Analysis of Ethical Issues in the Film The Rain Man

?The central ethical dilemma of the 1988 film The Rain Man concerns the proper treatment to be afforded to Raymond, an autistic man who is capable of performing immense feats of mathematical calculation but is psychologically attached to predetermined habits and routines, thus being unable to adapt to changing situations around him. Should Raymond be given a chance to live in an open setting, where he can freely interact with the world around him, or should he be confined to an institution?Raymonds brother, Charlie, discovers Raymonds existence only after the death of their father, who had willed the vast majority of his inheritance to Raymond. Charlie is at first immensely spiteful at his fathers decision and removes Raymond from the mental institution, attempting to blackmail the doctor in charge to transfer $1. 5 million to Charlie. Charlie is easily frustrated by Raymonds habits and oddities, as well as his need to always receive precisely the treatment to which he had become accustomed.However, Charlie later discovers Raymonds intelligent side during a trip to Las Vegas, where Raymond employs his astoundingly swift processing skills to win $86,000 while gambling. The two brothers subsequently forge an emotional bond, and Charlie is reluctant to return Raymond to the institution. He demonstrates the wish to take care of his brother and points out that Raymond has learned numerous new skills and information during the trip. However, the doctors in charge of Raymond show Charlie that Raymonds autonomy is greatly impaired; they ask Raymond a series of mutually exclusive questions, to which Raymond merely answers, Yes. Suzanne, Charlies girlfriend, thinks that Charlies initial treatment of Raymond is too harsh and intolerant. She would like to see Raymond afforded a more flexible and less dominating treatment by Charlie, and is upset that Charlie is using Raymond in order to blackmail the doctor into giving Charlie money. Eventually, however, she becomes pleased by Charlies increasing proximity to and genuine care for his brother. . Charlies initial kidnapping of Raymond was based on Charlies perception that Raymond was an easily manipulated disabled person who would comply with Charlies scheme to extort money from the doctor.Nevertheless, Raymond proves to have a personality of his own, which at first greatly irritates Charlie, but which Charlie eventually comes to love and refuses to relinquish. The doctor remains firm in his stance not to give the money of Charlies father in exchange for Raymond, and Charlie rejects a $250,000 offer in exchange for which he was to have severed all involvement with Raymond. After the doctors demonstrate Raymonds incapacity to make significant decisions, Charlie relucta ntly agrees to allow him to return to the mental institution. Despite the fact that Charlie and Raymond must separate at the end, Charlie promises to visit frequently, and his influence on Raymond has not been in vain. Raymond and Charlie now share jokes, and Raymonds range of comfort with respect to the products, services, and activities of daily life has been greatly amplified. Raymond, moreover, had assisted in rendering Charlies financial state more secure than it had been in the beginning of the film by winning $86,000 in Las Vegas.Charlie also learns to be more patient and tolerant in his relations with other human beings. He learns to discover the merits and values offered by others rather than merely lashing out at them in frustration. The decision to return Raymond to the mental institution demonstrated first and foremost the principle of nonmaleficence. The doctors wished to ascertain that Raymond would not pose a danger to his own life by certain irrational and perhaps involuntary reactions, such as banging his head against a window as a result of hearing a smoke alarm. However, this action denied some of Charlies attempts at beneficence toward Raymond, as Charlie attempted to provide Raymond shelter, entertainment, and opportunity beyond what Raymond was used to or what was offered at the hospital. Though some of Charlies influence remained with Raymond, the doctors decision prevented additional improvements to Raymonds state due to the concern that attempts at these would undermine Raymonds already delicate condition.The principle of autonomy was also denied, as Raymond was deemed incapable of making his own choices; the doctors demonstrated that he would give contradictory answers to the questions asked of him, and thus argued that their paternalistic supervision over his decision-making would benefit him most. An alternative decision with respect to Raymonds fate would have been to allow Raymond to remain with Charlie, but under the supervision of various doctors and psychological counselors.In this way, the doctors could have continued to exerc ise precautionary measures against Raymonds self-destructive activities, while Charlie could have continued to broaden Raymonds comfort zone and eventually render him fit for rudimentary social interaction. This would both benefit Raymond and protect him from harm, fulfilling the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence. Moreover, Raymond would, with an expanded worldview, gain greater autonomy in making his own decisions. A freer environment (where constraints are flexible rather than rigid) would enable Raymond to have the greatest possible degree of personal autonomy that he is capable of carrying out. Moreover, the principle of justice requires that Raymond be given the same right to the pursuit of happiness as is afforded to non-autistic persons. This means that absolute paternalism over Raymond should be off-limits to his guardians, who need not regulate every detail of Raymonds life in order to ensure his security. This decision would be more consistent with the ethics of principlism than the one actually carried out in the film.

International Financial Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 5

International Financial Markets - Essay Example Furthermore some countries have ended up losing their investment status of grade. This incident has placed the international investors in alert. Even before the downgrading of the first country into a grade of non-investment, the stock market was down, and some countries even become close to lose their access to capital market. As a result of this the European politicians directed their blame to the crediting rating agency of making thee debt crisis worse. Since 2011, the agency of rating has to regularly register with the European Security and Markets Authority (ESMA) which is also mandated with the further preparation of the legal action (Moloney, 2011). This regulation shows that the rating of credits have some control on the capital market. Some of the money market issue that was affected by the crisis that is to be discussed in this paper includes the macro-financial risk, intra-euro area financial flow, and collateral availability. In most of the countries in euro the deposits owned by the domestic banks were stable between 2010 and 2011. However the domestic banks in Ireland and Greece heavily fell. Ireland and Greece were not in a position to replace the deposits that were lost with other market borrowing or wholesale and the gap that existed by borrowing from their central banks (Whittaker, 2011). The relocation of the market money into the central bank balance sheet caused an inter-central bank debt that was very high within the system of the euro. Inter-commercial bank lending is a means of transferring money from area which have surplus to areas deficit areas (Friedman & Schwartz, 1970). For example if funds is withdrawn from the Greece bank and placed in the bank of Germany, this withdrawal will leave the Greece bank with deficit of money while the Germany bank will be in surplus of money. In the market condition that is normal, the

The Impact of Just-in-Time Production Practices Essay - 5

The Impact of Just-in-Time Production Practices - Essay Example In the contemporary environment of highly competitive business, innovative managerial practices become critical for increasing profitability without major capital investment. The paper would, therefore, focus on how the improvements in product flow and product quality would impact on firms’ sales and profit. Productive flow broadly defines the streamlined process of manufacturing goods and services that have minimal defects. Thus quality products are important product outcomes of product flow within a manufacturing unit that greatly facilitate in meeting the demands of the customers. The streamlining of the various interactive processes becomes intrinsic to the quality control mechanisms that significantly help lower the overall cost of production. In the contemporary times of cutting-edge competition, Juran (2000) asserts ‘all quality improvement occurs on a project-by-project basis and in no other way’. This is the foundation of quality assurance techniques and application which the organizations follow in order to meet the challenges of the time and maintain or increase their profit and sales. Byrnes (2003) asserts that product flow management is a powerful ‘profit lever that can increase earnings while raising customer service levels’. Thus, the organizations continuously make effort to identify factors and issues that would help produce the desired outcome with efficiency and unmatched proficiency. The various processes that can reduce time span and efficiently deliver results are adopted to increase profits through quality products that corroborate with the changing customers’ requirements. Small and big organizations like General Motors, Samsung, Sony, Ford etc. have all redefined their strategic goals to meet the changing equation of global business that primarily focuses on customers’ preferences and their satisfaction.