Analysis of the Scenario "Forced Dialysis for a Detainee"

Table of Contents

noun-attention-4961796 Spoiler Alert — This page provides an analysis of the scenario. It shall help players or educators who have found an own approach to the scenario's problem and now want to compare it to a broader picture. It should not be read before playing the scenario.

Reference solution

Info This section repeats the proposed solution provided with the game (i.e. on the game cards).

Moral Questions

  1. Is it ethically acceptable to provide dialysis against
the expressed wishes of the detainee?
  2. Is it ethically justifiable to keep the detainee alive
by forcing a medical procedure when
national security interests seem to require it?

Final Actions

Prohibited

  • It is ethically unacceptable to force medical treatment on a competent but unwilling patient for non-medical purposes.
  • It is ethically unacceptable to treat a competent patient against his or her will and without informed consent, even if the patient may die as a result.

Maybe allowed

  • It may be ethically acceptable to prolong the life of a detained patient in order to interrogate him (but not by immoral or illegal harsh means).
  • It may be ethically permissible to begin dialysis in order to gain time to confirm the patient's wishes.

Permissible

  • It is ethically required to respect a compentent patient’s wish not to be treated, even if it results in death. Informed consent not to treat should be obtained in such cases.
  • It is ethically permissible (or even required?) to refuse unlawful orders and to act only according to medical ethics.

Further reflections

Info This section provides further reflections on aspects of the problem that are not discussed in the short solution provided with the game. This shall help players to think further or to understand how their own solutions fit within a larger picture.

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