oh, those moral dilemma's

It's always a challenge, at least for me, to stay off of the self-imposed 'idealistic' moral train. Meaning that what I would 'idealistically' do vs. what I would 'actually' do may be two different things.  As a Christian, my 'idealistic' side often tell myself that passive action is always right.  It's not a side of myself I readily admit, or show, that when my actions are not passive, I'm fighting off the guilt of whether or not I acted in the right way.  Often times, I will agonize in my prayers, wishing the Lord would take out my naturally assertive (and when prompted right, I'm flat out aggressive) side and instead replace it with a passive softness that others would admire.  The Lord has not granted my request, at least to date, so on I go, as the naturally assertive lady who's passivity and admired softness has escaped her (the humility of it all).

I say all of this, mostly to justify my response to a moral dilemma question we were given in Psychology class.  The class is online so our responses go onto a discussion board for the instructor and all the participating students to see (you do not get to see your fellow students responses until you have posted your own response).  When I first read the moral dilemma, I thought it through three ways.  First, what would be the idealistic 'Christian' response (in my idealistic mind, this would mean obedience and passivity).  Second, what would be my response (my real response with no idealism).  Thirdly, was my real response a Godly one.  If not, why wasn't my 'real' response Godly.  I settled fairly quickly on the fact that while my response is neither obedient or passive (and even includes breaking the law), it was one that I believe the Lord would be proud of me for making-    

Here's the scenario we were given:

'In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer.  There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her.  It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered.  The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make.  He paid $400. for the radium and charged $4000. for a small dose of the drug.  The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $2000, which is half of what it cost.  He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later.  But the druggist said, 'No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it.' (jerk! this is my insertion :).  So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.'

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Here are the two questions we were asked to respond to (along with my responses).

1. Was the husband's behavior excusable under the circumstances? Why or why not?

Regardless of how much we might want to have the 'right' response and correct answer to questions like these, I don't think we ever truly know what we will do until we are faced with the situation.  When someone close to you is incredibly sick and suffering, you feel emotions of desperation and become willing to make sacrifices (both good and bad) that you did not know you were capable of. 

Instead of questioning the husband's behavior, I would challenge the moral and ethical behavior of the druggist.  I would call to light the oath he took as he became a druggist and the specific statement in that oath that says this:

"I promise to devote myself to a lifetime of service to others through the profession of pharmacy. In fulfilling this vow:

• I will consider the welfare of humanity and relief of suffering my primary concerns. 
• I will apply my knowledge, experience, and skills to the best of my ability to assure optimal outcomes for my patients.
• I will respect and protect all personal and health information entrusted to me.
• I will accept the lifelong obligation to improve my professional knowledge and competence.
• I will hold myself and my colleagues to the highest principles of our profession’s moral, ethical and legal conduct.
• I will embrace and advocate changes that improve patient care.
• I will utilize my knowledge, skills, experiences, and values to prepare the next generation of pharmacists.

I take these vows voluntarily with the full realization of the responsibility with which I am entrusted by the public.”

Is it adequate care that the druggist would not budge on the price of medicine that could save somebody's life?  Considering the amount that he himself marked the medicine up?  Is he taking his position of authority and abusing it to the point of causing an individual (the husband) intolerable stress.  Is this really a case of a druggist who baits a patients family, forcing them into either crime or death?  Yes, it is.  

In this case, the druggist needs to be disbarred and fined and possibly serve prison time for his actions.

The husband, bless his heart, needs to be reassured that he was forced into a decision that was never his burden to carry.  If the law did choose to punish him, he can hold his head high and know that what he did was, at it's core, heroic.  

I would have made the same decision as the husband.  There's a part of me that wants to act like I would come up with something legal and more rational but the reality is, forced to make a choice between my husband dying or stealing the medicine he needed to live, I would steal the medicine and not have one regret that I did.

(In this situation, I choose human rights and universal human ethics over law and order and obedience)

2. If you were the husband, what could you have done instead of stealing the drug?

Time was of the essence for this gentleman's wife so saving for the treatment does not sound like an option.  He pursued borrowing money from those he knew.  I'm sure he begged the doctor to lower the cost of the treatment.  If he owned property or livestock, he could have possibly sold those things.  If there was another doctor around, he could ask him to sell it to him for cheaper.  

This is random....I keep seeing an ad for an online site that sells prescription glasses.  Out of curiosity (and because I desperately need reading glasses), I went to their sight and was intrigued that you could upload a picture of yourself and 'try' on glasses.  I spent an hour 'trying' on glasses and bouncing back and forth between cringing and laughing. (glassesusa was the site)