26 Nov Week 8 Assignment – Outline: Applied Ethics Essay

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Week 8 Assignment – Outline: Applied Ethics Essay

Instructions

This assignment is designed to help you begin work on your Applied Ethics Essay due in Week 9. In this assignment, you will create an outline of what you will be writing in your essay. An outline is a tool used to organize your thoughts. You do not need to flesh out all your ideas, but briefly state your ideas along with supporting details that you will use in your final essay.

Begin by reading through the cases included below these instructions (there are four to choose from). Select one that interests you, and choose one of the moral questions to respond to. Then, develop an outline that you will use to structure your final essay.

Your outline must include the following:

Briefly state a clear position on the moral question presented.

List relevant facts of the case.

Identify clarifying concepts you will use to analyze the case.

Describe an ethical standard pertinent to the case.

Include at least four references with proper SWS citation and explain how the information in that reference is relevant to your position. At least two of these sources will be from your textbook and other course materials.

See Sample Outline for an example of how this might look.

This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards. For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course.

The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:

Analyze how ethical standards impact moral decision making.

Case Study: Health Care Ethics

Jennifer Johnson: Maternal Drug Use and Fetal Rights (2)

When 23-year-old Jennifer Johnson arrived to give birth to her fourth child, hospital drug tests found traces of cocaine in her blood. It was later revealed that her other children had all been cocaine-affected babies. A Florida judge found her guilty of delivery (through the umbilical cord) of a controlled substance to a child. Johnson was sentenced to 15 years of probation, drug treatment, random drug testing, and educational and vocational training. She was ordered to participate in an intensive pre-natal care program if she should ever become pregnant again.

According to the Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine, an estimated one in five women use illegal drugs. The cost of caring for a cocaine-exposed infant can run into the millions of dollars. In response, several states have passed civil child abuse and neglect laws, which state that taking illicit drugs or alcohol during pregnancy constitutes child abuse. As a result of these laws, thousands of women have lost custody of their children and some have even been jailed or placed in mandatory drug treatment programs. As in the case of Jennifer Johnson, addicted women can avoid prison by agreeing to undergo drug treatment.

Choose one of the following questions:

Question 1: Are hospitals that routinely perform drug tests on any pregnant woman “suspected of being a drug user” violating the privacy rights of the woman?

Question 2: Does a pregnant woman who plans to carry her fetus to term have a moral obligation to refrain from using substances that are harmful to the fetus? If so, does the obligation necessarily depend upon the personhood or moral status of the fetus? Can we have a duty to refrain from behavior that might harm persons who do not yet exist?