Martha lives with her boyfriend, Cameron, in a small one-bedroom apartment. After Martha’s hours were cut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cameron, who works in marketing for hospice care, agreed to take on more hours at his job to supplement his income. One day, while Cameron was working from home, Martha overheard him tell a prospective client's family that he was a doctor. Martha knows full well that Cameron is not a doctor at all, and she was surprised to hear him misrepresent himself in this way. Martha confronted Cameron after the call, and he said that he was just doing his job and getting a new patient to sign up for services. Martha feels conflicted. On one hand, she knows that Cameron is doing his best to be good at his job, and part of his job is to convince more people to sign up for hospice care. Cameron’s success at work is more important than ever because his hard work is making up for the pay cut she suffered earlier in the year. On the other hand, she can’t help but be seriously bothered by the fact that Cameron has pretended to be a doctor to get new patients.
Martha lives with her boyfriend of 3 years, Cameron, in a small one-bedroom unit of a multi-family building. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Martha’s boss informed her that she had been idled from her job and that she would consequently suffer a 30 percent pay cut. Martha was upset when she received the news, not only because she enjoys her job but also because the pay cut made it more difficult for her and Cameron to make ends meet. After a long discussion, Cameron, who works in marketing for hospice care, agreed to take on more hours to make up for Martha’s pay cut.
Martha and Cameron spent most of their time at home because of their city’s COVID-19 restrictions, and, as a result of these restrictions, Cameron was also forced to work from home. Martha tried to give Cameron privacy since most of his work entails talking to a lot of families and patients to get them to subscribe to his company’s services in hospice nursing. But because of the size of their apartment, Martha was not always available to give Cameron space and often ended up overhearing some of the conversations he had with clients.
One day, Martha overheard Cameron tell a prospective client's family that he was a doctor. She knows full well that Cameron is not a doctor at all, and she was surprised to hear him misrepresent himself in this way. Martha confronted him after the call, and he said that he was just doing his job and getting a new patient to sign up for services. He explained to her that, in the case of this phone call, the patient hated the idea of hospice care. Her son referred to Cameron as a doctor in an earlier discussion, so she thought Cameron was the doctor recommending home care.
Following her conversation with Cameron, Martha feels conflicted. On one hand, she knows that Cameron is doing his best to be good at his job, and part of his job is to convince more people to sign up for hospice care. Cameron’s success at work is more important than ever because his hard work is making up for the pay cut she suffered earlier in the year. On the other hand, she can’t help but be seriously bothered by the fact that Cameron has pretended to be a doctor to get new patients.
Have you ever found yourself in an ethical disagreement with someone close to you? How would you advise Martha? What are her responsibilities in this situation, and how might she come to a decision about the best course of action?