Travis Marcel
April 20, 2013
Eth & Legal Iss in Professions
Prof.

Ethical dilemmas or moral dilemmas are certain situations where there are two decisions to be made, neither which fairly resolves the situation in an ethically acceptable fashion. In some cases, the society and the personal ethical guidelines can provide us with no satisfactory outcome from the chooser. When put in these ethical dilemmas it’s assumed that the chooser will abide by the norm, such as codes of the law or religious teachings. But in the real world, it’s nearly impossible to do that at all times. Each dilemma must be handled differently. Sometimes it might be easier than others, which may make it a bit harder to follow the norm. At all times we must do whatever we can to keep ourselves in the best interest. Throughout this paper I will explain two different dilemmas, but I will not be able to use my profession as of right now because I don’t really experience anything of that nature. I will touch on an assignment we had earlier in the year and my profession of choice for my future. Early this year, we were given a situation where we had to make a decision looking through the eyes of a doctor. He was given a case where he had to elect an individual to receive these new organs the hospital had just received. The only problem was that out of the three people, one of them was his daughter. Well the obvious choice would to be to give his daughter the organs so she can go on to live a full life. But with everything else in this world, nothing comes that easy. Regarding this dilemma we are dealing with Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics holding that proper course of action is the one that maximizes utility, specifically defined as maximizing happiness and reducing suffering. Being the lead oncologist on the surgery, he would have to make a different decision in this case based on the majority. Basically, making whatever decision that brings out the most good for the majority. That’s the tough apart of dealing with ethics in a profession. On the personal side you would do whatever it takes to make sure that your daughter gets the surgery. That’s the tricky part with ethical dilemmas in professions because you have to always consider the codes of law or a religious teaching. According to the American Medical Association, “Physicians generally should not treat themselves or members of their immediate families. Professional objectivity may be compromised when an immediate family member or the physician is the patient; the physician’s personal feelings may unduly influence his or her professional medical judgment, thereby interfering with the care being delivered.” So right there means as the doctor he automatically has to remove his daughter from the running. Just like I stated earlier, ethical guidelines can provide the chooser with no satisfactory outcome. That’s exactly the case right here with this family. For my future profession, I would love to be a graphic designer. I am along that path right now to fulfill those wishes too. Even as a graphic designer you will stumble across your share of ethical dilemmas to face. For example, you will encounter numerous of people from all different walks of life with various views. With that being said it’s not always guaranteed that the designer will fully agree with the particular company or individual wishes or advertisement. That raises the question of right or wrong, an ethical dilemma, for the designer. In a situation that asks of you to help advertise a politician that is for abortion could conflict with my religious teachings. Not only religious teachings, but as a human being I just think it’s wrong to take a life that didn’t even get a chance to enjoy it. Or if a music band that is all about the worshiping the devil approached you, would you take it on? Again for me, I would have to seriously think about it before making a decision like this. Who would want to promote this kind of stuff? But at the same time it’s not like I have to believe in anything that I do. I could just be doing it for the money. So when it comes to graphic design I think it depends on the person really. If they’re mentally strong enough to not feel like it’s wrong to get into this kind of work without believing in it. That can definitely affect your work if you’re doing something just for the money and not the passion that you get from it. Another ethical dilemma that a graphic designer could encounter is the issue of copyright and piracy. Copyright is the legal right that the creator of a design is granted. The creator or designer owns the rights to the design. Just like writers have writers block, graphic designers sometimes experience phases in which they’re not creative. This could lead to using someone else’s work and put your own twist to it so it may seem that you created the whole thing from scratch. This is an illegal act called piracy. As graphic designers, you should definitely avoid doing such a thing unless you’re given full credit to the copyright owner, or you ask for their permission. In conclusion, you can see we’re all faced with tough decisions when it comes to dealing with ethics in a profession. No matter what profession you’re apart of, there will probably come a time when you have to make a tough decision that may not benefit you in the long run. It all depends on the situation though. At the end of the day they’re all different, just like us.