John and Mary are health educators in a community clinic. John’s specialty is wo

Question

John and Mary are health educators in a community clinic. John’s specialty is working with clients on smoking cessation. Occasionally he and Mary collaborate on difficult cases to formulate strategies to assist clients who are having a particularly difficult time with smoking cessation. A former smoker himself, and having watched his mother die of smoking-related lung cancer, he is passionate about the health effects of this addictive habit as well as helping his clients to quit. His success rate for client quitting is 95%. John has asked Mary to collaborate on a plan for a client who, despite all interventions, has failed to quit smoking. John tells Mary that he intends to use a scare tactic to motivate the client to change his behavior. John states that he is going to tell the patient that new research has just been published showing that all workplaces will test for nicotine in their employees and anyone testing positive will be excluded from the workplace, leaving the client unemployable if he does not quit. Mary points out that while there are employers who are considering this policy, no such research actually exists. John states that Mary is correct but points out that the client will not question the validity because John is known to be the resident expert in this topic. He further points out that if using this method helps him to quit and avoid the health consequences of smoking, then it cannot possibly cause any harm to use this tactic. Mary becomes conflicted with feelings; she wants the patient to quit on one level, but feels this may be wrong on another. She tells John his behavior is unethical. Which ethical theory is John basing his decision making on and which theory is Mary using to support her stance? Explain your reasoning in both cases.

Explanation / Answer

In the above case, John and Mary both wants that the client should quit smoking. They have tried all the means but he is not ready to quit the smoking. Thus John have decided a new strategy so that he can convince his patient to quit smoking habit. Both wants the same result but the ethical theories are different for John and Mary.

- Ethical Story of John: - John wants to tell to his client that research has been conducted and it has been decided that soon a low will be conducted and every employer will do nicotine test at the work place. The client who will be found positive, will have to leave the workplace and will be left unemployed.

Actually no such research has been conducted. If John believes that the client will not ask for any proof because John is a expect in this field.

According to John's ethics, if is ok to tell a lie to a client for his benevolence. The objective behind telling this lie is good. Thus according to John there is no harm in telling a lie, if it is told for good cause.

This is same as stated by Lord Krishna in Holy book Bhagwat Gita that "It is ethical to do something unethical some day, if the objective is correct."

- Ethical Story of Mary: - Mary is of different opinion than John. He finds it unethical to tell a lie to any one, even for good cause. Thus she is reluctant in John's strategy and considers it unethical.

According to Mary, the cause may be good or bad, but we should not tell a lie to any one.

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