One day Dr. Gus Formaggio is visited during his office hours by Brie, one of the students in his graduate ethics
course. Dr. Formaggio hopes that Brie has come to talk about the course because she’s not been doing very
well. She seems to get the material, but is not very thoughtful about it. This surprises Dr. Formaggio because
Brie is older than most graduate students and has been working as a counselor for several years. But Brie
does not want to talk about the course. Rather, she asks Dr. Formaggio if he would be willing to come to the
mental health facility in which she works and give a presentation on ethics for their staff. “My husband is the
training director,” she says, “and I told him about you. The center could pay you $500 for a half-day workshop.”
Dr. Formaggio has done many workshops, but something about the situation strikes him as not quite right. “Let
me think about it,” he tells Brie. Dr. Formaggio considers the situation: He would actually be working for the
mental health center, not for Brie, so there’s not really a dual relationship. Right? He would be receiving his
usual consulting fee so there would be no reason to feel indebted to Brie, which might influence his judgment
about her performance in the course. At the same time, he doesn’t really know how Brie is thinking about this.
Does she think this is a way to have Dr. Formaggio see her as more interested in ethical issues or in some
other positive light? He considers talking with Brie about her motivation, but then decides not to—her motives
aren’t the real issue. What is the issue is his potential conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict.
The next day, he calls Brie into his office and tells her, “I will be happy to do a workshop for your agency.
However, I will not take any money for it. I’m considering this workshop a public presentation that is part of the
public service component of my professor job. Please have one of the staff members at the center contact me
and we’ll make arrangements.”
The workshop goes off without a hitch. The staff at the center really like Dr. Formaggio’s presentation and he
feels really good about doing some education in the community.
A week later Dr. Formaggio is sitting at home, reading an ethics book, when the doorbell rings. Outside he
sees a small van with “Cheese the Day!” printed on the side. The delivery person is standing at the door with a
small package.
“What’s this?” Dr. Formaggio asks.
“It’s your first cheese,” the delivery person replies.
“The first one?”
“Yeah. You’re signed up for the cheese-of-the-month plan. Every month you get a different gourmet cheese
delivered. Here’s the card.” The delivery person hands Dr. Formaggio a card, which says,
“Please accept this token of our appreciation. —Brie”
What are Dr. Formaggio’s options (e.g. accept the cheese, not accept it, accept it and have conversations with
Brie, not mention it to Brie, donate the cheese to charity)?
What are the ethical justifications and drawbacks of the various alternatives?
What does he say, if anything, to Brie the next time he sees her?
Sample Solution
