...The Case of Scott Starson Biomedical Ethics Group 6 February 26th, 2013 The decision to treat any patient by force poses many questions. There are very few occasions where one might imagine treating a competent person in defiance of his or her express wishes. The moral principle of respect for autonomy coupled with statutes that protect patient rights forbid forced treatment. Yet there remain medical professionals who have disagreed with a patient’s choice and take the matter to court. When considering patient rights it’s important to define the difference between refusing a blood transfusion for religious reasons and refusing medications that affect one’s mental health. A case that highlights the difficulty of determining competence is that of Scott Starson. Starson, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was committed to a psychiatric hospital after having uttered death threats. There, he refused any medication for his disorder as he claimed it would ruin his career as a theoretical physicist. This was a decision that professionals disagreed with. However, the Supreme Court of Canada deemed Mr. Starson competent and able to make his own medical decisions. The main topic of concern is whether doctors should be allowed to impose treatment on a competent patient. Firstly, I will argue the point that every individual should have the right to choose their own medical treatments. Conversely, that those who suffer with a mental health issue cannot always appreciate and...
Words: 1586 - Pages: 7
...up to date on their child’s progress. (Shelly, Gunter, & Gunter, 2012) With effective communication between parents and teachers, there is no room for a student to fail. With teachers, allowing a pathway for parents to become more active in the classroom during lessons gives the parent the opportunity to know and understand the lessons that the student is learning. (Cooper, 2007) Keeping up with emergency contacts and creating a class website to keep parents up to date on lesson and activities in the classroom will provide students with the support that has needed. Parents and teachers should have the most communication throughout the school year. Creating achievable goals for the students at the beginning of the year, will give parents the opportunity to strengthen their child’s weaknesses by informing the teacher on what improvements they would like to see. (Cooper, 2007) It also allows the teacher to know whom he/she needs to work more with and how to make the improvements. Allowing parents to access the class website helps keep them informed on what is going on in the classroom and whether or not their child is improving or not. This way parents can help a failing child improve by enforcing the lessons taught at school at home. (Shelly, Gunter, & Gunter, 2012)This will remedy the issue of a working parent who cannot make it to the school because of the hours they work. Parents will be able to access the site from any device that can access the internet, which...
Words: 807 - Pages: 4
...Ethics Development Paper Ethics Development Paper At an early age, many are taught the difference from right and wrong and that sharing is caring. If you had a toy that the others wanted to play with rather than telling them no normally the elder would walk over to you and say to share the activity or game that you are playing or let others join in and play with you. I believe this is where many people are first taught the developmental aspects of ethics. Growing up as a only child this was something that I can still remember as if it was yesterday; my mom walking over to me and saying, “ Tommy share your toys don’t be so stingy.” Along with these conversations she wove in lessons of right and wrong and the rewards and consequences that came along with. Those were defining moments for me and when looking back now and asked to write and focus on the developmental aspect of ethics; that was the beginning of learning ethics at a young age. Ethics are taught by parents, teachers, or authority figures through focused lessons, societal norms or every day interactions. Whether it is from learning this at school from your kindergarten teacher, to having it reinforced in your place of worship and then drilled into you by your parents these lessons are all around us. These lessons continue to be reinforced and illustrated throughout our lives and help to create a norm in our society that are illustrated through laws, policies at work or actions we all practice on a daily basis...
Words: 1516 - Pages: 7
...1. Based on the Value Paradigm as seen in fig.1 “Understanding Human Values” you are tasked to make some listing on how the following value indicators below truly make a difference in the values of people. Language – the way they speak Music, dance art and images of feelings – it gives sense of identity to every individual, creating in person uniqueness and a way of identifying oneself within a certain group. Food and the way they eat – distinguish an individual from the rest through the way that he/she chooses foods to eat. Foods that he/she chooses and eat define him or her through physical aspect and his/he belief in manipulation of foods. Recreation – activity or activities that allow an individual to spend his free time in a more constructive manner. This gives an individual immediate and inherent satisfaction. Dress – signifies somewhat an status symbol for a person because if he dresses in a way that is different from the others he becomes known to them. Beliefs – convictions of people that leads him towards the achievement of his goals and thus makes him successful. Likes – sense of having an interest towards certain people or things which makes an individual keener on his works or projects. 2. Figure 2 provides an understanding of how values are communicated, and who the Values Communicators are. Discussion on “Why do you think our parents are considered number one communicators of values?” Parents are considered number one communicator of values...
