Legal and Ethical Scenarios

 

 

 

 

 

Select two of the scenarios provided below. Analyze the facts in the scenarios and develop appropriate arguments and recommendations using case law and scholarly sources.
Scenario 1—Bankruptcy

Katrina, a risk manager for State Farm Insurance, filed a petition in bankruptcy under Chapter 7, seeking to discharge $55,000 in credit-card debts and $35,000 in student loans. Katrina’s husband died and left her with two children, Paula, who attended college, and Dean, who was fifteen years old. According to Katrina, Dean was an “elite” runner who practiced ten to fifteen hours a week and placed first or second at more than forty competitive events. Dean was homeschooled with academic achievements that were average for his grade level. Katrina’s petition showed monthly income of $5,400 and expenses of $5,100. The expenses included annual homeschool costs of $6,200 and annual running expenses of $7,500. The expenses did not include college costs for Paula, or airfare for her upcoming summer trip to Italy, and other items. The trustee allowed monthly expenses of $4,400, with nothing allocated for running expense and asked the court to dismiss the petition.

If Katrina qualified for Chapter 7, which debts would be discharged? Which debts would not be discharged? Why?
Using the median income from your state, does Katrina qualify for Chapter 7? Remember to count the number of people in the household.
Should the court grant the trustee’s request? Does Katrina have other options if the Chapter 7 petition is dismissed?
Explain your answers and support them with relevant scholarly sources.

 

 

 

 

Sample Solution

Under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code, Katrina would be eligible to discharge her debts that are considered unsecured. This includes credit card debt and some student loan debt (Code Ann. §§ 36-26-5(6)(b) & 11 U.S.C. § 523). However, it should be noted that not all student loans can be discharged in bankruptcy proceedings as certain circumstances must be met in order for a court to potentially grant such relief (11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(8)).

The trustee asked the court to dismiss the petition due to what they deemed unnecessary expenses which included running related costs and Paula’s travel expenses; this could possibly limit the amount of debt which is ultimately discharged since courts are able to deny petitions on grounds of “abuse”—defined by 11 U..S Code Section 707(b)—if it appears an individual has engaged in patterns of spending or overspending that reveal their intent seek discharge obligations without incurring burden servicing them (Paxton 2018). Therefore if Katrina was found guilty abusing process she would still liable for any outstanding owed even after filing for bankruptcy.

In conclusion, while there several potential debts which may excused under Chapter 7 depending on specific details case , others such as those associated with college tuition or airfare trips may remain due since courts have authority deny petitions if necessary even after having initially granted them .Therefore it important consider both types when approaching situation similar this so know ahead time what kind financial obligations expect face.

 

Would it be advisable for us to be permitted to take our very own lives?

In numerous societies antiquated and not all that old suicide has been viewed as the best alternative in specific conditions. Cato the Younger submitted suicide instead of live under Caesar. For the Stoics there was nothing essentially corrupt in suicide, which could be normal and the best choice (Long 1986, 206). On the other hand, in the Christian convention, suicide has to a great extent been viewed as unethical, resisting the desire of God, being socially unsafe and restricted to nature (Edwards 2000). This view, to pursue Hume, overlooks the way that by dint suicide being conceivable it isn’t against nature or God (Hume 1986). By the by, being permitted to take our very own lives encroaches on the morals of open strategy in an assortment of ways. Here we will quickly look at the instance of doctor helped suicide (PAS) where a person’s desire to pass on might be supported by the activity of another.

