DP2

DecisionPoint
http://proethica.org/ontology/cases#DecisionPoint

DP2

Should Engineer B assume and document full professional accountability for the entire integrated subdivision design — treating the plan set as a new design requiring comprehensive re-sealing — or may Engineer B limit his documented responsibility to only the discrete modifications he made while leaving Engineer A's seal to certify the remainder?

Engineer B made fundamental changes to core design elements of Engineer A's subdivision plan set — including grading plans, housing pad elevations, street routing, storm drain systems, pipe dimensions, sewers, and utilities — changes that have cascading impacts on the efficacy and integrity of the whole integrated design. The question is whether Engineer B was obligated to assume and document professional accountability for the entire integrated design, not merely for the discrete modifications he made, and whether his vague title-sheet note claiming responsibility only for 'revisions' was sufficient to discharge that obligation.

Remove Engineer A's seal from all altered sheets, affix Engineer B's own seal to those sheets, and include an affirmative statement on the cover sheet of each plan set assuming full professional responsibility for the integrated design as a whole — not merely for discrete modifications — acknowledging that fundamental changes to interconnected systems make the successor engineer accountable for the systemic adequacy of the combined document.

Document and seal only the specific sheets Engineer B personally modified, leaving Engineer A's seal intact on unaltered sheets and placing a title-sheet note claiming responsibility for identified revisions — on the theory that a successor engineer's accountability is properly bounded by the scope of his actual design work and should not extend to elements he did not touch.

Decline to use Engineer A's sealed plans as the foundation for the redesign and instead produce an entirely new plan set from scratch under Engineer B's own seal and signature — eliminating the mixed-authorship problem entirely by ensuring that every sheet in the plan set reflects Engineer B's independent professional judgment and bears only his seal.

Engineer B