Professional Ethics Toolkit

CHRISTOPHER MEYERS is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Director Emeritus of the Kegley Institute of Ethics at California State University, Bakersfield. He is also ethics faculty at Kern Medical Center, the hospital ethicist for Adventist Health of Bakersfield, ethics consultant for multiple other regional health care organizations, and a regular contributor to local and national media. The author of Journalism Ethics: A Philosophical Approach (2010) and A Practical Guide to Clinical Ethics Consulting: Expertise, Ethos, and Power (2007), he publishes across a range of areas in practical and professional ethics.

• Acknowledgments xiiIntroduction 1Opening Thoughts 2Being and Acting Professional 5Definition and Listing 6Cases 7Health‐care professionals and the conscience clause 7Defending the indefensible 8Getting by with cheaper materials 9Note 10References 10Part I Theory, Concepts, and Ethics Reasoning 111 Historical Overview and Definitional Questions 131.1 Some History 161.1.1 The rising role of science 171.1.2 Impact of the European Enlightenment 181.1.3 Organizing to differentiate 191.1.4 Formalizing the standards 201.1.5 Establishing trust 211.1.6 Monopolies, money, and power 221.2 Defining “Professional” 231.2.1 Essential features 241.2.2 Common features 261.2.3 Role‐based duties 281.3 A Working List 301.4 Types of Professional–Client Relationships 321.4.1 Agency 331.4.2 Paternalistic (or parentalistic) 331.4.3 Contractual 341.4.4 Affinity 341.4.5 Fiduciary 35Notes 35References 362 A Model of Ethics Reasoning 382.1 Relativism, Absolutism, and Contextualism 402.2 Deontology 432.2.1 Immanuel Kant 442.3 Utilitarianism 482.3.1 John Stuart Mill 492.4 Context, Context, Context 512.5 Ross and Pluralistic Deontology 532.6 A Model of Ethics Reasoning 572.6.1 A method and steps 592.7 Moral Principles 632.8 Case: Cutting Corners 65Notes 66References 66Part II Concepts, Principles, and Norms within Professional Environments 693 Autonomy and Respect for Persons 733.1 Autonomy in the World 753.1.1 Kant and moral agency 773.1.2 Mill and developed selfhood 793.1.3 Variable autonomy, life plans, and identity 803.1.4 Contributing and detracting factors 813.2 The Hard Work of Being Autonomous 823.2.1 Additional examples 843.3 Case: Which Autonomous Voice? 86Notes 88References 884 Beneficence and Non‑Maleficence 904.1 Beneficence 934.1.1 Finding balance in the professions 944.1.2 Paternalistic beneficence? 954.2 Non‐Maleficence 974.2.1 Harm and incompetence 984.3 Cases 1004.3.1 Mandatory vaccinations? 1004.3.2 How much should you give? 101Notes 102References 1035 Competency 1055.1 Systematizing Confidence 1065.2 Case: Sanctioning a Colleague 111Note 1126 Confidentiality and Privacy 1136.1 Privacy 1156.2 Privacy as a Moral Root of Confidentiality 1166.2.1 Intimacy and confidentiality 1176.2.2 Deontological and utilitarian foundations 1186.3 Practical Considerations 1206.3.1 Weighing confidentiality against other principles 1216.4 Cases 1226.4.1 Balancing principles: Privacy, beneficence, non‑maleficence, honesty, and fidelity 1226.4.2 Tell the family? 123Notes 124References 1257 Conflict of Interest 1267.1 Definition 1287.1.1 Situational conflict of interest 1297.1.2 Conflict of interest and individual choices 1307.1.3 Psychology and character 1317.2 Types of Conflicting Inducements 1327.2.1 Material inducements 1327.2.2 Perceived conflict of interest 1337.2.3 Conflicts of obligation and bias 1347.3 Structural Conflict of Interest 1367.3.1 Universally present 1377.3.2 Roles and conflict of interest 1377.3.3 Bias and conflict of interest 1387.3.4 Managing structural conflict of interest 1387.4 Cases 1407.4.1 Accepting a gift 1407.4.2 What now? 1417.4.3 Treating everyone equally 142Notes 143References 1448 Fidelity, Honesty, and Role‐Based Duties 1468.1 Promises 1488.1.1 Moral foundations 1498.2 Honesty 1508.2.1 Professionals’ duty to be informed 1518.2.2 Commission versus omission 1528.2.3 Honesty and wisdom 1538.2.4 Balancing duties 1548.2.5 Honesty and roles 1558.3 Cases 1568.3.1 Committed to the company? 1568.3.2 A contract is a contract 1588.3.3 The lying ethicist 159Notes 160References 1619 Formal Justice, Bias, and Allocation of Resources 1629.1 Arbitrary Features 1639.2 The Complexity of Justice 1659.3 Formal Justice 1669.3.1 Justice and objectivity 1679.3.2 Negative impacts 1689.3.3 Circumstantial responses 1689.4 Bias 1709.4.1 Managing bias 1719.5 Distributive Justice 1729.5.1 What is fair? 1739.5.2 Rawls’s theory 1749.6 Cases 1769.6.1 Equal treatment for cheaters? 1769.6.2 Bias and just representation 1789.6.3 A just allocation of health‐care resources 179Notes 180References 181Epilogue: Democratization and the Changing of Professions 182Some History 184Democratization 185Shifting power and inclusivity 185Commercialization 186Transforming Society and the Professions 187Notes 189References 189Index 191

"Meyers combines the right amount of practical ethics knowledge, case study, and theoretical background to equip a professional student with a sound foundation in professional ethics. He even uses cartoons to highlight a variety of professional ethics issues. I recommend using this book for a course on professional ethics; I plan to use it myself in our own course."Kayhan Parsi (2019) Review of Christopher Meyers, The Professional Ethics Toolkit, The American Journal of Bioethics, 19:6, W1-W2