Rule Utilitarianism Case Study

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Kelly is a pharmacy intern at CVS pharmacy. She is very thankful to her supervising pharmacist, Mary, who is a very close family friend that made sure that she would get the job. Recently, Kelly has noticed that Mary has been acting strangely at work lately, but brushes it off because she knows that she was having problems at home and doesn’t want to be too nosy. One day, Kelly walks to the back room to get her lunch out of her purse for the day. Mary’s bag is right next to hers and she sees part of a beer can in the bag. She thinks this explains Mary’s recent change in behavior. She goes to speak to Mary privately, and tells her what she saw in her purse. Mary says to Kelly, “We decided to go through with the divorce. I’ve been so sad that …show more content…
A Rule Utilitarian will describe the dilemma in terms of rules. The two conflicting rules are 1) the rule of loyalty to those you work with and 2) the rule of professional obligation in terms of reporting a pharmacist’s impairment in the workplace. The Rule Utilitarian will resolve this issue by subordinating one rule to the other such that if pharmacy interns were to follow it in every situation, it produces the greatest amount of happiness. Assume that rule 1) is subordinated to rule 2), meaning that every pharmacy intern is to follow rule 2) and only follow rule 1) if it is not in conflict with rule 2). If pharmacy interns were to follow such a rule, costly mistakes could be avoided, but the trust between pharmacy interns and pharmacists would be severed. Now assume that rule 2) is subordinated to rule 1), meaning that every pharmacy intern is to follow rule 1) and only follow rule 2) if it is not in conflict with rule 1). If this occurred, pharmacy interns would maintain their loyalty to pharmacists, but the consequence would be that impaired pharmacists wouldn’t be reported, leading to a greater number of accidents in the workplace, diminished patient outcomes, and possibly harm to patients. As a result, the right thing for Kelly and for every pharmacy intern to do is to follow the rule of professional obligation in terms of reporting a pharmacist’s impairment in the workplace. A Rule Utilitarian’s view is …show more content…
Rule Utilitarians defend rules at a general level. Therefore, it does not matter what amount of happiness will result in future dilemmas of following either the rule of loyalty to those you work with or the rule of professional obligation in terms of reporting a pharmacist’s impairment in the workplace. What matters is that in general, past experiences can be used to see that reporting pharmacists who had impairments indeed made the patients better off. This is due to the fact that common sense and evidence can be used to know that pharmacists are not able to work as well while impaired than while sober. Following the rule of professional obligation leads to the greatest amount of happiness even if in some cases following that rule caused a lesser amount of happiness. In the case, the rule that Kelly should follow is the rule that in general produces the greatest amount of happiness for all involved. By Kelly following the rule of professional obligation, she will contribute to producing the greatest amount of happiness in the long term since patients will not be put at unnecessary risk due to an impaired
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