Compose a case in which a few different moral agents interact in a clinical situation which involves a conflict between the perceived good of one or more of the agents. I *HIGHLY* recommend you revisit the topic of your first synthesis paper (ideally, where you presented a case that emerged from your personal experience or observation) and revise it for this purpose. Fill the case out with relevant personal and ethically-interesting details by analyzing it according to Pellegrinos four-part matrix. Finally, using some kind of analytic resource that weve covered in class (e.g., Kantian deontology, Rawlsian contractarian ethics, principles of Catholic Social Teaching, etc.) suggest a way by which the conflicting goods might be balanced.
As a quick example (and to be an acceptable submission for the writing assignment it would obviously have to be much more exact and detailed than this): if I were to do this project I might imagine a situation in which a physician who has cared for a family for many years (and hence, has a duty to care for multiple patients who know each other) learns that the mother has a genetic disorder very likely passed on to her children. He shares this with the mother presuming that she would want the children to know only to learn that she absolutely forbids him to disclose this information to her children. So, where are the conflicting goods? Well, they are at least to be found in that the physician has a duty to treat the mother as a patient (and to keep her confidentiality) but he also must treat the children. Whose good is to prevail? Towards the end of the assignment I might decide to take the approach of a utilitarian and argue that the physician should tell the children that they might have this genetic condition and hence attempt to pursue the good of the greatest number of agents.
So, to review: for the assignment I want you to 1) compose the narrative of a case with names, personalities, relevant histories, etc. 2) Analyze the important facets of it according to Pellegrinos matrix. 3) propose a solution to the problems presented by using some resource that weve studied this semester.
[And, as a final note. Please DO NOT take an already-composed case from somewhere else. I want you to imagine and compose your own. If you do present a case to me from a book or an online source I will more than likely figure that out and have to consider that as plagiarism. If youve got any questions or concerns about this aspect of the assignment, please be in touch with me!]
