Ambulance Chasing

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the practice of "ambulance chasing" to determine whether it is a service or a disservice to victims of a disaster. The author considers the issue from the perspective of three philosophical models used for determining the ethical course of action, including the teleological approach, the deontological approach and the relativist approach. The paper then concludes that the decision to limit severely or disallow ambulance chasing seems to be the most ethical decision and explains the reasoning behind this conclusion.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Fact Gathering
Ambulance Chasing is a Global Problem
Making Cases
Determining the Ethical Issue
Principles on Which to Base Ethical Decisions
The Relativist Approach
The Deontological Approach
The Teleological Approach
Alternatives Based on the Relativist Approach
Alternatives Based on the Deontological Approach
Alternatives Based on a Teleological Approach
Consequences
The Decision

From the Paper:

"Deontology demands a good and a bad element. It is difficult to delineate either of these absolutely in the case of ambulance chasing; it is easy in such cases as murder. To force application of this test in the case of ambulance chasing results in an artificially rigid interpretation of right and wrong, and it does so, moreover, before the facts in any given case are known. In the case of the train derailment in California, it is clear that the suicidal man who left his truck on the tracks was acting unethically. However, beyond that, there is no clarity."

More papers on Ambulance Chasing:

• Case Study # 60476 : "Project Management: The London Ambulance Service"
• Book Review # 149501 : "Love of Baseball in "Chasing the Dream"
• Analytical Essay # 41997 : "Chasing Shadows"

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