[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Moral Dilemma

You live in an apartment with several other people and were arriving home late from work only to find that the whole complex is on fire. You see two neighbors on the front lawn. One of your neighbors is busy talking to the 911 operator and trying to call for the fire department. You ask the other neighbor, who is so severely burned that he can not move effectively, what the situation is. Your neighbor informs you this: There are seven individuals still inside that apartment: a clinically brain dead relative of his, a severely mentally handicapped woman, an infant, your dog, a senile old man, a man, and a pregnant woman. The fire had recently started but is quickly spreading and they are all unconscious.

1st. The infant.
2nd. Pregnant woman
3rd. Man
4th. Handicapped woman.
5th. Senile man
6th. My dog
7th. Brain dead person.

I would save the child first because they have their whole life ahead of them. And I would think that if a child was left alone in the building the parents/grandparents/whatever must be somewhere near...possibly too burnt or whatever to go and rescue them themselves.

The pregnant woman second as, as niamh said, its two lives. Plus the longer they stay in a burning building the more likely it is that the baby will be affected by the fumes.

The man third. He is the last of the people who in my head would actually know whats going on. I'm assuming hes healthy and that.

I was torn between the senile man and the mentally handicapped woman for fourth and fifth. Mostly because I do not know HOW mentally handicapped the woman is. The senile man probably wont fully understand whats going on, and being elderly chances are he has less of a life left than anyone else, plus being senile isnt much of a life anyway (my mother works with people like that). As I do not know the age of the woman, I would save her first. Though to be honest, if she was totally gone mentally, it would just be a toss up between these. As IMO, neither have a life to start with.

I would chose my dog after this, because an animal is still part of the family, no matter how sad that sounds. A clinically braindead person is already dead to me, and I would bet they wish they were too...I actually think its quite cruel to keep them alive. One of gavins friends was severely beaten a few years back, and had always said if he was going to be left 'cabbaged' (the word he used) then he would want the machines turned off...something I have always said myself too. His mother chose to go against his wishes and keep him alive. He now cant move or think for himself or anything. I think thats wrong.