DP5

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

DP5

Should ethics reviewing bodies treat the technical disagreement between Engineer A and his superior about Clean Air Act SO2 compliance as a symmetrical honest professional dispute in which neither engineer's position is inherently unethical, or should they hold that Engineer A's independent permit certification obligation required refusal regardless of whether the superior's contrary technical view was professionally defensible?

The board must determine whether the technical disagreement between Engineer A and his superior — both presumably technically qualified — about whether the fluidized boiler process meets Clean Air Act SO2 standards constitutes a symmetrical honest professional dispute in which neither position is inherently unethical, or whether Engineer A's independent certification obligation requires refusal regardless of the legitimacy of the superior's contrary view.

Hold that the honest disagreement principle protects Engineer A from bad-faith insubordination accusations by acknowledging the legitimacy of the superior's contrary view, while simultaneously holding that Engineer A's independent certification obligation required refusal once his own professional assessment identified a legal violation — treating the two principles as operating on different analytical levels rather than in direct conflict.

Hold that because both engineers are technically qualified and reached different conclusions from the same facts, the disagreement is fully symmetrical — meaning Engineer A's refusal was ethically permissible but not required, and that issuing the permit in deference to the superior's equally defensible technical judgment would also have been ethically permissible.

Hold that the ethical analysis cannot be completed without first resolving the underlying technical dispute through independent expert review, and that the ethical obligation to refuse or issue the permit is contingent on the outcome of that technical resolution rather than on Engineer A's unilateral professional assessment.

Ethics Reviewing Body