Hume viewed suicide as ‘free from each attribution of blame or reprimand’ (Hume 1986, 20) and in reality suicide has not been a wrongdoing in the UK since 1961 (Martin 1997, 451). Helping, abetting, guiding or securing a suicide is anyway a unique statutory wrongdoing, albeit couple of indictments are brought. As of late the issue of PAS has realized the discussion ‘whether and under what conditions people ought to have the capacity to decide the time and way of their demises, and whether they ought to have the capacity to enroll the assistance of doctors’ (Steinbock 2005, 235). The British Medical Association restricts willful extermination (leniency slaughtering) yet acknowledges both legitimately and morally that patients can reject life-drawing out treatment – this that they can submit suicide (BMA 1998). Neglecting to forestall suicide does not establish abetting (Martin 1997, 451) despite the fact that PAS ‘is the same in law to some other individual helping another to submit suicide’ (BMA 1998). In Oregon, be that as it may, PAS, limited to capable people who ask for it, has been authorized (Steinbock 2005, 235, 238). A qualification ought to be kept up among suicide and (leniency) slaughtering, acts in which the specialists vary, however obviously precisely where the line ought to be drawn is a piece of the issue.

The moral contentions in help of PAS include enduring and independence (Steinbock 2005, 235-6). The principal affirmation is that is merciless to draw out the life of a patient who is in torment that can’t be medicinally controlled; the second, in the expressions of Dr Linda Ganzini dependent on her investigation in Oregon, includes the possibility that ‘being in charge and not subject to other individuals is the most essential thing for them in their diminishing days’ (cited in Steinbock 2005, 235). The coherent result of these contentions is that, if PAS can be supported on the grounds of torment or self-governance, for what reason would it be a good idea for it to be limited to skillful people or the critically ill? Surely the judge in Compassion in passing on v State of Washington (1995) expressed that ‘if at the core of the freedom secured by the Fourteenth Amendment is this uncurtailable capacity to accept and follow up on one’s most profound convictions about existence, the privilege to suicide and the privilege to help with suicide are the right of no less than each rational grown-up. The endeavor to limit such rights to the critically ill is deceptive’ (Steinbock 2005, 236).

As noted above, religious dissatisfaction with suicide has turned out to be less pertinent an as referee of morals and approach. In fair social orders that may best be depicted as mainstream with a Christian legacy, the perspectives of religious gatherings ought not confine the freedom of people in the public arena (Steinbock 2005, 236). Others contend that the job of the doctor is to mend and help and not to hurt, however supporters of PAS would state that passing isn’t constantly destructive and helped suicide is an assistance. Undoubtedly, in a nation where PAS isn’t lawful individuals who wish to bite the dust without condemning the individuals who aid their suicide might be driven abroad, as on account of Reginald Crew who was kicking the bucket of engine neurone sickness and made a trip to Switzerland for AS, biting the dust in January 2002 (English et al. 2003, 119). This may cause more damage through the worries of disengagement and stress than enabling the PAS to happen.

The two most genuine concerns are that PAS would be mishandled and would prompt negative changes in the public arena. This could occur from numerous points of view through defenseless gatherings, for example, poor people, the elderly and so on, being constrained into picking PAS (Steinbock 2005, 237). The BMA underscores a worry for the message that would be given to society about the estimation of specific gatherings of individuals (BMA 1998). This is a piece of a more extensive concern additionally communicated in a Canadian Senate enquiry of 1995 (BMA 1998) which focuses to a strategy of suicide anticipation among some defenseless gatherings that would be rendered odd by looking to ease suicide among the debilitated. Notwithstanding, the introduction is somewhat deceitful, since there is a distinction in the explanation behind potential suicide that must be examined. For instance, looking to counteract suicide among the adolescent may include projects of social consideration or expanding life prospects, and this style of arrangement isn’t appropriate on account of the individuals who may look for PAS.

In Oregon in any event, it appears that feelings of dread about PAS have not emerged, and one specialist presumes that the generally low utilization of PAS is characteristic of it being excessively prohibitive (Steinbock 2005, 238). Clients of PAS, as opposed to being poor people and socially defenseless as anticipated, would in general be working class and taught, with more youthful patients bound to pick it than the elderly, and most were selected in hospice care. Issues about PAS and killing should be cleared up and contended independently. With regards to this issue at any rate, the topic of whether suicide ought to be permitted is the wrong one to inquire. A beginning stage is to ask how skilled people can be permitted to satisfy their desires as to life and demise issues without imperiling other individuals, regardless of whether specialists or friends and family and whether widely inclusive enactment is possible.

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