Below is a passage from page 117 of the textbook that provides the premise for your final exam question. The objective is to demonstrate your ability to grapple with a complex public administration issue rather than to arrive at a concrete resolution.
Public employees are often forced to choose between obeying policy and serving the needs of clients. For example, public health clinics exist to serve those who cannot otherwise afford care. Patients pay according to their income. The working poor are caught in between: not qualifying for assistance and not able to afford to purchase health care. The same irony exists in higher education for students who come from working families who cannot afford the steep tuition prices and yet do not qualify for tuition aid. Law enforcement officers face a similar dilemma when they are required to spend half of their shifts doing paperwork at the expense of providing a rapid response to citizens. Employees who work for agencies with such incongruent policies are often placed in the uncomfortable position of trying to uphold policy to the detriment of the very people the agencies are attempting to serve. In choosing to serve the needs of their clients, employees violate organizational policies and put themselves at risk. Policies of this nature need to be reviewed to eliminate this unnecessary ethical dilemma. Until then, choosing the client’s interests over the interests of oneself or the organization may be the most ethical action of all.
Based on your readings this semester and your review of current events, identify a real-life example of this kind of ethical dilemma. (Ideally, it should be related to your term paper topic). For example, recently enacted laws in Texas make it illegal for a woman to receive an abortion unless she faces “a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy.” That determination must be made by a physician, who could face criminal charges for providing medically necessary care to that patient. (Yes, you may use this example for your essay. Follow up with additional research so you can complete the assignment.) Having identified an ethical dilemma, answer the following questions:
What is the ethical dilemma? Provide a brief description of the issue (as in the example above).
How has this dilemma affected relevant parties? Answer this question with real data and be sure to include your source.
How do you think public policy can help to mediate this problem? Your answer must be more helpful than “just change the law.”
Your essay should be a maximum of three pages, including references (do not include a cover page or separate reference page). Your essay must also not include substantial quotes. You may use a quote to identify the dilemma (see the example above) and you may quote the data. However, your discussion of the issue must be written in your own words.
