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Ethical Issues in the Movie Philadelphia

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Philadelphia. The movie “Philadelphia” tells us a story about a successful lawyer – Andrew Beckett. He was fired when his boss figured out that he has AIDs. Andrew wants to sue the company for discrimination, but every lawyer refused him. Finally, he found Joe Miller, a person he used to work with once. At the end Beckett succeeds in his case. There are a lot of ethical issues in the movie, but I am going to write about three, I found the most important. The first ethical issue is discrimination. Beckett was fired from the company, when his co-workers figured out that he has AIDs and he is homosexual. The second ethical issue that I found interesting is lying. Is it okay that Andrew hided from his co-workers that he has a disease and he is homosexual? The third ethical issue is the betrayal. Basically, his co-workers and his boss got read of the documents he left on the table, which was unfair. The ethical dilemma that I want to look at in details is discrimination. The first step of Ethical Decision Making tells to gather the facts. What happened in the movie is that Andrew’s employers just knew that he is sick and homosexual. They did not know a lot about his life and personality. So, they did not gather the facts. However, during the movie we figure out that Andrew Beckett is good guy. Moreover, in 1990s, people did not have a lot of information about AIDs and how it spreads. The second step is to define the ethical issues. Andrew was fired without taking his case in depth, but just by the idea that he has AID and he is homosexual. This brings my mind to the thought of discrimination. The third step is to identify the stakeholders. Both sides (Andrew and his boss) were affected by the firing and experience harm. Andrew lost his job and the company lost its money. The fourth step is to identify the consequences. So, the consequences for both sides in a short

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