Moral Stories

Story 39

You are a doctor. You have five patients who will all die if they don't get an immediate organ transplant. Another patient is just being rushed to the hospital after a serious car accident. This person is critically injured, but you can probably save him by means of a long and complicated operation.

Question

Do you obtain the organs cutting the carotid artery of the accident victim, so you can undertake the transplantations for the other five patients?

Majority Answer: No

Answer distribution over 25 people:

P(Yes): 0.08 P(No): 0.92

Is Ambiguous: False

Factor

These are the factors and their attributes present in this story.

Beneficiary: Other-beneficial

Causal Role: Means

Evitability: Avoidable

Personal Force: Personal