MSWPG7106 SOCIAL WORK Field Education 1 Assignment 3 – Ethical Dilemma Identify and discuss an ethical dilemma arising from the Field Education placement. a. Outline and apply key frameworks and...

Assignment on Ethical Dilemma        2
ASSIGNMENT ON ETHICAL DILLEMA
Table of Contents
Introduction    3
Reflecting on my Personal Ethical Dilemma    3
Theories and Evaluation Processes    4
Resources and Decision-Making    6
Reflective Analysis    8
Conclusion    9
References    11
Introduction
    Ethical dilemma can be regarded as a problem of decision-making between two moral imperatives, neither of which could be accepted or preferred, completely. These dilemmas are generally quite challenging and a person faces numerous issues to solve them. A person tends to find such dilemma in almost every aspect of his life, be it professional, social or personal. Social workers, mostly face such dilemmas in their work field, as this profession is infused with malpractices in almost every country, be it a developed or an underdeveloped one. According to Goodyear (2017), an ethical dilemma can come up on three situations. The first one is, when an individual makes a decision in which, course of action is best. There should be different types of actions from which, an individual can choose, in the second situation. In the third or final situation, some sort of ethical principles does get compromised, no matter what kind of actions have been taken.
Reflecting on my Personal Ethical Dilemma
    An ethical dilemma occurred on 17th January, 2018 and it revolves around a client of a Non-Governmental organisation that I interned for. His name was Mr. Brown and he was 70 years old. Our NGO used to feed home-bound and retired, elderly women and men with lunch and dinner from Monday to Friday. The meals were prepared with proper and certified ingredients and procedures by a known, local catering company to ensure the safety of the receivers. This specific client, mentioned above, suddenly stopped coming to our NGO to receive his meals. After waiting for two weeks, I and my field instructor decided to visit his home to check on him and find out the exact matter. One evening, we finally made it to his home. After knocking on the door several times, a young boy, aged about 16, opened the door with red and teary eyes. We understood that he was Mr. Brown’s grandson. The apartment was smelling of marijuana and was all smoky. He barely could talk to us properly and hence, most of our questions were unanswered. His behaviour was rude as well. He did not allow either of us to talk to his grandfather. He asked us to leave by stating that, his grandfather is doing well and will get disturbed, if we barge in. Both, I and my field instructor easily made out, that the grandson was smoking marijuana. Weed is illegal in our country and he is underaged as well for its consumption. After leaving the client’s house, I was unsure about proceeding with what just happened. Intake of such drug inside a house, where an old person lives is just ridiculous. Moreover, it could also damage Mr. Brown’s health severely. I wanted to file a complaint against the grandson in the local police station but was feeling hesitant as it might not be in my jurisdiction as a social worker to poke my nose in my client’s personal space or family matter.
Theories and Evaluation Processes
    Every decision we make, affects another person’s life in someway or the other. As a social worker, I have moral obligations for considering the ethical implications of one’s decision on others. As stated by Hennell et al. (2020), every person or group gets affected by a stakeholder’s decision. There might be other people in Mr. Brown’s apartment, who are well aware of the grandson’s drug intake and are still allowing him to live with them. Mr. Brown is likely to get most affected as this ethical dilemma revolves around him, and questions what is best for him. The grandson is the stakeholder here as well, alongside me and my field instructor. Our NGO, Mr. Brown’s apartment, the polices, to whom I might lodge an FIR, the catering company, all are stakeholders in this particular case, to be precise.
    The theories, which will be considered for the purpose of resolving this ethical dilemma will include utilitarianism, which states that actions should maximise happiness, health and well-being of all individuals. Another prominent theory, which can assist to understand such dilemmas is virtue ethics. This theory discusses the virtues and problems, which may be associated with a course of action. Both of these theories are closely associated with the normative ethical theories. Deontology is another theory, which can be applied here taking into consideration the moral philosophy. This theory focuses on analysing the actions to be taken based on a set of rules, which might help to determine whether the action taken is right or wrong.
    It is important to identify actions and the people involved in, along with the risk and benefits for coming up with an ideal decision, when it comes to ethical dilemmas. In the case of Mr. Brown and his grandson, there are possibly three ways to choose from. Either nothing can be done, the case can be stopped then and there, or a report can be lodged about the drug use. Lastly, things could be discussed with Mr. Brown to come up with a conclusion. In the first action, only the...