Ethical Decision Making

Part 1 "Automated Pharmacy"

You are an experienced programmer working on part of a project to bring automation to a pharmacy. This will automatically fill the most common prescriptions and allow the pharmacists to focus on more complex and less common prescriptions. The project is behind schedule and risks losing some critical first sales that have already been made with a firm delivery date. In order to make the delivery date, it has been proposed that documentation be finished after the delivery. This would cause the testing schedule to be condensed to half the allotted time. Any problems not caught in testing will be dealt with in patches and updates.

Who are the stakeholders?
- Me an experienced programmer.
- Pharmacists.

What possible actions can be taken (remember you are the programmer)?

What are the possible consequences of doing nothing? Select two of the possible actions you listed and indicate the possible consequences for the various stakeholders.

Of the actions you listed above, which are ethically unacceptable, ethically acceptable, and ethically required?

Would the ethical considerations be the same if the software was to automate an auto parts store? Why or why not? A stationary store? Why or why not?
 
Part 2 "LANSCAPE"

You work for a large electronics distributor. Your job is to provide training and to be a troubleshooter and consultant for users of the company's local area network. In the past, your job has required you to spend a lot of time traveling from building to building to assist users. Now, however, you have a utility program called LANSCAPE that lets you monitor the activities of any user who is logged in. You can see exactly what is being displayed on the user's screen, and can even take over the session if you need to. Your boss tells you, in confidence, that she suspects one or more employees of dealing illegal drugs on company premises. She has no proof, but suspects that they are using the phone and maybe even the computer to make deals. She asks you to monitor the employees and to provide her with a log of all the computer activities of the suspected employees. What are the ethical considerations involved?

What are the legal considerations with what you are being asked to do?

Your boss asks you to install LANSCAPE on the workstation in her office so she can randomly check on the suspects and gather evidence. What are the ethical considerations involved?

What are the legal considerations with installing the software on your boss's computer?