About 1000 universities in the U.S. follow the recent trend of having a tobacco-free campus. This means that no one is allowed to use any form of tobacco anywhere on university property, indoors or outdoors, no matter how remote the location. Is such a policy ethical?
This issue was raised by a recent proposal to ban tobacco use on the Carnegie Mellon University campus.
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Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, offers physicians from wealthy countries the opportunity to utilize their medical expertise in poor areas. To do so, however, many physicians must forgo large salary earnings–sums that would likely save more lives if they were donated rather than sacrificed….
The starting yearly salary for a physician employed by MSF is currently under $20,000. By contrast, the mean 2009 salary for a general practitioner in the U.S. is $168,550. Clearly, there are more efficient uses of many doctors’ time and skills than to join MSF, even (or especially) if their main motivation is to save lives and treat the sick. Indeed, many U.S. physicians could easily donate enough to more than cover the salary of another doctor employed by MSF and pay for his/her medical supplies.
A similar issue arises in other professions.
The dilemma was posed by Prof. Christopher Olivola, Carnegie Mellon University
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Is it ethical to refuse to have one’s child vaccinated for measles?
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We have seen a number of publications, ranging from Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten to France’s Charlie Hebdo, displaying cartoons that are offensive to Muslims. Is it ethical for a publication in a Western country to do this?
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A large, family-owned corporation [i.e., Hobby Lobby] is deciding whether its company-sponsored health insurance should cover morning-after contraception. This form of contraception violates the religious beliefs of the corporation’s owners and a majority of its senior officers, because they believe it is tantamount to abortion. Some employees do not share the same religious beliefs and therefore feel that they are entitled to the same coverage as offered in other employer-sponsored plans. The cost of covering morning-after drugs is negligible, but failure to cover them could adversely affect public and employee relations. Is it ethical to eliminate this coverage?
Contributed by anonymous.
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Machines are sometimes designed to deceive us. The button at a crosswalk may have no effect on the signal but only induce pedestrians to pay attention to it. The door closing button in an elevator may be a dummy that gives people a sense of control. The progress bar for computer downloads may only give the impression that the download is progressing. Historically, a phone system that reached the wrong number may have patched the call through anyway to make callers think they made the mistake. The close button at the corner of a pop-up ad may only generate another ad. Netflix may switch from a personalized evaluation to a standard list of pop movies, without notice, when the system is overloaded. The posted wait time at an amusement park queue may be a deliberate overestimate to reduce customer impatience.
Some argue that deception by machines is ethical as long as it is beneficial or at least benign. It has been compared to a magician whose deception is tolerated because it amuses us, or to a doctor who tones down a diagnosis to avoid upsetting the patient. Are these comparisons legitimate?
Based on this article.
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My girlfriend and her mom accompanied me on a trip… [As we were sitting in a hotel lobby], I noticed there was 75 cents sitting on the cushion. I picked up the quarters, and a debate followed on how to behave ethically in this situation. None of us agreed on what to do.
Obviously, one choice is to pocket the money and spend it as you wish. But some feel that you should spend it by donating to charity or something selfless. Another option is to give the money to an authority figure, in this case, a hotel employee, no matter how unlikely it is that they would find the honest rightful owner. There is also the option of asking the people in the lobby if it is theirs, but again, you’re might be fighting against odds and honesty issues. Lastly, some people just opt to leave the money, deciding it’s not their money or their problem to resolve.
I’ve since brought this up in conversations with friends, and I am amazed at the varying actions that people say they would take. What if it was more money? What if it was on a public sidewalk instead of a hotel? What if it was in your apartment complex? How do you tell if someone is being honest with you? What if you had an idea of whose money is, or even saw them drop it? What if you were starving?… So there is my dilemma.
Contributed by anonymous.
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I was married to my ex-husband for 22 years, and we had three children. When all the children were under the age of 4, my middle daughter, 2 at the time, would like to come to bed with me until my husband arrived, at which point he would move her into her own room. One night I woke up and found my husband standing over the two of us as we slept, and he was masturbating. Long story short, I did not leave the marriage. Likely the wrong decision, but if the marriage ended he would have unsupervised visitation, and I would not be able to protect my children. Instead, I never left my kids alone with their dad – ever. I wasn’t sure if my ex was a pedophile or not… I did what I needed to do to protect my kids. It was exhausting, but I know that their father never had the opportunity to molest them. He was hands-off anyway in the parenting department. There were other sexually deviant times throughout our marriage. BTW – we never lived as a married couple after that episode… Fast forward. I have remarried. Now two of the three are married, and grandbabies are on the way. His new girlfriend has grandbabies. Who will protect all of these children? What do I do with the information that I have? I have only shared this with my new husband – not another person knows. I feel a sense of responsibility to protect the next generation of children. Please help guide me. This is eating me up. Do I sit down and have a heart-to-heart with my children? All I have ever wanted was to protect them from harm and hurt – how do I continue to do so?
Contributed by Sam B
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Ethical Decisions 