Oneway

Making Difficult Ethical Decisions

Introduction

Karen is a Latina, lesbian woman who decided to come out to her family and classmates when she started her second year in her psychology doctoral program. She thought that things would be easier now that she could be her “true self” around her family and friends. However, several people were not as accepting of her as she would have liked, including her parents and four siblings. As a result, she struggles to keep up with schoolwork, is tearful during class, and becomes upset while in conferences with professors. The faculty members at her school are talking about requiring her to start psychological treatment to deal with these issues and are even considering removing her from the program.

Instructions

Respond to the following:

• What does “The Code” say about the suggestions of the faculty?
• What are the cultural implications of doing what they are suggesting?
• Apply Fisher’s ethical decision-making model, discussed in Chapter 3 of Decoding the Ethics Code: A Practical Guide, to this situation.
• Determine how to handle Karen’s situation.

Your initial discussion post should be at least 200 words.