An ethical / moral dilemma

New Mexico drunk driver kills 5

Suppose you are the ER doctor / nurse on duty when a drunk driver that just took out a family of five is airlifted in. How hard do you work to keep him alive? How careful are you to keep him comfortable and stable?

I'm glad I work with inanimate objects.

In the first place it isn't the place of the doctor or nurse to make a value judgement based on what the drunk driver may or may not have done. Their sole concideration should be, no must be, the life and well-being of the patient. Just that, nothing more. They can be sick to their stomachs after their shift is over. To do anything less than their best is to betray their oaths as healers. There shouldn't be any moral dilemma for the doctors or nurses at all.

I think I would want him to live to face the results of his actions. Then he could spend the rest of his life in prison and seek redemption.

As damn hard as I possibly can. He is a human life isn't he?

One thing that has always baffled me.Drunk drivers always get blamed for these accidents,right? Has anyone besides me ever wondered how many of these accident are actualy the fault of the "sober" driver? I have. I don't condone drunk driving,but I have to wonder sometimes about who is at fault in some accidents.

[edit on 14-11-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]

Originally posted by SpeakerofTruth
Drunk drivers always get blamed for these accidents,right? Has anyone besides me ever wondered how many of these accident are actualy the fault of the "sober" driver?

Fair enough. In this case, apparently, the drunk was driving the wrong way down an interstate. Pretty tough to blame anybody but the drunk there, I'd think. In fact, I'm having a pretty tough time envisioning a situation / accident scenario which wouldn't be made more difficult by one of the participants being intoxicated.

As to the other responses - Yes, it's still a human life and ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I guess I just couldn't fully dissociate myself that way.