CT Ethical & Professional Standards 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A thanatologist discovers a colleague is providing grief counseling without proper credentials. What is the most ethically appropriate first step?
- Immediately report the colleague to licensing authorities
- Discuss the concern directly with the colleague (Correct answer)
- Ignore it if clients seem satisfied
- Report anonymously to the media
Correct answer: Discuss the concern directly with the colleague
Ethical codes generally require addressing concerns directly with a colleague first before escalating to formal reporting.
Question 2: Which principle guides a thanatologist to avoid imposing personal values about death and dying on clients?
- Beneficence
- Non-maleficence
- Autonomy (Correct answer)
- Justice
Correct answer: Autonomy
The autonomy principle respects clients' rights to hold and act on their own values and beliefs about death.
Question 3: A thanatologist is asked to testify as an expert witness in a case involving a client. What ethical issue is most prominent?
- Fee splitting
- Dual role conflict (Correct answer)
- Scope of practice
- Mandatory reporting
Correct answer: Dual role conflict
Serving as both a treating professional and expert witness creates a dual role conflict that can compromise objectivity and the therapeutic relationship.
Question 4: When is it ethically permissible for a CT to accept a small gift from a bereaved family?
- Never under any circumstances
- When the gift is of minimal value and refusal would cause offense (Correct answer)
- Whenever the client initiates it
- Only after termination of services
Correct answer: When the gift is of minimal value and refusal would cause offense
Most ethical guidelines permit accepting gifts of minimal monetary value when refusal would be culturally insensitive or cause unnecessary harm to the relationship.
Question 5: A certified thanatologist working in a hospital setting learns that a patient's family wants to withhold a terminal diagnosis from the patient. The ethical tension here is primarily between:
- Confidentiality and mandatory reporting
- Autonomy and beneficence
- Justice and fidelity
- Non-maleficence and veracity (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Non-maleficence and veracity
Withholding a diagnosis creates tension between avoiding harm (non-maleficence) and the obligation to be truthful (veracity) with the patient.
Question 6: A thanatologist who becomes personally distressed after working with multiple traumatic loss cases should primarily:
- Transfer all difficult cases to colleagues
- Seek personal supervision or consultation (Correct answer)
- Take an immediate leave of absence
- Reduce client load without seeking support
Correct answer: Seek personal supervision or consultation
Seeking supervision or consultation is the primary ethical obligation when distress may impair professional functioning.
Question 7: Which of the following best describes the ethical concept of 'fidelity' in thanatology practice?
- Providing equal services to all clients regardless of background
- Keeping promises and honoring commitments made to clients (Correct answer)
- Avoiding actions that cause harm
- Distributing resources fairly among clients
Correct answer: Keeping promises and honoring commitments made to clients
Fidelity refers to being faithful to commitments, keeping promises, and being trustworthy in the professional relationship.
CT Ethical & Professional Standards 2
A thanatologist discovers a colleague is providing grief counseling without proper credentials.
What is the most ethically appropriate first step?