Scenario: You are a doctor in an oncology ward in a major city that is strapped

Question

Scenario: You are a doctor in an oncology ward in a major city that is strapped for financial and material resources. One evening, two patients are admitted to the hospital. One patient is suffering from a seemingly incurable form of cancer. She is an exemplary genetics researcher, who is launching a multi-year research project on malaria. You know that there is an experimental drug that you could prescribe to her that may help, but that there are significant risks to her health in trying this new medication on her. The second patient seemed to be well on his way to recovering from his own bout with cancer, but this recent admission to the hospital makes his recovery less certain. You consider that he will likely recover if he receives the experimental drug and that he is unlikely to recover without the drug. He is an unsuccessful musician, has an elderly uncle whom he helps, and sometimes contributes large amounts of money to local charities. The only problem is that you have only one dose of the drug in the hospital. To obtain more doses, you would have to go through a multi-year approval process with the researchers who are testing the drug on a select group of patients. No one else has access to the experimental drug, and the researchers will not allow any new patients (besides the one that you choose) to participate in their study. How would an act utilitarian act versus a rule utilitarian? Which details are morally significant and why?
Scenario: You are a doctor in an oncology ward in a major city that is strapped for financial and material resources. One evening, two patients are admitted to the hospital. One patient is suffering from a seemingly incurable form of cancer. She is an exemplary genetics researcher, who is launching a multi-year research project on malaria. You know that there is an experimental drug that you could prescribe to her that may help, but that there are significant risks to her health in trying this new medication on her. The second patient seemed to be well on his way to recovering from his own bout with cancer, but this recent admission to the hospital makes his recovery less certain. You consider that he will likely recover if he receives the experimental drug and that he is unlikely to recover without the drug. He is an unsuccessful musician, has an elderly uncle whom he helps, and sometimes contributes large amounts of money to local charities. The only problem is that you have only one dose of the drug in the hospital. To obtain more doses, you would have to go through a multi-year approval process with the researchers who are testing the drug on a select group of patients. No one else has access to the experimental drug, and the researchers will not allow any new patients (besides the one that you choose) to participate in their study. How would an act utilitarian act versus a rule utilitarian? Which details are morally significant and why?

Explanation / Answer

While deciding about who should be given the drug, the following things have to be kept in mind. these are:

In the given case, out of the two patients, for one the form of cancer is almost incurable. For the other, patient, if he receives the treatment he will most likely be cured and will not be if he isn’t given the medicine. Though, the research project carried out by the genetics researcher has greater social worth, there is a lesser chance that the medicine would work on her. Also, if given to the second patient, he would be proving his worth by donating to charities. As a result, the medicine should be administered to the second patient.

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