Choose a case study. Consider what dilemmas are presented by the case study, and how these issues might be informed by the theories examined this semester. For this paper, you will need to choose two of the following theories to apply to the case study:
Universal Ethical Egoism
Act Utilitarianism
Rule Utilitarianism
Care Ethics
Intuitionism
Divine Command Theory
Kant’s Duty Ethics
Ross’s Prima Facie Duties
Nicomacean Virtue Ethics
Confucian Role Ethics
CASE STUDIES FOR THE ASSESSMENT:
Case 1: Birds or Boeings?
You are an urban planner hired to work on community consultation and development in the Western Sydney Priority Growth Area. A part of this project is centred around the development of the Western Sydney Airport and further infrastructure, to increase the economic productivity of Western Sydney, through the creation of job opportunities and to promote educational, scientific, medical, retail, and defence industry. However, residents of the surrounding local areas have argued that they will be negatively impacted by an airport operational 24/7, and some of the key points of concern are the potential environmental damage to the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and local animal populations, and the impact on the wellbeing of residents in local communities.
What responsibility do the government and development companies have to community concerns, and can a balance be achieved between economic prosperity and preservation of the local environment?
Ancell, D 2016, Clipped Wings: Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility in the Airline Industry, Routledge, Abingdon
Payne, D and Raiborn, C 2001, ‘Sustainable Development: The Ethics Support the Economics’ Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 157-168
Salamat, M 2016, ‘The Ethics of Sustainable Development: The Moral Imperative for the Effective Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, Natural Resources Forum, pp 3-5
Information from the Australian Government: https://westernsydneyairport.gov.au/resources/eis/index.aspx *
Mountain Conservation Society INC submission to draft EIS: https://www.bluemountains.org.au/documents/submissions/BMCS_WSA_Draft_EIS_Submission.pdf
Case 2: Business is Booming
You have spent a number of years involved in the medical tourism industry guiding clients looking for more affordable options for medical intervention, particularly in less wealthy regions such as South-East Asia and Latin America. While some clients are looking to receive cheaper surgeries like cosmetic procedures, others are looking at life-saving surgeries that are not available or are unaffordable at home. Some clients even disclose to you that they are looking to purchase organs for organ transplants. Your general practice is to facilitate cosmetic procedures and not become involved in facilitating the purchase of stem cells and organs. Not only is there the legal dilemma of what is acceptable in medical tourism practice internationallly, but there is the moral dilemma associated with the use of human tissue without being fully aware of the source, and the legal and health implications of their use. Bioethicists and public policymakers raise concern about the source of human organs (and associated human trafficking) and the exploitation of economically disadvantaged communities, particularly in relation to whether it is possible for donors to make truly free decisions to donate their organs. However, others argue that it is a viable source of income for poverty-stricken families. Should the purchase of body organs be facilitated, and what ethical guidance can you use to decide?
Case 3: House or Home?
You work in the human service industry as a social worker specifically working with young clients – under the age of 18 – in shared out-of-home residential care. There are 3 children in the home; a 13 year old girl, a 15 year old boy, and a 16 year old girl. Each of these children have experienced a significant amount of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse from both their birth families and some of their foster families. During the course of one conversation, the 13 year old girl lets slip that the 15 year old boy and the 16 year old girl have engaged in sexual relations on a number of occasions, although she does not provide more information beyond this revelation. You become concerned that this may not only harm their cognitive, social, and emotional development, but may also impact on the 13 year old who lives in the home. You are also concerned that all of these children have experienced significant disruption to their foster care circumstances and that the removal of one child will once again result in them being forced to adapt to another new home environment. Part of ensuring their ability to adapt once they leave the residence is to provide stability for them now.
What is your responsibility to each of the clients? What ethical guidance can you use to decide what to do, particularly in regards to the ability of the children to consent to the relationship and to ensure their future wellbeing?
Case 4: The Means to an End
The following case study is adapted from Fletcher 1990, What Cops Know, Futura, London, pp 215-216.
You are working as an undercover police officer attempting to expose the members of a drug trafficking racket in your city. You have worked very hard to earn the trust of the gang members and to become exposed to their illegal activities. It is necessary to your success – and survival – to maintain positive relationships with them. One man becomes particularly friendly with you, inviting you to his home, out with his partner, and to family events. The part that impacts you the most is his disclosure to you of his troubled background that led him to become involved in this gang; his experiences of abuse, alcoholism, and poverty within the home, and the ‘out’ that his involvement in the gang provided for him. His inevitable arrest and subsequent horror at your involvement leads to you questioning the ethics of omission, and whether you can justify the importance of removing drugs from the street to your feelings of betraying someone who considered you a friend. How do you rationalize your role in the investigation, and how do you do you overcome your feelings using ethical reasoning?
Case 5: Fatal Attraction
You have been with your life partner for 40 years and they are now within weeks of dying from a terminal illness. Each day you see them suffering from pain and the degradation of feeling helpless, having been active and strong all their life. Your life partner has been on anti-depressant medication and has twice attempted to take their own life, using this medication. You know that they wish to die with dignity, but they are not now in a position to take their own life. It is both hard to watch their suffering and very stressful and demanding on you. You have considered facilitating their death in a painless manner, however they are no longer in the position to actively consent to this themselves. Furthermore, there are the obvious legal ramifications of taking their life. Is it ethical to provide a mercy death for your partner, and what ethical guidance can you use to decide?
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