Metal Foam Essay

Metal foam in the future will be an integral part of our society, however, in order to prevent abuse from this technology ethical principles will be applied and anticipated. Metal foam will be heavily used in the medical field, specifically orthotics. It potentially could replace and enhance the human bone structure. Consequentially, there is a great potential that people will misuse the technology, prevent others from benefiting from the technology, and falsely misrepresent the technology. The principles used to anticipate ethical problems are justice, rights, and consequentialism.

The principle of justice explains “how to achieve a fair distribution of scarce resources within society”(Wilson). Metal foam will be used in medical procedures and because of this there will be a small number of doctors who can perform the procedure, and the procedure will also be expensive. These conditions create a divide between members of the public, a socio-economic divide. Those who can afford metal foam and those that cannot. In a just world every-person who needs metal foam would be able to receive it. However, that is not the case. In order to try and create this “fair distribution of the benefits”(Wilson) of metal foam engineers should refer to the National…(NSPE) code of ethics. Statement II.4.c. which states that “Engineers shall not solicit or accept financial or other valuable consideration, directly or indirectly, from outside agents in connection with the work for which they are responsible”(NSPE). In order to follow the principle of justice engineers should not accept money or gifts from wealthy patrons. Reasons money or gifts would be given include, having the patron receive a new type of metal foam first, or to have the patron ...

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...ure will not be successful, then the doctor should let the patient know. This is to prevent bad results such as death or illness from a procedure or research that will not be successful. Statement II.1.e says that “Engineers shall not aid or abet the unlawful practice of engineering by a person or firm” (NSPE). This is saying that engineers should not be involved in illegal operations because there is a high chance that there would be un-desirable outcomes. An example being if there were illegal augmentation of metal foam into a soldier. If that soldier did not follow commands and instead created destruction and death, that would be a undesirable outcome.

Anticipating the future ethical dilemmas that will be faced by engineers involving metal foam is difficult. However, planning ahead and thinking of a variety of problems will prevent the misuse of metal foam.