August 13, 2015

Withdrawing life support

My grandmother suffered an intracranial hemorrhage that left her severely brain damaged and unable to communicate.  With no living will or documentation regarding her medical treatment, we were left with the difficult task of deciding the course of her medical treatment. Breathing tubes, feeding tubes, and several other long-term medical decisions needed to be made without my grandmother being able to explain her wishes. It is a situation that roughly 30% of patients with life-threatening conditions find themselves in.

For months, my grandmother lived on a number of medical machines that kept her alive, lungs breathing and heart pumping. She made no improvement cognitively and remained fully dependent on mechanical ventilation.  With a heavy heart, my grandfather and his children reached the difficult conclusion that she would not wish to be maintained on machines indefinitely.  She was removed from life support and passed away shortly thereafter.  While I agree with the decision they made, not everyone sees it the same way.  Is ending a life willingly ever right?  Or is maintaining a human being indefinitely on life support just as unethical?

Contributed by anonymous

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Posted by on August 13, 2015 in Medical ethics and tagged , , .

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June 29, 2015

Refusing to cater same-sex wedding

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on 26 June 2015 that same-sex marriage is legal throughout the nation. The ruling attracted renewed attention to the dilemma facing officials and business owners who don’t wish to play a role in same-sex marriages. Actually, the issue had already been widely exposed in the media with an Oregon anti-discrimination case. Sweet Cakes Bakery refused to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple in 2013, on religious grounds. The couple brought suit under the state’s 2007 Equality Act, which exempts religious organizations but not businesses. An administrative law judge ruled in April 2015 that the bakery owners must pay $135,000 in damages to the couple. There are many issues here, but an obvious one is whether a bakery should refuse its services to same-sex weddings.

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Posted by on June 29, 2015 in Buying and selling and tagged , , , .

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March 5, 2015

Tobacco-free campus

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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Posted by on March 5, 2015 in Ethics at school, Medical ethics and tagged , , .

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February 22, 2015

Donation or personal service?

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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Posted by on February 22, 2015 in Ethics on the job, Medical ethics and tagged , , , .

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February 22, 2015

Used car buyer wants money back

I recently sold a 14-year-old SUV with 110,000 miles.  It passed vehicle inspection and licensing within 30 days of the sale.  I sold it “as is.”  I had no knowledge of any defects or mechanical problems.  I sold it well below Kelley blue book value because I knew the tires would need to be replaced for winter driving, which I made the buyers aware of at the time of the sale.

Two weeks after I sold the vehicle, it started having problems.   The new owners told me that they changed the oil on their own and drove it for two weeks before the problems appeared.  They parked the vehicle and have not taken it to a mechanic.  They don’t know what is wrong with the car but now want me to refund the purchase price and take the car back.

I offered to pay the cost of towing the car to a mechanic, but they refused that offer.  Should I refund the money or fight for my rights?  I feel I should fight for my rights .

Submitted by CK

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Posted by on February 22, 2015 in Buying and selling and tagged , , .

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February 17, 2015

Surge pricing by Uber and Lyft

Uber customers frequently complain about surge pricing. On one hand, surge pricing makes sense from a supply and demand standpoint. On the other hand, the prices can be outrageous, with reports that a 20-minute ride can cost $362. From an ethics standpoint, should Uber revamp this model? Or is it OK to continue with surge pricing because they warn customers first?

Submitted by a journalist

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Posted by on February 17, 2015 in Buying and selling, Ethics on the job and tagged , , , .

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February 3, 2015

Refusing measles vaccination

Is it ethical to refuse to have one’s child vaccinated for measles?

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Posted by on February 3, 2015 in Medical ethics and tagged , , .

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January 22, 2015

Offensive cartoons

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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Posted by on January 22, 2015 in Ethics on the job and tagged , , , .

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September 30, 2014

Hobby Lobby

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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Posted by on September 30, 2014 in Ethics on the job, Medical ethics and tagged , , , .

3 Comments

September 12, 2014

Machines that lie to us

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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Posted by on September 12, 2014 in Ethics and technology/AI and tagged , , , , , , .

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