Module 3:

The Act
FOppFortunity

Feeling & Moral

Decision Making
is the nominalization of the verb to feel.
The word was first used in the English \ Feeling
language to describe the physical sensation
of touch through either experience or
perception.

The word is also used to describe experiences

other than the physical sensation of touch, such
as " feeling of warmth" and of sentence in
general.
Feeling
Play a major role in most of the
ethical decisions people make.

Most people do not realize how

much their emotions direct their
moral choices.

But experts think it is impossible to

make any important moral
judgements without emotions.
Topic 1 Topic 3 Topic 2

In Latin, "sentire meant to feel, hear

or smell. In psychology, the word is
usually reserved for the conscious
subjective experience of emotion
No one can deny the fact that when
the human person is placed in a
moral dillema , his or her decisions
can also be greatly affected by
his/her feelings.
 The moral decision that man makes will definitely not be
fully objective.
For instance, one's decision regarding the morality of death penalty will vary if he
is placed in a situation wherein his family is greatly affected by murderous act. A
person who is never a victim of any crime may view death penalty as morally
unacceptable. At the same time, a person who has a very close relative indicted
for robbery may cry for forgiveness while those who do not have such may
demand punishment.

In this regard, a moral decision can be a product of feelings and emotions.

During the early part of
philosophizing. David Hume
(1711-1776) believed virtue is in
conformity to reason. Like truth
morality is discerned merely by
ideas. In order to distinguish the
good and bad, we have to consider
the reason alone.
David Hume
Hume held that moral decision would always involve feelings or
emotions.

For instance, because I will feel symphatetic pain on my

friend whose brother is brutally killed by a gunman. I will
surely develop a moral condemnation on the action of the
killer. However if somebody will do charitable deed of
feeding a street child, I will surely feel sympathetic pleasure
for that person. Such pleasure originates from my moral
approval of the good deed.
 From the point of view of Hume, moral
sentiments are found in all people.
Everyone has instinctive capacity to praise
and uphold moral actions performed by
person to others.
 It is obvious that Hume, believed that feelings and agreeableness can
be considered as a clear criterion of moral judgement . He believed
tha behavior is considered virtuos if it is useful or agreeable to people
who are affected by the action being considered.

Our feelings may be irrational. They may be product of prejudice,

selfishness or cultural conditioning.
Topic 1 Topic 3 Topic 2

MORAL DECISION MAKING

Moral Decision Making
is the ability to produce a reasonable and
defendable answer to an ethical question or case.
It must be noted that every reason is
good. There may still be valid
reasons.

It is important that one's know how to

morally good in decision making. In
discerning over the facts, it is
important that decision maker must
be impartial to certain issues.
 Reason and Impartiality
as Minimum Requirement
for Morality
 Reason

is the basis or motive for an action , decision, or

conviction . It is the capacity for logical, rational, and
analytic thought ; for consciously making sense of
things.

Moral judgements require backing by reasons.

Topic 1 Topic 3 Topic 2

Impartiality
is a principle of justice holding that decisions
ought to be based on objective criteria,
rather than on the basis of bias , prejudice ,
or preferring the benefit to one person over
another for improper reasons.
The difficulty in making decisions is that the
situation that requires our decision may have
already placed us in dilemma . More so, the
manner of deciding may place us again inseparate
dilemma, we have to address this order to serve as
a model that can be used in assurance of our
decisions.
 The 7- Step Moral Reasoning Model

Scott B. Rae, Ph.D. proposes a 7-step model for

making ethical decisions that uses reason and
impartiality.
 CASE:
Topic 1 Topic 3 Topic 2

-A 20 year old Hispanic male was bought to a

hospital for injuries, but was released shortly.
-He admitted to the doctor that he was HIV positive
-His sister at home was willing to take care of him
until he was fully recovered
-He asked his doctor that she not be told that he
had tested HIV. His had fear that his father would
hear of his case
MORAL DILEMMA Topic 2

The doctor is bound by his code of confidentiality,

But the patient's sister without knowing the truth, is
putting herself at risk by providing care for his
brother.
Should the doctor breach confidentiality to
safeguard the patient's sister ?
 The 7- Step Moral Reasoning Model

• Gather the Facts

before making moral decisions, it is important that
necessary facts be gathered

Ethical dilimmas can be resolved simply by clarifying the

facts of the case question
The patient was wounded in gang violence.
He probably fears rejection and perhaps \

retribution from his fellow gang members,

especially if they discover that he is a HIV
patient.

