Ebola Ethical Dilemma

829 Words4 Pages
Part 1 Recently there was a crisis in the world of healthcare: a highly fatal virus of Ebola broke out. Indeed, it is generally limited to a certain part of Africa, but there were account that people with this virus were spotted in the United State, Europe and other countries. Since the fatality rate is around ninety percent, it should have been contained extremely quickly. In order to do that, some of the people who contracted the virus were offered experimental medicine that showed great results in curing Ebola in apes. However, it was not tested on humans. So, the ethical dilemma here is whether this medicine should be given to the patients. There are several reasons why the situation in question is an ethical dilemma. It is rather obvious…show more content…
The latter is a moral theory that argues that “the morally right act, for any particular situation, is that act which would produce the greatest overall utility in its consequences” (MTP, 2014, p. #111). In other words, it focuses on a specific act and the amount of utility or happiness that it brings. There are certain advantages that it possesses. First of all, this theory is extremely objective and provides a single, well defined and clear answer to a particular problem. So, it is very easy to apply it. In addition to that, given the fact that it takes into consideration the actual state of affairs, it is rather flexible which allows it to be used in virtually any circumstances (Jenkins, 2003). However, there is some criticism of it as well. For example, it is generally argued that act utilitarianism often leads to moral permissiveness. Indeed, if the focus of moral evaluation is place on a particular set of circumstances, then acts which are commonly recognized as wrong (murder or incest, for example) will be seen as permissible (Hooker, 2000). Moreover, the very concept of calculating and comparing the possible outcomes is rather vague. While the idea of utility is understandable, how can a person actually measure it taking into account all the aspects of the situation objectively? All this leads to the understanding that it may work well in theory, but in practice it does face some technical
Show More
Related

  • Ethical Dilemma Case Study

    937 Words  | 4 Pages

    Potential example of an ethical issue or dilemma Shante’ Seals Vatterott Dental Assisting Courtney Oetting (A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to Assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives.) Albert Schweitzer. Non Maleficence is often related to consideration in end- of- life decisions. Dentist are not often involved in actual decision making about withdrawing or withholding treatments on patients. But in some cases caring

    Read More

  • Essay On Personal Values And Decision Making

    1289 Words  | 6 Pages

    and decision making (analyzing an ethical system) Using class discussions, exercises, and relevant chapter(s) of your text as a guide, state your core values and analyze your own personal code of ethics. Based on these values and principles, briefly describe the process you use to make decisions when faced with an ethical dilemma. Personal values play an important role in achieving happiness and having our own personal code of ethics help us facing ethical dilemma. It will define who we are and show

    Read More

More about Ebola Ethical Dilemma

Open Document