RE: FW: More ethics... (long, of course)

["David Berg" <dberg -at- dmpnet -dot- com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Douglas S. Bailey (AL)
> You don't think it's unethical to break the law?  Or immoral?  I
> suppose if
> you want to get anal retentively-technical it might not be, but you can't
> get away from it being just plain _wrong_.

Our set of laws are in place to provide a safe and hopefully somewhat
civilized society. However, when a law is written they simply can't take all
contingencies into account.

Laws in general aren't this bad, but it reminds me a little of
zero-tolerance policies in schools. There have been some astoundingly absurd
situations arise from the fact that a school decided to substitute a
zero-tolerance policy for good old-fashioned common sense.

> Regardless, it's not "OK" to ignore the law simply because your sense of
> ethics or morals tell you to do so.  When law and ethics conflict, change
> the law, don't just flat out break it.

I'll freely admit that our set of laws covers most instances pretty well. On
occasion though they can potentially present a problem, or perhaps even be a
little misguided.

I'll provide an example or two. In recent years the controversy about
medical uses for marijuana has gotten a lot of press. I know a doctor who
went through med school 30 years ago. While he was an intern he would
sometimes be assigned to insert ear tubes in young children. It was a very
simple procedure; spray a little liquid cocaine on the ear drum, then use a
tool to pop the ear tube in place. Then they outlawed cocaine, even for this
sort of use. At the time the only adequate alternative they had was to put
the child under general anesthesia, which involves many more potential risks
than the squirt of cocaine. That's an instance of drug laws that wound up
putting patients more into harms way. BTW, this is not the only example of a
drug that's been made illegal in the U.S. when it could benefit patients.

Here's another example, where you certainly wouldn't have time to think
about running off to lobby for a change in the law. Someone brought up the
example of running a red light. I've been in that situation a number of
times when the traffic-activated signal wouldn't change for my motorcycle,
and the cops just smile and tell you that they can't _tell_ you it's OK to
run the light, even at 3 a.m. But what if there's no cross traffic in sight
and you see someone bounce off the hood of a Buick a half-block on the other
side of the intersection? Do you run the light to go render aid? Or do you
sit there and wait another minute for the light to change?

That same doctor I mentioned earlier wound up in a practice where he would
often get called into the hospital in the middle of the night for emergency
surgery. If he came to a red light, he'd stop and carefully check for
traffic (after all, he didn't want to wind up at the E.R. as a patient), and
then run the light. If it was your mother who just had the stroke would you
prefer that he ran the light, or that he stopped at each light while the
streets were dead quiet? Once I was even pulled over when I was working at a
hospital and they called me in about 4 a.m. The cop asked if I was in a
hurry (for driving only about 10-12 mph over the limit, but driving hard
around corners and when accelerating or braking.) He asked if I was in a
hurry and I simply said "Yes, I work at the hospital and they just called me
in." Thankfully, he sent me on my way. I expect that would be the response
most of the time. Most cops have a fair degree of common sense.

Yes, these examples are fairly rare exceptions. But IMHO, they are examples
where it might be immoral and unethical to follow the letter of the law. But
I think common sense might come into play with any of these exceptions on
the side of breaking the law in some cases.

David "The Anarchist" (just kidding!!!) Berg





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