Assessment 1 (Blood for sale) PDF

Preview

Summary

Download Assessment 1 (Blood for sale) PDF

Description

Name: Regina Krisha Loh UOW ID: 5949804 Tutorial Group: 5

The case study of Blood for sale is about a successful stockbroker named Sol Levin who founded the company Plasma International which at the beginning, started selling blood from drug and alcohol addicts. (Shaw et al. 2013, p99). Their sales increased drastically but many recipients were reported to have hepatitis after receiving the blood. (Shaw et al. 2013, p99). They then found new donors from West African tribes where they only pain 15 cents a pint and sold it for 25 dollars a pint. (Shaw et al.2013, p99). The newspaper alleged that Plasma International had net a quarter of a million dollars by selling 10,000 pints. (Shaw et al. 2013, p99). Based on the case study, the actions of Plasma International were unethical and immoral. Sol Levin was running his business ‘’just like any other business’’, however, his company was open to moral criticism. It is because the company’s actions can be identified as morally right or wrong using different theories. There are two principles that can be discussed are Utilitarianism and Kantianism. Question 1: Utilitarianism is the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our actions (Shaw et al. 2013, p67). By ‘good’, utilitarians mean happiness or pleasure (Shaw et al. 2013, p67). In the case study of Blood for Sale, Sol Levin did not obey to the principle of utilitarianism. This is because he did not achieve the greatest possible balance of good over bad. Sol Levin did not consider the amount of pain that his actions produced when he was measuring his happiness. For example, his company did not consider the fact that getting blood from drug and alcohol addicts would bring disease to the blood recipients (Shaw et al. 2013, p99). They were too fixed on the profits that would bring them pleasure that they did not consider that their actions affect people in many ways. Even though they started searching for new donors after incidents happened, they should not have taken blood from drug and alcohol addicts in the first place. Besides that, Plasma International did not take their ramifications into account. They only thought about short term happiness instead of the long-term consequences that would follow. For example, due to the recipients having hepatitis after receiving contaminated blood they had to do a worldwide search to find new blood donors (Shaw et al. 2103, p99). This would have cost them money and consumed a lot of time. Besides that, they might have had to compensate them with money to bringing inconvenience to their lives. Due to this, the Tampa paper could have exposed them for their unethical actions causing the company to

Name: Regina Krisha Loh UOW ID: 5949804 Tutorial Group: 5

lose their reputations individually and as an organisation. Therefore, Sol Levin and his company did not act on utilitarianism as they only focused on their pleasure and happiness instead of the happiness of others. Based on utilitarianism, their actions were unethical as the long-term consequences outsourced their short-term happiness. Question 2: Using Kantianism, the case study shows that Plasma International were unethical as they had no recognition of their duty. Kantianism is a non-consequentialist theory by German Philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) that implies that some acts are right or wrong because of the sorts of things they are, and people have a duty to act accordingly, regardless of the good or bad consequences that may be produced (BBC 2014). Plasma International did not show goodwill as they chose to take the unethical action to earn profits. For example, they choose to pay 15 cents for a pint of blood from the West African tribes and sold it at 25 dollars in the United States (Shaw et al. 2013, p 99). Instead of such little payment, they could have paid more and still earned profits. However, they chose to pleasure themselves who have everything instead of bringing happiness to those who have nothing. Also, Plasma International did not relate to Kant’s first reformulation of the Categorical Imperative which means to ‘treat others the way you want to be treated’ or in another sense “act according to the maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (Shaw et al. 2013, p77). Plasma International did not give thought when they decided to provide contaminated blood to the recipients. They did not put themselves in the recipient’s position and ask themselves if they wanted to be treated how they were the treating the recipients. Because of their negligence, several recipients have to suffer the disease of hepatitis which is known that some hepatitis diseases do not have cures and could cause the recipients fatal encounters. Besides that, they cheated the West African tribes by paying them less than what they deserved. Plasma International should have considered their poverty and paid them more. For example, they could have paid them about 2 dollars a pint instead of 15 cents. Another reformulation of Kant’s Categorical Imperative is to not be self-centred and do certain things for the benefit of others instead of yourself. In other words, “act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always an end and never a means.” This principle can be explained when Plasma International did not treat the West African tribes as an end and only

Name: Regina Krisha Loh UOW ID: 5949804 Tutorial Group: 5 as a mean. They only used them to get blood to earn more profits. As written in the Tampa paper, they sold up to 10,000 pints of blood and earned a quarter million when the tribes had only earned a few dollars (Shaw et al. 2013, p99). Plasma International treated recipients as a means to get profits and not as a human being. They did not care if they gave their recipients contaminated blood and did not consider about the diseases they would get. Another unethical action is that they sold the pints of blood at a high rate just to earn profits. Blood is a necessity to humans, without blood, a human being cannot live. Moreover, with the price set by Plasma International, the poor would not be able to afford the pins of blood. According to (Shaw et al. 2013, p100), a woman said that blood cannot be found in supermarkets and store chains, sick people cannot come and ask you for a pint of blood. Plasma International did not consider about the lives of those who could not afford their high prices of blood. The poor could die from diseases due to the lack of blood just because they could afford it. Plasma International were unethical based on the principle of Kantianism as they were self-centred and did not consider the well-being of others. Question: After reading and analysing that case study Blood for Sale, I believe that Plasma International did not strike a fair bargain with the West Africans who supplied their blood to the community. I feel that Plasma International is guilty of exploiting the West Africans. Plasma International treated them unfairly to get benefits for themselves. It was unfair of Plasma International to pay them 15 cents a pint when they were selling a pint for 25 dollars (Shaw et al. 2013, p99). The Africans are poor so Plasma International should have been more considerate and paid them a little more instead of keeping most of the profits to themselves. They already have everything they need compared to the Africans who have scarce sources of food, water and shelter. If Plasma International paid the Africans more, the money would have been put to good use instead of using the money for the company’s own happiness and pleasure. In conclusion, Plasma International should be guilty of exploiting innocent people like the African tribes.

Name: Regina Krisha Loh UOW ID: 5949804 Tutorial Group: 5

Reference List BBC, 2014, “Duty-based Ethics”, BBC, 2014. Accessed on 6/09/2017 http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/duty_1.shtml Shaw, W H, Barry, V, Issa, T & Catley, B 2013, Moral Issues In Business, 2nd Edition, Cengage Learning, Melbourne, Australia....