You are an emergency worker and arrive at the scene of a serious car accident.  You quickly recognize the car as your wife’s.  As you make your way over to the car, you notice another man in the car with your wife.  Your wife sees you and mouth’s to you the words, “I’m sorry”.  You are baffled at this, but her look confirms the worst.  She is having an affair; the man in the car is her lover.

Your wife is seriously hurt and needs attention immediately.  Even if she is administered care, there is a high likelihood that she will still die.  The man in the seat next to her is only bleeding heavily from a neck wound.  The flow of blood must be stopped immediately if he is to live.  It will only take a few minutes to stop his bleeding, but this means that your wife will surely die. Who do you choose to administer care to in this moral dilemma?  Does it matter that the chances of survival for each patient is quite different?  Does this recent discovery of your wife’s affair affect your decision?

In 1990, Jeffery Cain was killed due to a road rage shooting in Anchorage, Alaska.  George Kerr learned from his friends that they were the ones responsible for Cain’s death, and he proceeded to tell the police what he knew about the shooting.  Kerr said:

I usually would not rat out my friends, but this is just so severe I got to do it.

After George Kerr’s friends were convicted of this crime, they made a revenge plan and sent a bomb to his home intended to kill him.  Kerr was not home; the bomb killed his father.  If you were in George Kerr’s position, what would you have done?

Imagine that you are in the situation described:  A friend confides in you that they have committed a crime; you promise never to tell anyone.  You learn that an innocent person has been accused of the crime that your friend committed.  You ask your friend to give themselves up, but they refuse and remind you of the promise you accepted.  What do you do regarding this moral issue?  Does your decision change depending on the type of crime – murder, embezzlement, hit and run?  Where do you draw the line in this moral dilemma, with regards to when to reveal your friend and when you keep their promise?