Essay on Engineering Ethics and Its Significance

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Ethics are the basic principles that guides our behaviors in a moral sense. It is especially important that they are respected and are followed when working in the engineering industry as it is the ground rules that prevents the well-being of those who enjoy the services provided by the industry from being deprived.

However, there have been quite a lot of cases where engineers in the industry have failed the code of ethics in their practice, causing harm to individuals who make use of their products or services. For example, the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) faulty ASR (articular surface replacement) hip implant where patients received a total hip replacement with a metal ball-and-socket system, which during motion the flawed structure design increases frictional wear, leading to metallic debris being released into the blood system and ultimately affecting the general health of the patient. The code of ethics was violated in terms of multiple aspects; the company had complete knowledge that the product is of unethical design and would cause adverse health effect upon usage but have failed to disclose such information, putting patients health at risk. The death of four patients who underwent the transplant were reported as well as patients with symptoms of heavy metal poisoning. The end result was foreseeable and could have been entirely avoided, but the company had deliberately overlooked the issue during the design and manufacturing procedure instead of acknowledging and making amendments to the matter, which is possibly due to monetary pursuits. There were also precedent cases where surgeons have put forward the fact that the device was defective to their colleagues but was then deprecated by the company, the surgeons reputation suffered as a result. Undoubtedly, company ethics greatly affects the corporates decision in the process of producing goods and services. There may be culture within the company that contradicted with the surgeons clinical ethics that causes them to derail from the moral course of action, leading to the manufacture and utilization of such failed devices.

Above all, when working in the medical field of work, it is of vital importance that the incorporation prioritizes their patients wellbeing as the core concept of the product design as well as the products quality and reliability. The sole purpose of the product should be to improve the quality of life of its users instead of causing more harm to them and if the marketed products consist of fault, the company should make sure that it is addressed to its clients without ambiguity. In the end, the damage caused by the faulty metal ball-and-socket device was irrevocable; in India alone, within the 4,700 patients who received the hip transplant, a majority of 3,600 patients were untraceable for revision surgeries, the reliability and integrity of the company was also influenced. This shows the significance of respecting the workplace ethics and it is our responsibility to ensure these principles are not compromised and are properly upheld.

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