Read the following scenario and answer the questions.
Dr. Henry Duck was working his regular shift as the only doctor working in a small town Emergency Room at
around 5:00 pm one day in May when a large tornado struck Dr. Duck’s county directly, causing catastrophic
damage and multiple life threatening injuries. Dr. Duck knew that it would make for a long, busy evening
treating patients in the Emergency Room, and was ready for the challenge, but did not fully appreciate the
Ethical and Moral decisions he would have to make during the evening.
Almost immediately after the tornado passed, the small town’s emergency responders were overwhelmed and
neighboring counties’ ambulance and first responder teams helped transport victims of the tornado to Dr.
Duck’s emergency room. People were coming in at a rate never seen by Dr. Duck before, with all sorts of
varying injuries caused by the tornado. The tornado patients who were coming in were all from different
socioeconomic backgrounds, had ages varying from infant to 89 years of age, and included two pregnant
women. Dr. Duck was unable to keep up with the heavy flow of incoming patients, which seemed to be neverending, and began to have to make difficult decisions about who should receive priority in treatment for equally
devastating injuries.
At around midnight, Dr. Duck finally felt he was getting the overcrowded emergency room in order and
stabilized most of his patients, when the doors of the emergency room flung open. A gunshot victim with life
threatening injuries, who was the suspect of a bank robbery in the affluent part of town was being hurried in by
police. Almost simultaneously, a woman who underwent complications during a scheduled home delivery of
baby twins was rushed through the doors by her concerned and frantic husband who was screaming, “we need
help, my wife is going to die! My babies are going to die! Help! Please!” At the same time, Dr. Duck’s beloved
16 year old niece, Daphne, arrived by ambulance with significant, but non- life threatening injuries sustained as
a result of a motor vehicle crash.
During the hectic time at the Emergency Room that occurred as a result of the tornado, how would ethical
theories and moral judgments impact Dr. Duck’s decisions regarding who to treat first? Would Dr. Duck’s
personal values play a role in his decisions?
When the three patients are hurried into the ER at around midnight, who should Dr. Duck treat first and why?
What ethical theories apply to this scenario? Does situational ethics, justice and/or bias come into play with the
three injured patients who enter the ER around midnight?
