Three weeks ago, 33 miners became trapped in a mine cave-in in Chile. They've been found, but unfortunately, they currently don't have any way of escaping their subterranean dungeon. Recently, rescuers have estimated that boring a rescue shaft will take until Christmas. They told the trapped miners, who seemed to take the news well, but there are still concerns for their long-term well-being in the meantime. Here's an article further detailing the situation:
At first, when this event was brought to my attention, my mind didn't even skip a beat. Of course, the miners should be told how long it would take to get them out. Who wouldn't want to be told? After hearing a few of my friends' opinions on the matter, though, I was surprised that a few of them said that they would go crazy, knowingly trapped inside a cramped tomb with over two and a half-dozen other people. Reading the above article, which states that the health minister was issuing antidepressants with the hope that the miners don't break down under the psychological pressure, makes me re-think my original position. Would it have been better if the rescuers hadn't told the trapped miners how long it would take to get them out?
Would not knowing the date of their eventual rescue be more beneficial than knowing it? Our main source of support in ethical dilemmas in this course, the Bible, is very clear on the importance of truthfulness, that
"The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful."
- Pro. 12:22 (NIV)
However, reading farther up in that same chapter, one finds:
"Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."
- Pro. 12:18 (NIV)
Would it have been more wise to wait until rescuers had a bigger head start on boring the rescue hole, and thereby gaining a more accurate estimate of when the rescue shaft would be completed? Telling the trapped miners of a later rescue date, while it may have truthfully been the estimated rescue date at the beginning of the rescue, may cause more despair than if the rescuers had waited a little longer and delayed telling the trapped miners what they knew until they were more sure of the rescue date. The article above suggests that the rescuers now expect the miners to be out of the collapsed mine before Christmas. Or, would waiting to tell the trapped workers be considered as not telling the truth, lying by omission?
Personally, although I recognize that it is too late to wait to tell the miners a more accurate rescue date. In the future, however, after looking at the situation (and with my very limited knowledge of ethics, psychology, and mine-rescue techniques :) ), I would wait to tell the workers until I was fairly sure, disregarding pitfalls in the rescuing process, of the date when the miners would be able to be with their families again. In my experience, hasty time estimates are not always the best way to handle a situation. (Recall the BP oil spill, which BP originally said would only take three weeks to plug. It eventually took several months to plug, and the cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico is going to take months more. If they had originally said that they had to examine the issue more instead of appeasing the media and trying methods that everyone, including all of the petroleum engineers I knew, was fairly certain would not work, they might have received worse media attention, but wasted less time trying fast and easy methods rather than ones they were sure would work. However, this is merely my opinion and is only as accurate as my knowledge of the situation, which is admittedly limited to what I have been told by the media.)
Well, sorry about that rant, but going back to the miner story, I am honestly on the edge about which path I think would be the best. Would it be be still telling the truth to wait until the rescuers were more sure about a rescue date? Is it harmful to tell the miners a later date than the one they will probably be rescued by? Is there even a dilemma here? The more I think about it, the more I would encourage waiting to tell the miners.
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