The patient's sister would be changing fairly

sizable wound dressings for her brother and the
chances are high that she would come into
contact with his HIV infected blood.
 The 7- Step Moral Reasoning Model

2. Determine / define the ethical issues

Ethical issues are considered as competing interest or
goods.

This will help the person to analyze the interest that are
contradicting to one another.
 \

The conflict is the need for patient

confidentiality

The duty to warn the sister of risk of

harm.
 The 7- Step Moral Reasoning Model
3. Identify the Principles that have a bearing in the case

It is important to determine different ethical

principles or guidelines to determine which ethical
guidelines must be applied to the issue

Constitutional and natural law must also be taken

into account.
Principles:
1. patients have a right to have their medical information kept confidential.
2. The duty of the physician to warn interested parties other than the
patient if they are at risk of looming harm.

Crucial question:
is the degree of risk that the patient's sister is taking by providing nursing
care for her brother substantial or not?

Some may claim:

The risk of the patient is not as severe as the risk to the sister. Worst case
scenario. His father would disown him and the gang would throw him out.
He would recover from all of that. But if his sister, contracted HIV, she
would not recover from that.
 The 7- Step Moral Reasoning Model
4. List the Alternatives courses of action

Making moral decisions require

creative thinking which will help one
identify various alternative courses of
action.
a. Tell the sister that her brother is HIV
positive
b. Refuse to tell her that information
\

Other alternatives;
a. Warm the patient' sister in general terms
about taking suitable precautions for caring for
these types of wounds
b. Request the patient to inform his sister of his
condition and request that she not tell any other
family member or any of his friends.
 The 7- Step Moral Reasoning Model

5. Compare the Alternatives with Principles

From the listed alternatives, the next step is to

connect alternatives with moral principles.
For Rae, "Encouraging universal \

precautions for the sister but not telling

her why" comes close to satisfying all
the pertinent principles.
 The 7- Step Moral Reasoning Model

6. Assess the consequences

If the moral principles do not yet provide clear

decisions, it is better to take note of the positive
and negative consequences.
Telling the sister (or insisting that the
patient tell her sister) has these likely
\

consequences:

a. The sister would be saved from the risk

of developing a fatal illness
b. The brother's HIV status would be out in
the open, to family etc.
c. Trust with the physician suffers; the
patient may refuse to see doctors, which is
unfortunate since he will need ongoing
medical care.
The physician refusing to disclose the information
may have these consequences
\

a. The sister would be vulnerable to

contracting an infection for which there is no
cure.
b. The patient's HIV status is a well-kept
secret, as his homosexuality but it is not likely
that either his HIV status or his homosexuality
can be kept a secret forever.
c. Trust between the physician and patient is
maintained.
Telling the sister to take general
precautions is adopted may have these \

consequences:

a. She may exercise caution in taking care of her brother, but she
may not
b. The patient's HIV status and homosexual orientation are kept secret , but they will become known eventually.

c. Trust with the physician and patient is maintained. However, if the sister asks her brother questions about the precautions, he may think that the doctor has prompted her to ask these questions, leaving him feeling betrayed.
 The 7- Step Moral Reasoning Model

7. Make a Decision

After weighing a decision has to be made . Notice

that in an ethical dilemma, one has to undergo the
painful process of critical studies and analysis.
Guiding questions:

Which principles are the most weighty?

Are there others that you would include?
Which alternatives are the most viable?
Are the others that you would suggest?
Which consequences seem to you the most severe?
Are the others that you think will occur?"
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING!
PADAYON!