define an ethical dilemna and give example?

Answer 1

Definition - When doing the right thing comes into question.


You catch your friend cheating on a test and you know that if he fails the test he doesn't get to graduate on time.

What do you do? Do you tell?

Answer 2

There are several kinds -- generally, it's a conflict between an ethical obligation (such as a professional requirement) and something else, either a law or your personal morality.

For example, California attorneys had the standard ethical rule for keeping client confidentiality. Then the federal govt passed laws for mandatory reporting of certain corporate activities. Until California changed its rules, any attorney was forced to choose between violating federal reporting requirements (a felony, for which they could be disbarred) and violating their ethical obligations as an attorney (for which they could be disbarred). That's a dilemma.

In a pure ethical dilemma, two codes (or rules) of ethics come into conflict. That is different than one code of ethics coming into conflict with some other external set of rules.

For a pure ethical example, attorneys have a duty to inform the court of fraud or perjury -- and they have a duty to represent their clients and not reveal confidences. What happens if they find out their client committed perjury? That's a dilemma, as the two ethical rules are in conflict.

Answer 3

An ethical dilemma is a problem for which there are two or more answers, each of which contradicts the other. The classic example is a pregnant woman who has a viable fetus. If the fetus is allowed to come to term (be born), it will kill the mother. The alternative is to kill the fetus and remove it, thus saving the mother's life.

Another example would be finding out your parents are abusing your brother, who is threatening to kill himself. If you turn your parents in, you and your brother will be put in foster care (assuming they are convicted). If you don't, your brother will continue to suffer abuse and might even kill himself.

You find $500. Do you turn it in to the police and risk having someone claim it as theirs, or do you give it to your mother to keep your home from being foreclosed on?

Each question's two answers are ethically correct, except you can only do one. That's why it's called being "on the horns of a dilemma."

Answer 4

An ethical dilemma is when you are involved in a situation or forced to make a decision that violates your beliefs and values. I am a nurse, so medical dilemmas come to mind. Suppose you are a healthcare provider and you have a patient who is hopelessly ill. Everything possible has been done to help the patient recover. Nothing is working and there are no other treatments to try. The patient is living on life support, but has no possibility of every recovering to a point they can live off of life support. It is time to stop torturing the patient, keep them comfortable and allow them to die with dignity. But the family refuses to allow this. The patient suffers cardiac arrests and they insist that they be resuscitated each time. The patient is wasting away, is not concious and hasn't been in a long time. The family refuses to accept that at this point our duty is to support the patient and allow them to die.

Answer 5

They guy at Taco Bell gives you $5 too much change, but that was after you found out they screwed up your order and had to fix it not once, but twice.