Peter Is an 84-Year-Old with a Heart Condition

question 47

Essay

Peter is an 84-year-old with a heart condition. He has no family and minimal health insurance. He is on a fixed income and barely has enough money to survive. His doctor tells him that he needs to take a particular medicine for three months or his condition will severely worsen. The medicine will cost $450 and only $150 of the cost is covered by insurance. Peter goes to the bank and hands the teller a note saying, "Give me $300.00 or I'll detonate a bomb." When Peter is later apprehended, he told the police that he stole the money to buy needed medicine. Understanding that bank robbery is a crime, is there an ethical theory that can serve to justify Peter's actions?

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Definitions:

Dynamic Traits

Traits that describe our motivations and interests.

Temperament

Innate aspects of an individual's personality, such as sensitivity, mood, activity level, and emotional reactivity.

Driving Forces

The underlying motivations or reasons that propel individuals towards certain actions or behaviors.

Factor Analysis

A statistical technique based on correlations between several measures, which may be explained in terms of underlying factors.