Read the Heinz dilemma and watch the video. Then answer the questions below the video as your initial post.

Prompt

Read the Heinz dilemma and watch the video. Then answer the questions below the video as your initial post. Additionally, respond to at least two other students’ posts on the Heinz Dilemma. This assignment is to compare different viewpoints on whether Heinz should steal the drug or not and why. This should provide you with some insight into your own thinking about moral reasoning.

In Europe, a woman was near death from a rare kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug, and I’m going to make money from it.” So, having tried all legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife.

Video: The Heinz Dilemma

Questions: It is important to be honest when answering the questions. Think of the consequences if you were caught  stealing the drug and take the perspective of the people involved.  For example, how would the wife feel if Heinz was put in jail and she was left to die alone?  What if Heinz had children? If he was arrested and his wife died wouldn’t their situation be that much worse losing both parents? What about the druggist?  Do not the creators of life saving drugs have the right to make a profit on the sale of the drugs and to recoup the cost of research, testing, and development of new drugs?  

If you were Heinz would you steal the drug? Why or why not?

Does Heinz have a duty or obligation to steal the drug? Why or why not?

If Heinz doesn’t love his wife, should he steal the drug for her? Why or why not?

Suppose the person dying is not his wife, but a stranger. Should Heinz steal the drug for a stranger? Why or why not?