The primary reason why performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) are outlawed in professional sports is that they give users an unfair advantage over the rest of the field” and that “legalizing PEDs would make life much easier for professional sports organizations currently

To distinguish between perfect an imperfect duties. Try to universalize the maxim that is about to be acted. Would you want this maxim to be acted upon your person? By universalizing, you can test whether, your needs are being privileged over the needs of others.

According to the article Drug testing in sports “PED’s causes many problems in professional sports”. Professional athletes often get in trouble with certain drugs because they don’t think they are illegal. Many athletes take drugs or prescriptions that are legal, but these drugs often get put on the banned substance list. The banned substance list gets updated daily with drugs deemed illegal by the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee. While there are agencies to stop the use of PED’s, there are also people who are for the use of these drugs through safe methods. According to the article why we should allow performance-enhancing drugs in sports Taking EPO or Erythropoietin up to the safe level, say 0.5, is not a problem. This allows athletes to correct for natural inequality. There are of course some drugs that are harmful in themselves —for example, anabolic steroids. We should focus on detecting these because they are harmful not because they enhance performance. (Clayton 1). This is unethical because it takes away the fairness in sports. The players or athletes should stay limited to the drugs that are prescribed by their teams and team

There are good reasons to allow performance enhancement, to make sport fairer and to narrow the gap between the cheaters and the honest athletes. It would provide a better spectacle, be safer and less coercive” (Foddy) Therefore, with the legalization of PED’s not only would the playing field suddenly be even for all players, it would be at a higher level. Furthermore, athletes on the way up whose entourages don’t yet include savvy physiotherapists and doctors would be less likely to overdose and do themselves harm.

7. Kant’s ethics gives us firm standards that do not depend on results; it injects a humanistic element into moral decision making and stresses the importance of acting on principle and from a sense of duty. Critics, however, worry that (a) Kant’s view of moral worth is too restrictive, (b) the categorical imperative is not a sufficient test of right and wrong, and (c) distinguishing between treating people as means and respecting them as ends in themselves may be difficult in practice.

The ethical dilemma is a situation by which it’s difficult to determine whether a situation is can be handled without disappointing both sides. Therefore, an ethical dilemma exists when the right thing to do is clear or when members of the healthcare team cannot agree on the right thing to do. Ethical dilemmas require negotiation of different points of view (potter, Perry, Stockert, & Hall 2011pg 78).

*Never treat people simply as means to an end but always at the same time as ends in themselves

For evaluating and explaining to prove the flaws of the universal law, the specific understanding about the meaning of maxim is essential because it is the