Question: Choose one of the following ethical or moral issues and examine it using the three-step approach for evaluating ethical issues.
Summarize your findings in a 700- to 1,050-word essay, or a 12- to 15-slide Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation, with detailed speaker's notes.
Harry and Ruth are a financially successful married couple aged 53 and 50 respectively. Harry is the president of his own company. Once a fashion designer, Ruth no long works but maintains an active social schedule. They live in a large house on Lake Michigan in suburban Chicago. Recently, Ruth's 80-year-old mother, Angela, suffered a fall in her modest apartment, where she had lived alone for the last 10 years since her husband died. Because Angela suffers from osteoporosis, the doctors have recommend that she no longer live alone. As an only child, Ruth has to decide whether to let her mother move into her home, or move her to an assisted-living facility. After talking the situation over with Harry, Ruth decides on the assisted-living facility.
Lawrence Preston is a first-term congressman. The theme of the campaign that got him elected was to take government out of the hands of the special interest groups and return it to the people. Since taking office, however, he has been under considerable pressure from several special interest groups to endorse bills he believes are against the best interest of his constituents. He has asked two senior members of his party for their advice, and they said, "Look at it this way, Larry. In order to represent your constituents' interests, you have got to stay in office. And you will never get reelected without the support of the special interest groups. So you had better do as they say for a while. Postpone being a hero for a few terms." Larry decides to take their advice.
Ramona is a 35-year-old police officer who looks no older than 25. Her latest assignment is to go undercover and pose as a student at a university because the police suspect that a major drug operation is being run there. After a month on the job, she has made a number of friends among the students and faculty. Though she has no evidence that any of them are involved in the drug operation, she begins to feel guilty about not being able to be honest with them. Is it morally acceptable for her to continue on the assignment?
Use the following three criteria to provide a sound basis for deciding whether an action is ethical:
Step 1 - Examine the situation and determine the obligations, if any, that exist; the moral ideals that are relevant; and the people who are likely to be affected by whatever action is taken.
Step 2 - Determine the various actions that could be taken and the various consequences - subtle as well as obvious, long-term as well as immediate - that each action would likely have on the people involved. Caution: Be sure to consider all possible actions and not just the one you prefer. Also, resist the temptation to ignore unpleasant consequences.
Step 3 - Decide which action honors the obligations and the moral ideals, and produce the most desirable consequences for the various people involved. In cases where a conflict exists between two obligations, two ideals, or an obligation and an ideal, decide which is more important. Also, when you must choose between two good actions, choose the one that represents the greater good. Similarly, when your only choice is between two harmful actions, choose the one that does less harm.
Format your assignment according to appropriate course-level APA guidelines.