Ethics Case Analysis

The Government of a nation has an ethical responsibility to preserve the lives, health and well-being of the population held under its reign (WHO, 2006). In the provided scenario, the government failed to meet its ethical responsibility despite an attempt by the person to seek their help.

As per the social contract theory, the implied social contract forbids any act that may harm the other person in the society. The conduct of the poor man, although emotionally seems right to the person, is not ethically correct as stealing by its very nature is unethical and legally punishable affecting the pharmacy owner negatively. The Utilitarianism theory suggests that an action should be judged as per the consequences it derives. The theory also requires unemotional evaluation of a situation which proves the poor man to be involved in an unethical act (Brown & Sukys, 2016). In the light of the above, it can be concluded that the conduct was ethically wrong. However, the question of prosecution remains with the court of law. Although stealing is a punishable crime, the court may decide on the case after carefully analyzing the case facts. The person involved did not use the medications for resale or any monetary benefits, neither had any previous conduct that could be termed as a crime or punishable act harming others; hence, the court may decide not to punish.

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