Words: 2107 - Pages: 9
...5/19/13 Toyota Recall: Five Critical Lessons | Business Ethics You are here: Home » Business Ethics, Economy, Featured Story, Michael Connor, Recent Stories, Regulation & Legislation » Toyota Recall: Five Critical Lessons Toyota Recall: Five Critical Lessons Posted by Michael Connor • January 31, 2010 • Printer-friendly by Michael Connor Toyota’s announcement of a technical fix for its sticky gas pedals – which can lead to sudden acceleration problems - is not likely to bring a quick end to the company’s current recall nightmare. Having already halted sales and production of eight of its top-selling cars in the U.S. - and recalled more than 9 million cars worldwide, in two separate recalls – Toyota faces the prospect of billions of dollars in charges and operating losses. The Toyota brand, once almost synonymous with top quality, has taken a heavy hit. While all the facts are not yet in, it’s clear that Toyota’s crisis didn’t emerge full-blown overnight. Fixing the problem and ensuring that something like it doesn’t happen again will require an all-out effort, from assembly line to the boardroom. Even then, there are no guarantees. Maintaining a good corporate reputation in the 21st century is tricky business indeed. Toyota’s case offers a number of valuable lessons for other business people and companies to consider. Here, for starters, are five: Aggressive growth can create unmanageable risk. Toyota’s desire to supplant General Motors as the world’s number-one car-maker...
Words: 1932 - Pages: 8
...Personal ethics at its core definition is the process of learning what is right and wrong, then doing what is right. It is anything but black and white and requires knowledge coming from teachers, parents, educators, pastors, community leaders and a host of quality sources. I have been influenced in the way that I respond to different situations since childhood. There are certain situations that are a part of my life that affect what I value and how I behave. Also, these parts of my life affected the particular ethical system that influences the way I make decisions and who I am as an individual. The origin of my character is based on the fact that I was raised by a single mother and was the oldest of two in my home. My mom had a unique way of making me feel special and setting time aside for just me and her. I believe this is where I learned to value time and having patience. It also influenced the way I value family and has affected many of the decisions I have made for my own. Another factor that helped shape my ethics is that my mother was not a very religious woman. She believed in a higher powerI maintain that personal ethics comprising of morals, principles, and values requires constant repetition that is taught and not magically acquired. I had the benefit of two fine parents who taught me how important honesty, accountability, responsibility, and integrity was. Yet, later in my career as a corporate executive I crossed the line and committed white collar offenses against...
Words: 386 - Pages: 2
...manager in other companies. My first lesson for Introduction to Management. I learnt about Evolution of Management and Management’s Culture on the first lesson. At the start of the lesson we were being asked to define the difference between efficient and effective. In my first thought was that the two words have about the same meaning. But I was enlightened that Efficient was to minimize wastage of resources, uses less resources to produce more and Effective was to meet goals to sustain competitive advantage. Management is working with people, resources to achieve organization goal efficiently. I learnt to define whether a manager has leadership and good management. Therefore I have determined that my manager have good management skills but a lack of leadership. Not only I was introduced to the four functions of management Planning is to define goals and establish strategies, Organizing is to assemble resources, Leadings is to lead employees to excel and Controlling is monitoring of work being process. I was introduced to many famous people who were successful in managing and the management evolution and how they manage in the past from before 1800’s to beyond 2000. Today’s lesson was about Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Culture. A lot of ethics and plagiarism was being told to us and I started to feel about the seriousness of plagiarism and also understand why we should not commit plagiarism as it was a kind of ethics we should practice. Although plagiarism...
