Ethical Decision Making

Ethical Decision Making


Ethical Decision Making
The Importance of ethical decision making in professional psychology
Ethical decision-making involves acting in a moral and accountable way. The law is based on ethical principles. However, the law is ethically relevant, but will never be able to account for every course of action taken. The responsibility of abiding by the code of ethics is on the decision maker. There are numerous guides that address ethical behavior, but it is impossible for ethical guides to cover all situations specifically (Pope and Vasquez 2011). When psychologists are making decisions, it is important to use the decision-making steps to help with the decision that is at hand. When a psychologist uses these steps, it requires deep thinking. The psychologist is forced to think about everyone involved and what is best for the client at hand. Psychologists want to make sure that they are abiding by the code of ethics in all that they do.
Scenario
My client has admitted to killing a person 20 years ago in self-defense. She never turned herself in to the police, and the death of the person was never solved. Once the incident occurred, she ran away and says that she has never harmed anyone since. She asks me if this information will stay between me and her.
The Ethical Dilemma
The ethical dilemma that I am faced with is deciding what to do with this new information that my client has shared with me. Do I report this information to the local authorities? Do I keep this information to myself? It happened so long ago—what harm would it do not to tell anyone? Am I holding true to the code of ethics if I report it? Or am I being true to the code of ethics if I keep it confidential? Before I make a decision about what I should do—I need to go through the ethical decision-making process. The steps in ethical decision making are recommended by Pope & Vasquez (2011).
Applying the 14 Steps of the Ethical Decision Making Process
Step 1....