Question
How is an ethical dilemma different from an ethical issue?
Answer
An ethical dilemma is, a really challenging situation where we have to make a decision. There may be two or more conflicting obligations. So for example, if I am working in a forensic setting, I have obligations to the court and I also have obligations to the client. And I need to make a decision about whose priorities to give heedance to. When we have those types of situations, there may be no single perfect answer to them. In some cases, I may need to prioritize the needs of the client or otherwise sometimes the needs of the court or the needs of society. So no matter what I do, there may not be a perfect answer and there are risks both ways.
When we have an ethical dilemma, there may be more than one reasonable answer. So prudent social workers thinking reasonably, acting prudently may disagree about what the best course of action is. Therefore, we need to engage when we are faced with an ethical dilemma in a thoughtful or deliberative process, and we need to think about different ways of thinking.
When we talk about other types of ethical issues, like an ethical breach, that is when somebody has committed a violation of our code of ethics or ethical responsibilities under the law or under our agency policies. We may need to figure out, well, what do we do now? But it is not truly an ethical dilemma. So not every situation that raises an ethics issue has an ethical dilemma within it. But when we have conflicting obligations and there is no perfect answer, then we need to make sure that we are considering a variety of different options and we make use of our good critical thinking skills.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the webinar, Teleology: An Outcome-based Approach to Ethical Decision-making with Clients, presented by Allan Barsky, JD, MSW, PhD
