Cengage Advantage Books: Foundations of the Legal Environment of Business 3rd Edition by Marianne Jennings

Exercise 4

Andrew Wakefield published his study on a correlation between autism and vaccines in the British medical journal The Lancet in 1998. Parents worldwide declined or withheld vaccines from their children as a result. The Lancet withdrew the study in 2010 because a look at the children in the study revealed that they had medical problems long before they had their vaccinations. Mr. Wakefield was stripped of his medical license. In 2011, medical journals disclosed that Mr. Wakefield was paid $675,000 by a lawyer who hoped to bring a class-action suit on behalf of the children and their parents against the vaccine manufacturers. Which category of ethical dilemma applies to this situation?
A) There is no ethical issue-only legal ones.
B) There is a conflict of interest.
C) There is a balancing of ethical dilemmas because Dr. Wakefield felt strongly about vaccines and took the actions he thought were appropriate.
D) Organizational abuse