A Right-Versus-Right Problem - Research Paper Example

Thus, they felt grateful that I told them about it. The hospital did not have a written policy on such a situation, but I was torn between keeping the fact secret, for the sake of the family of the deceased but I was also concerned about the funeral homes especially with the embalmers who are going to touch the body. The conflict has risen because I also considered the privacy of the deceased and his family. I understand that AIDS is a decease which societies see as degrading. Although, the patient has already died, there is still an unwritten rule of protecting his dignity towards hearsays.

More so, I had the moral responsibility not to expose his family to shame, unless they themselves consent to divulge the matter to other people. I know that many of the AIDS cases are still kept in secret. Although again, there is no written policy with regard to revealing to disease of the dead, there is still an unwritten law of respect to privacy, and AIDS might be a special case of disease. This is one side of the story. On the other hand, I was very much worried about the health and the life of the people at the funeral homes.

What if they have never known that the deceased is an AIDS victim, fail to take the necessary procedures for embalming an AIDS victim and get infected. Given, the current situation of being a non-curable disease, not telling the truth about the matter is like committing a murder. I thought about the family of the people at the funeral homes. They would surely desire to know the truth. Thus my decision then was to divulge the truth before it gets late. An Analysis of the Right-Versus-Right Problem According to Rushworth M.

Kidder, there are at least four categories of conflict that give rise to right-versus-right problems (Kidder, 2003). These categories are; the conflict between truth and loyalty, individual versus community, short-term against long-term and justice versus mercy (Kidder, 2003). Rushworth has summarized at least three principles that he thinks helpful in thinking through right-versus-right problem. He mentioned these principles as ends-based, rule-based and care-based. The idea behind the ends-based principles is to "do whatever produces the greatest good for the greatest number", and it is popularly known as "untilitarianism" (Kidder, 2003).

Therefore, it involves looking at the costs and benefits of the options, comparing them and opting for the lesser cost and higher benefits. Using utilitarianism principle in my past situation would require one's judgment on what is currently more important, the privacy of the deceased and his family or the health of the embalmers. An analysis of the cost and benefits as to who gains and who losses plus the question of how intense are the gains and losses is the key to the decision. Obviously, on my analysis that time, it was weighter to save the health of the people at the funeral homes than protect the privacy of the dead and his family.

After all, there is no written private policy about it. An analysis of the outcome of my options was the basis of my decision. Another principle is the deontological thinking developed by a German philosopher Immanuel Kant (Kidder, 2003). This is based on a practical thought of following only the principle that you want everyone else to follow (Kidder, 2003). Unlike the utilitarianism which considers