Utilitarian Analysis

Instructions:

Please, read the following article. Once you have read the article, type your analysis (single-spaced) below the article and submit it on the relevant Turnitin link by the due date.

1. Apply the utilitarian analysis. Explain how a utilitarian would evaluate the actions of the Montreal Authorities and why. Your answer should take into account all the relevant audience members and engage in a brief utility calculus (300 words)

2. Apply Respect for Persons theory to the case. How would a respect for person’s theorist evaluate the actions of the authorities? Your answer should take into account the negative and positive obligations/rights of all the relevant parties (300 words)

Article:

“Montreal speech therapists, social workers threatened with firing if they refuse to work in seniors’ homes”

Kate McKenna · CBC News · Posted: Apr 25, 2020 5:16 PM ET | Last Updated: April 25 (modified for the purpose of analysis)

After 2-hour course, staff with no medical training were dispatched to residences hit hard by COVID-19. Ruth’s day job mostly involves helping children stop stuttering, but as of this week, her career took a sharp right turn — she is one of hundreds of health-care workers being forced to work in the province’s long-term care homes.

This week, staff with the West-Central Montreal regional health authority, including
physiotherapists, social workers, occupational therapists and speech language pathologists,
were told they were being redeployed to long-term care homes.

The province of Quebec is trying to mitigate a crisis unfolding inside the homes, known by the
French-language acronym “CHSLD.” It issued an edict saying public health-care workers may be
dispatched to the residences to help with a pervasive lack of staffing. Some 80 per cent of the deaths in Quebec are linked to the seniors’ homes, which have been hit particularly hard in the Montreal area.

CBC News spoke with two employees in this position, but is withholding their identities
because they fear professional repercussions for going public. “Ruth” and “Alexis” are Montreal-area health professionals that give therapy for people with physical impairments. Neither are medically trained.

No guarantee of adequate PPE (personal protective equipment)

Both women said they received a two-hour training session before they were supposed to be
dispatched to a CHSLD. That’s woefully inadequate, they said: staff were going into a totally
new environment — many, if not the majority, have not worked in geriatric care.

They were told they’d be working as assistants to patient attendants, known in Quebec as
PABs. In addition, they were told they’d only be given cloth masks — and in some cases, surgical
gowns — despite being asked to work inside homes with COVID-19 outbreaks. “Everyone was so shocked,” Alexis said.

If there was adequate protective equipment, Alexis said she would feel comfortable in the new
role — but she left the training feeling unprotected and unready to go into a long-term care
home. Ruth and Alexis both said they were shown how to put on a mask during the training, but weren’t given masks to practise. Ruth said the masks they were shown were not the same type of masks that were available at the long-term care facility where she is now working.

Risk of getting fired

Ruth and Alexis said employees were not given a say in their assignment — and that many are
being sent to the worst-hit CHSLDs in Quebec. …”[The instructor] even said in the training, if you refuse to go, you’ll be fired. She said it very nonchalantly,” said Alexis.

Ruth was also told that if she refused to work, her contract could be terminated. “It didn’t even seem like an option. It is what it is. There was no discussion,” she said.

Redeployment ‘not optional’

In its statement, the West-Central Montreal regional health authority said “we are aware that
redeployment of staff can cause stress and anxiety. We are doing our best to support our
colleagues working in Long Term Care sites.”

It goes on to say that the redeployment is not optional, and that it was decided by a ministerial
decree due to the present health crisis.

ANALYSIS (Write your 2-part analysis below):