Words: 1135 - Pages: 5
...Ethics KEY TERM and WHY YOU ARE INTERESTED IN IT Ethics is the key term chosen this week to research, secondary to the significant relevance ethics plays in all aspects of life. As a child, it was emphasized what was right and wrong, good and bad, to be the best one can be, and to make sure the decisions that are made are based on a common set of values and principles. As an adult, the adherence to these values has played a fundamental role in my own success as a business leader in my profession. EXPLANATION OF KEY TERM The general definition of ethics is ”the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation” (Satterlee, 2009, p. 48). Every culture in the world will have some form of ethics and the society would have a set of values or moral duties and obligations. In some instances, these values may become law. Many of these moral values are based on a religion; for example, Christianity refers to the Ten Commandments, which forms a set of values. Some ethics are secular in nature. In business, ethics plays a major role on how companies act in relation to their core values. A world viewpoint would look at international business ethics as compared to domestic business ethics. The international business ethics would focus on the culture of that society along with their values and core beliefs. With our growing global economy, it is important to understand the ethical duties and obligations for businesses wishing to conduct business...
Words: 1391 - Pages: 6
...Micah Ballard Dispositions and Philosophy Paper Education 2010 Section 1 Charles Preston 4/25/11 Dispositions of a teacher are some of the most important topics we covered through the semester in Education 201. Teacher dispositions, if followed correctly, can be looked at as the prototypical teacher who can arrive at a school and not only help out the school, but also help of the children. The main dispositions of learning consist of the commitment to diversity, commitment to ethics, commitment to the teaching profession, and knowing the philosophies and theories of education. Throughout a semester of a number of speakers, class documents, and Martin Haberman’s Star Teachers, I feel like I have learned how important these dispositions truly are for the success of a teacher and what I need to work on to better myself to become a true star educator. The first disposition of teaching is the commitment to diversity. Commitment to diversity is a strong point of mine because I have first handedly seen the benefits of diversity in the schools. In one hand I went to a middle school that was about 30% African American, 25% Hispanic, and 45% White. On the other hand I went to a high school that was almost 95% White, 4% African American, and 1% Hispanic. I feel like the students I went to school with in the diverse community had a more open mind about society in a whole which clearly made for better learning. I also observed that the teachers at the diverse school seemed to have...
Words: 1517 - Pages: 7
...The article called “The Bottom Line On Ethics” (From the Board, 2003), written by Amitai Etzioni who is the founder and director of “The Communitarian Network ”which is supported by Washington, D.C. and aims to enchance social senses, answers some questions about business ethics and argues that ethics depends on different situations so behaving ethically is not constant. Etzioni, starts his speech defending that good ethics is not good business. He defines the sentence “Good ethics is good business.” by following words. “....Good ethics is good business undermines the essence of business ethics. It implies that the bottom line should guide ethical behaviour.....” (Amitai Etzioni, The Bottom Line on Ethics, From the Board 2003, p.59) Etzioni thinks that there are two main goals in an economic therory that everyone wants to reach. These are maximizing happiness and profit. But for Etzioni, the think is not only reaching these goals but trying to balance our self-interest and other charges like taking care of our family and relations. Second topic is business leader’s sight about the bottom line. Etzioni handles this by giving two examples. First one is a manipulator who did everything –no matter legally or not- and earn a lot of money. Second one is a manager who behaved ethically but earn a little bit less that he can earn. Etzioni higlights that ethics is a fight in everybody between our good and bad halfs. Etzioni emphasizes the importance of the...
Words: 610 - Pages: 3
...Ethics Enron's culture during their heyday encouraged an entrepreneurial spirit along with a “loose tight” management style that has been highlighted in the media and the Darden CD as being part of their success (Darden CD). However, according to Hatcher (2003), Enron had a culture of “anything goes as long as it makes money”. For example, in a thesis written by Boje, Alder, and Black, the authors claim that Enron used theatre to influence how decision makers accurately or inaccurately interpreted the information presented. As part of this "anything goes culture" between 1998 and 2001 Enron set up a fake Hollywood type trading floor on the 6th floor of Enron corporate headquarters using simulated statistics and their employees pretending to be "energy service traders to influence investors, regulators and employees (Boje, 2004). Although it maximized shareholder equity one would consider this behavior unethical. What about Enron's ethics program? Enron’s Code of Ethics was published in 2000, and even included a forward written by its chairman Kenneth L. Lay, in which he states “Enron’s reputation finally depends on its people, on you and me.” However, even with this senior level "endorsement", Enron’s Code of Ethics, their policies and procedures and the associated training were not enough to circumvent the wanton fraud at Enron that resulted in the largest bankruptcy in American history (Wilkinson, 2005). Why did Enron’s ethics policy fail? One of the reasons that their...
