Now that we have read Chapters 1 & 2, we have been introduced to the concept of Ethics (the philosophical study of morality), and some of its sub-branches (including applied ethics).
Now I want you to join the discussion about the case study regarding John the Paramedic.
Here are the basic facts (this is a true story):
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John was a paramedic with two years of experience when he responded to a call involving a man with multiple stab wounds. The man was lying on the sidewalk outside of the home he shared with his girlfriend and her 14 year old daughter. He was unconscious, and bleeding profusely. Standing over him was his girlfriend, holding a bloody steak knife.
As John approached the man, he said to the girlfriend, “Hi. I’m John and I need to get to this guy.”
“I stabbed him,” said the girlfriend.
“Okay. Why don’t you put the knife down and let me treat him.”
“I stabbed him,” said the woman again, clearly upset, agitated and in shock. She put the knife down, and sat down on the sidewalk. John approached her slowly, reached over to pick up the knife, and then tossed it away. As he began to work on the victim, he tried to calm the woman down, and asked, “What happened?”
“My daughter [from a previous relationship] just told me that she is gay, and we got into a huge fight about it. In the middle of this scene, he comes home, and walks right into the middle of this screaming match. I tell him what she said, and he starts cussing her out, too. Then he takes his belt off, and starts beating her, and telling her she is going to burn in Hell. Then – in the middle of all this – he starts telling her that he can fix this, and starts trying to rape her.”
[*This reaction has a name: “Corrective Rape.”]
“So, I tried to fight him off, but he was too big. So, I went in the kitchen, got a knife, and I stabbed him.”
At this point, John – who has begun to work on the victim – stops and picks up his radio, saying to the dispatcher: “We are going to need another ambulance here.”
“Do you have multiple victims?” asks the dispatcher.
“Well, yes, but we are going to need at least one more, because I am not going to work on this guy,” says John.
“Wait – What?! John, you have to work on the stab victim,” says the dispatcher.
“Actually, no… I’m not going to do anything for this bastard. You better send another ambulance.”
John, did not treat the man, and he bled out, dying at his feet.
When John told me this story, I asked him if he could have saved the man, and he said yes, he was sure he could have.
I asked him if he was arrested, and he said no, but that as a result of the investigation he had lost his license and was banned from ever being a paramedic again.
I asked him if he felt sorry about what he did, and he said no, that in fact it was one of the most moral things he had ever done.
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Specifically, I want you to address the following issues in your response:
1) Make a comment regarding your judgment of John’s decision. Was it right or wrong? State why you think so.
2) Are “Applied Ethics” involved in this case? Why or why not? State why you think so.
3) USING THE INFORMATION FROM THE CHAPTER 1& 2, think about the two answers you gave above, and then describe your thinking in this case. Does your thinking reflect:
moral objectivism, the view that some moral principles are valid for everyone;
cultural relativism, the view that an action is morally right if one’s culture approves of it;
subjective relativism; the view that an action is morally right if one approves of it;
emotivism, the view that moral utterances are neither true nor false, but are expressions of emotions or attitudes; or
some combination of the four approaches.
