Can it be done its about ethics
Ethics: Rights to Privacy & Access to Information Mid-Term Exam These are the 2 questions that you need to answer on the exam. You have from Tuesday March 9 at 6pm until Thursday March 11 at 11:59pm to write and upload your answers to turnitin.com. No more than 15% of your answer should be direct quotes from the readings or my notes. If you do use direct quotes from the reading or the notes, you MUST put them in quotation marks. You do not need to cite. Your answer must be in complete sentences. For at least a passing grade you should aim for a minimum of about 250 words for the answer to each subquestion; i.e. for 1(a), 1(b), 1(c) etc. For higher grades than a simple pass you ought to aim for more than the minimum word count (but not too much more than 750 words for each answer). If you choose to explain the ethical theories for each part of question 1, you do not need to repeat that for question 2. Please consult my grading criteria for this exam – I MIO’d them to you with the notice of the exam. You earn your marks for each answer – every student starts with 0 and earns the grades they get from there. Please read the questions carefully and answer all parts of the question!!!! Do not include my questions in the work you upload. Double space. 1. You are a medical professional who specializes in geriatric care for elderly patients. Your work brings you into close contact with both patients and their families. One of your patients is a 63 year old man who has mild symptoms of Alzheimer’s. While he recognizes his friends and family and maintains good relations with them, he can often become confused and requires some monitoring. He also has consistent short-term memory loss and must be reminded frequently of recent events. Recently, after some tests, you have discovered that your patient has a cancerous tumour in his brain. You have consulted two extremely experienced oncologists who agree that the cancer is advanced and is untreatable. It is your medical opinion, based on years of experience, that your patient is certain to die within the next six to ten months. Because the cancer is in his brain, he is unlikely to suffer any real pain; instead, he will eventually lapse into a coma and die. Your patient has had a difficult life. He was an alcoholic for decades beginning in his 30’s and due to this became estranged from friends and family members. After years of not being on speaking terms with members of his family, over the past 5 years he has managed to reconcile with them and he now has a good and strong relationship with his family members. He is still estranged from many of his friends. Yesterday, you decided to inform your patient’s family about the cancer diagnosis first in order to engage their help in breaking the news to your patient. However, when you met with them, the patient’s family members beg you not to reveal to the patient the new medical information. They want him to live out the last months of his life happy. They told you that there is nothing to be gained by revealing the truth to the patient. Should you inform your patient of his diagnosis? (a) Explain how you would decide what to do if you were to apply a Utilitarian ethical framework in this case, and fully explain the ethical reasoning, including all relevant facts, which justifies your decision. (20 marks) (b) Explain how you would decide what to do if you were to apply a Deontological ethical framework in this case, and fully explain the ethical reasoning, including any relevant facts, which justifies your decision. Ideally you should state a moral maxim and justify it. (20 marks) (c)Explain how you would decide what to do if you were to apply a Natural Rights (Liberty Rights) ethical framework in this case, and fully explain the ethical reasoning, including relevant facts, which justifies your decision. Keep in mind that it is your patient’s Natural Rights/Liberty Rights that are at issue here. (20 marks) 2. Bob is a 35 year old man who suffers from schizophrenia. He lives on his own and has been steadily employed in low-paying jobs for most of his adult life. Bob has a very high IQ and before the substantial onset of his schizophrenia was an excellent student, he was doing graduate work on a scholarship when his disease first manifested. He still engages in intellectual pursuits like reading and music. Due to the disease, he occasionally suffers psychotic episodes. Those psychotic episodes are marked by delusions, hallucinations and erratic behaviour. Bob has been in trouble with the law on a few occasions in his life; in all cases for non-violent offences, such as shop-lifting. Bob has sought medical help for his condition on numerous occasions. Different drugs have been prescribed to help control his psychotic episodes and to control the disease. However, the only drug that has proven to control his psychotic episodes is lithium, which acts as a mood stabilizer. While lithium controls Bob’s psychotic episodes, the side-effects that he experiences under the drug are constant and significant: he suffers from hand tremors, migraines, has a constant upset stomach and dry mouth, feels completely disconnected from his body and his mind, and he is always tired. When he takes lithium he cannot concentrate and therefore cannot read. Because of the side effects, Bob hates taking lithium, and he ceased using it after trying it out for four months. Currently Bob works full-time at a job in a warehouse of a retail store. He has been working at this job for about three years. He has lived in the same apartment, which he rents, for the past three years. In the last twelve months Bob has had occasional psychotic episodes when he is in public, this happens about once a month. When he is in a psychotic state he yells and swears, mostly to himself. However, if people, or dogs, stare at him, he can yell and swear at them as well. Furthermore, last month new neighbours moved into the apartment next to Bob. They are loud and play music at high volumes late into the night, almost every night. Bob starts work at 7 am and has trouble sleeping because of the loud music. He has had arguments with these neighbours when they have refused to turn the music down after being asked. Because of all of these events, Bob’s case-worker sought a ‘community treatment order’ to force Bob to take lithium. If a community treatment order (a CTO) is issued, Bob will be required to take a daily dose of lithium and if Bob does not take his lithium every day in front of a nurse at the CLSC, he will be committed to a mental institution. Bob objects strenuously to the CTO; he says that it violates his rights and amounts to government imposed mind control. His case worker insists that the CTO is required in order to protect the community. You must determine whether Bob or the case worker is correct and whether a CTO should be issued. (a) Explain how you would decide what to do if you were to apply a Utilitarian ethical framework in this case, and fully explain the ethical reasoning, including all relevant facts, which justifies your decision. (20 marks) (b) Explain how you would decide what to do if you were to apply a Deontological ethical framework in this case, and fully explain the ethical reasoning, including any relevant facts, which justifies your decision. Ideally you should state a moral maxim and justify it. (20 marks)