Words: 611 - Pages: 3
...#12 Management: Managers, Performance, and the Environment I) The major point of this article is that management needs to be strong and be willing to make changes in their thought process if they want to succeed. That America’s economy and the managers who plan, direct, organize, control, and staff its businesses must provide new, different, and creative approaches to meet the new competitive global environment. II) The overall managerial lesson in this reading is that management existed all the way back to the early days of civilization. Many companies have come and gone and many have reconstructed themselves to insure their futures. As a discipline, management faces new challenges and obstacles daily and some are the result of their successes but I feel some are the result of their weaknesses also. One outstanding challenge that has happened over the years is the new role of managers that are women(Mary Barra, General Motors), African Americans(Kenneth Chenault, American Express), Hispanic Americans(Oscar Muñoz, United Airlines) to name a few, and other minorities. These and other organizations will need managers who can think clearly and are capable of dealing with changes in all aspects of the companies so they can stay on top. III) What I have learned personally is that I need to make changes in my management style if I want to succeed at my job and company. I have always thought and have been told if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. I might think it’s not...
Words: 6985 - Pages: 28
...Vito Asaro Ethics Mario Trentanelli Reflection Project January 14, 2013 Week 3 According to the Webster dictionary, in which four definitions are given for the term, ethics is the system of moral principal. Webster also goes on to describe ethics as, “the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, (Dictornary.com). For me, I agree with Plato that, “there are absolute and eternal moral truths and principle”. I believe even if we choose to follow through with an action we know is know is morally wrong, we still ultimately know that the act is still wrong. For example if one was to steal from a store, the desire to take that object might overcome ones better judgment, but the act is not committed without the understanding that the understanding of the reproductions. The lesson plan describes several tools for critical thinking. These tools for critical thinking are: ad-hominem argument, the straw man fallacy, consistency failure and the red hearing. Ad-hominem attacks the source or individual of the argument. This can best be seen when to children get into trouble and either one points the finger, he did it! This tool is to show a group in a perceived way, the lesson plan use pro-choice, defining them as baby killers. We saw a great example of the straw man fallacy in this year presidential debates when President Obama criticized Governor Romney for wanting to cut Sesame Street’s federal financings...
Words: 733 - Pages: 3
...Lesson 1 Optics vs Vision There are optics and visions in ethics. Optic is a specific way to approach things.. This can be a legal, fi nancial or marketer point of view. Vision is different ways of seeing through the optic. In other words, visions are different opinions. You can have multiple visions under one optic. Norms and values Rules can be made to try and protect a value. Its important to know whether obeying a norm leads to protecting a value. Your moral is the combination of all values and norms together. A written rule is a regulation, while a norm can be written or unwritten. Responsibility There are some prerequisites for making somebody responsible. 1. Freedom of movement: • Literal: he/she should be able to move in order to be responsible. • Freedom of will (personally): • Social Freedom: ➢ Negative Freedom: The individual is free to make his or her own decisions. The government doesn’t oblige me to do anything. This is a form of liberalism. ➢ Positive Freedom: People want government interference. They want the government to shape them into a society where they can operate freely. Things are done for the benefits of the people who are being interfered with. Positive freedom is basically assuming that you know what’s right. Too much should not be used in sales activities. 2. Knowledge: Are you aware of the fact that something is happening? 3. Being capable of making your own decisions: ...
Words: 1929 - Pages: 8
...I recently came across a story published on a social media site. In this story an elementary school teacher is giving a lesson to her students. During this lesson she takes two red apples that to the naked eye look exactly the same, but she has omitted the fact that she repeatedly tapped one of the apples on the ground in order to bruise the insides. To the uninformed observer the apples looked, and felt the same. The teacher asked her students to say something bad about the secretly bruised apple, and to say nice things about the other. She proceeded to then ask the students if the awful, or nice words had changed the appearance of either of the apples. The students unanimously agreed that there was no change to the outer appearance of either...
Words: 794 - Pages: 4
