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Discussion #002 - John The Paramedic 1) Make A Comment Regarding Your Judgment of John's Decision. Was It Right or Wrong? State Why You Think So
Discussion #002 - John The Paramedic 1) Make A Comment Regarding Your Judgment of John's Decision. Was It Right or Wrong? State Why You Think So
1) Make a comment regarding your judgment of John’s decision. Was it right or wrong?
State why you think so.
The way I understand the context of John’s case was an ethical issue of weighing your
personal values and morals against professional ethics. Paramedics, like any other allied health
professions, have an oath to preserve life at all cost. According to the Law Enforcement and
Emergency Medicine: An Ethical Analysis, “ Emergency physicians should treat criminals,
suspects, and prisoners with the same respect and attention they afford other patients while
ensuring the safety of staff, visitors, and other patients” (Baker). Judging from the way he
initially responded to the victim, he was determined to save the life of the victim with multiple
stab wounds. But when John finally had a grasp of the whole scenario when he has interviewed
the woman and told him who obviously committed the crime, the plot took its turn.
Certain things are indeed morally good or bad independently of anyone's beliefs and
values. In John’s case, he has a professional obligation to perform yet his morals and beliefs got
in the way. Citing another example is a nurse who is a devout Catholic was asked to assist an
abortion case in a hospital wherein abortion is performed legally. Such scenario would surely
create a conflict between your conscience and career.
I cannot really say that John’s decision was not right. Perhaps his morals are so deeply
rooted within him. But I guess his decision might be wrong in a way since he has made an oath
of being a Paramedic which should uphold the dignity of a dying person at all cost. With his
decision, he also lost his career. He should have let the police or proper authorities handled the
case of the victim.
CITATION:
2) Are “Applied Ethics” involved in this case? Why or why not? State why you think so.
1. moral objectivism, the view that some moral principles are valid for everyone;
2. cultural relativism, the view that an action is morally right if one’s culture approves of
it;
3. subjective relativism; the view that an action is morally right if one approves of it;
4. emotivism, the view that moral utterances are neither true nor false, but are expressions
of emotions or attitudes; or
CITATION:
Vaughn, Lewis. Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues. New York:
W.W. Norton & Co, 2008.
4) AFTER you have made your comment, read through the comments of your classmates,
and respond to at least TWO of their comments on the same subject.