Obligation-Conflict Resolution
Case 08-10 (2008) · Public Welfare—Design of Medical Equipment
Professional obligations conflict, and the board applies no fixed rule for which one wins.
Each resolution is recorded as three edges:
competesWith (the tension),
prevailsOver (the obligation the board allowed to win in this case), and
defeasibleUnder (the situation under which the yielding obligation gives way).
The same tension is then traced across comparable cases, where its resolution shifts with context.
Hover any obligation or state to see its definition; click to open it in OntServe.
How this case resolved it
Engineer A Employer Cost-Rejection Non-Acquiescence Inaction Infant Respirator
prevails over
Engineer A Faithful Agent Obligation MedTech Respirator Investigation
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Faithful Agent vs. Public Safety Paramount Conflict
- Engineer A Internal Escalation Near-Exhaustion
- MedTech Non-Engineer Manager Safety Inaction
- MedTech Proliferating Defective Respirator Market Exposure
Featured
Engineer A Conditional External Regulatory Reporting Threat Proportionality Infant Respirator
prevails over
Engineer A Ongoing Investigation Deference and Monitoring MedTech Respirator
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Graduated Internal-to-External Escalation Obligation
- Engineer A Internal Escalation Near-Exhaustion
- MedTech Non-Engineer Manager Safety Inaction
- MedTech Proliferating Defective Respirator Market Exposure
Engineer A Internal Design Team Non-Acquiescence Infant Respirator
prevails over
Engineer A Ongoing Investigation Deference and Monitoring MedTech Respirator
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Graduated Internal-to-External Escalation Obligation
- Engineer A Internal Escalation Near-Exhaustion
- MedTech Non-Engineer Manager Safety Inaction
- MedTech Proliferating Defective Respirator Market Exposure
Engineer Doe Public Hearing Triggering Condition External Reporting BER 76-4
prevails over
Engineer Doe Client Report Suppression Resistance BER 76-4
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- BER 76-4 Client-Suppressed Findings at Public Hearing
Engineer A Growing Circulation Proportional Urgency Escalation Infant Respirator
prevails over
Engineer A Faithful Agent Obligation MedTech Respirator Investigation
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Faithful Agent vs. Public Safety Paramount Conflict
- Engineer A Internal Escalation Near-Exhaustion
- MedTech Non-Engineer Manager Safety Inaction
- MedTech Proliferating Defective Respirator Market Exposure
Engineer A Post-Internal-Exhaustion Conditional External Reporting MedTech Future Obligation
prevails over
Engineer A Faithful Agent Boundary Public Safety Tension Resolution MedTech
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Faithful Agent vs. Public Safety Paramount Conflict
- Engineer A Internal Escalation Near-Exhaustion
Engineer A Graduated Internal Escalation Before External Reporting MedTech
prevails over
Engineer A Premature External Reporting Threat Prohibition MedTech Manager
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Internal Escalation Near-Exhaustion
- MedTech Proliferating Defective Respirator Market Exposure
Open tensions recorded without a resolution:
Engineer A Conditional External Regulatory Reporting Threat Proportionality Infant Respirator vs Engineer A Premature External Reporting Threat Prohibition MedTech Manager
Engineer A Contextually Calibrated Reporting Obligation MedTech vs BER 76-4 vs Engineer Doe Public Hearing Triggering Condition External Reporting BER 76-4
Engineer A Employer Cost-Rejection Non-Acquiescence Inaction Infant Respirator vs Engineer A Graduated Internal Escalation Before External Reporting MedTech
Engineer A Graduated Internal Escalation Before External Reporting MedTech vs Engineer A Growing Circulation Proportional Urgency Escalation Infant Respirator
Engineer A Interdisciplinary Competence Threshold Non-Expert Respirator Review vs Engineer A Non-Expert Non-Involved Proportionality Calibration MedTech Respirator
Engineer A Mitigating Circumstance Balanced Assessment MedTech Respirator vs Engineer A No-Incident Good Faith External Reporting Threshold Infant Respirator
Engineer A No-Incident Good Faith External Reporting Threshold Infant Respirator vs Engineer A Non-Expert Non-Involved Proportionality Calibration MedTech Respirator
What the board concluded
- It was not ethical for Engineer A to indicate that if prompt measures are not taken to correct the problem, he will be compelled to report the matter to an appropriate federal regulatory agency.
How comparable cases resolved the same tension
A faithful-agent duty yields to a public-protection obligation. The yielding obligation ("Faithful Agent") recurs across cases; the obligation that overrides it and the context under which it yields differ case by case. This is the case-law move: not a single rule, but a family of context-indexed resolutions.
| Case | Obligation that prevailed | Yielding obligation | Context (defeasibleUnder) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
24-01
Balancing Client Directives and Public...
|
Engineer L Client Budget Pressure Refusal | Engineer L Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer L Confirmed Risk Without Safeguards; Engineer L Resource Constrained Client |
| Engineer L Client Override Regulatory Report | Engineer L Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer L Confirmed Risk Without Safeguards; Engineer L Resource Constrained Client | |
|
20-4
Public Health, Safety, and...
|
Engineer B Post-Override Regulatory Reporting | Engineer B Faithful Agent Boundary | MWC Override of Engineers A and B |
| Engineer A Post-Override Regulatory Reporting | Engineer A Faithful Agent Boundary | MWC Override of Engineers A and B | |
|
95-5
Failure To Include Information In...
|
Engineer B Expert Witness Neutrality | Engineer B Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer B Adversarial Engagement; Engineer B Client Defense Bias |
| Engineer B Complete Technical Reporting | Engineer B Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer B Adversarial Engagement; Engineer B Client Defense Bias | |
|
04-8
Public Welfare—Client Action Following...
|
Engineer A Safety Obligation Wetland Fill | Engineer A Faithful Agent Limits Wetland | Engineer A Confirmed Environmental Risk; Engineer A Faithful Agent Duty Conflict |
| Engineer A Wetland Confidentiality Limits | Engineer A Faithful Agent Limits Wetland | Engineer A Confirmed Environmental Risk; Engineer A Faithful Agent Duty Conflict |