Faithful Agent Obligation Invoked Against Engineer A External Threat
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/150#Faithful_Agent_Obligation_Invoked_Against_Engineer_A_External_Threat
Properties
Instance of
FaithfulAgentObligationWithinEthicalLimits
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#FaithfulAgentObligationWithinEthicalLimits
Applied to
Engineer A's threat to report to governmental authorities before exhausting internal mechanisms
Balancing with
Good Faith Safety Concern Threshold for External Reporting
Public Welfare Paramount
Concrete expression
Engineer A's obligation to act as a faithful agent to MedTech — including respecting the employer's ongoing internal investigation process and pursuing internal channels before threatening external reporting — is the counterweight principle that the Board uses to evaluate Engineer A's premature external threat.
Confidence
0.93
Importance
high
Interpretation
The faithful agent obligation in this context requires Engineer A to work within MedTech's legitimate internal processes before threatening external escalation, particularly when MedTech was actively investigating the concern.
Invoked by
Engineer A Medical Device Safety Review Engineer
Tension resolution
The Board holds that faithful agent obligations counsel internal escalation first; the public safety obligation overrides only when internal mechanisms are exhausted or demonstrably inadequate.
Source Evidence
Source text
the obligation to act for each employer or client as 'faithful agent or trustee'
Text references
The Board believes that there were more reasonable and appropriate internal mechanisms within MedTech that could and should have been explored by Engineer A before threatening to report the matter to governmental authorities.
the fundamental conflict between the obligation to hold paramount the public health and safety and some another key provision of the NSPE Code of Ethics—here the obligation to act for each employer or client as 'faithful agent or trustee'
TTL
@prefix case150: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/150#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case150:Faithful_Agent_Obligation_Invoked_Against_Engineer_A_External_Threat a proeth:FaithfulAgentObligationWithinEthicalLimits,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Faithful Agent Obligation Invoked Against Engineer A External Threat" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's threat to report to governmental authorities before exhausting internal mechanisms" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Good Faith Safety Concern Threshold for External Reporting",
"Public Welfare Paramount" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A's obligation to act as a faithful agent to MedTech — including respecting the employer's ongoing internal investigation process and pursuing internal channels before threatening external reporting — is the counterweight principle that the Board uses to evaluate Engineer A's premature external threat." ;
proeth:confidence "0.93" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "150" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-28T14:40:38.984417+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "150" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-28T14:40:38.984417+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The faithful agent obligation in this context requires Engineer A to work within MedTech's legitimate internal processes before threatening external escalation, particularly when MedTech was actively investigating the concern." ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A Medical Device Safety Review Engineer" ;
proeth:principleclass "Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits" ;
proeth:sourcetext "the obligation to act for each employer or client as 'faithful agent or trustee'" ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The Board holds that faithful agent obligations counsel internal escalation first; the public safety obligation overrides only when internal mechanisms are exhausted or demonstrably inadequate." ;
proeth:textreferences "The Board believes that there were more reasonable and appropriate internal mechanisms within MedTech that could and should have been explored by Engineer A before threatening to report the matter to governmental authorities.",
"the fundamental conflict between the obligation to hold paramount the public health and safety and some another key provision of the NSPE Code of Ethics—here the obligation to act for each employer or client as 'faithful agent or trustee'" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 150 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-28T14:52:22.172366"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 150 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
150
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-28T14:40:38.984417+00:00
First case
150
Generated
2026-02-28T14:40:38.984417+00:00
Attributed to
Case 150 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-28T14:52:22.172366
Generated by
ProEthica Case 150 Extraction