Ethics Survey: Fraudulent certificate

What should a doctor do when asked to lie?

We asked the survey question this way:
The parents of a child come to a doctor ask for a medical certificate for two days in the previous week since they all attended a special Christian meeting on those days and the school is known not to give permission to attend such functions. The doctor should write the certificate on compassionate grounds

Here are the results:
Almost 80% of the church members surveyed (n=117) considered it wrong for the doctor to write the certificate for a child who was clearly not sick but whose parents wanted to attend a Christian meeting. It is interesting to note, however, that almost 1 in 5 church goers surveyed felt that it was right for the doctor two write out a medical certificate.

The delegates involved in health care (n=34)also followed the patern with 4 out of 5 disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the doctor writing a fraudulent certificate. There, were almost 10%, however that agreed with the request.

We are constantly asked to tell lies - often because people want to do - or have done 'good things'.

Ethics is the challenge of being true to what God wants of us. Even if it may disappoint people who we like.