Do no wrong - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Ethics are often influenced by norms, expectation of society, to a certain degree by morals and other factors that compels proper behavior. Not all ethical practice is morally right because what is the proper thing to do does not automatically mean that it is right. A classic example is the lawyer whose professional ethics compels him to defend his client vigorously even if he knows that his client killed a man which in essence is not moral. His defense of a client albeit the client killed a man, is consistent of another ethical value upheld by society which is to give every man his day in court when accused of a crime.
In the case of the case of Katy Butler’s parents in the article What Broke My Father’s Heart, the decision that has to be made that would require to use moral or ethics was the dilemma whether to stop the pacemaker in Jeff’s heart (Katy’s father) so that it will return to its normal function that will eventually put him to rest. Using the strict measurement of morality, stopping the pacemaker would, according to Dr. Rogan would tantamount to putting a pillow on Jeff’s head insinuating murder, and therefore, wrong. (1)But this is however simplistic because it failed to consider that Jeff did not want the pacemaker in his body that prolonged his agony and put him in a situation where people around him were forced to consider difficult options such as stopping his pacemaker. His situation was against his consent and could also be considered as not moral. The decision went to his wife who was not fully informed to the consequences of pacemaker. Valerie, the wife, realized later that Jeff’s decision not to have a pacemaker was after all right because he was like house that was collapsing after the pacemaker was installed in his body that was given was not a life,” but a prolonged and attenuated dying”.
(2)Thus, in the case of Jeff, the act of turning his pacemaker off was neither euthanasia ...Download file to see next pagesRead More