Should people who have been abused, but are not aware of it, be told? - General

A hypothetical situation (though this has happened before; a patient goes to the dentist/doctors and is put under general anesthetic - while he/she is asleep the practitioner takes pictures/fondles or does some generally inappropriate stuff. The patient wakes up and has no idea and goes on normally as though nothing happened. A few weeks/years later down the line the practitioner is caught and somehow the authorities knows all the victims, should they be informed? Assuming that there is no risk of any infection/other issues arising - its just literally to inform the victims (and let them seek justice). My argument is that by telling the victim realistically you only cause them pain and could mess up their life if they take it very badly, though they had been leading a normal life up until being told. If you do not tell them the practitioner is likely to receive the same sentence and have the same trial. The way I see it is if you tell them then it only causes them pain. Of course there is the point that they obviously have the right to know, but beyond that I cannot see any real reasons why they'd need to know.

Just today I went to the dentist to have two teeth removed. There were several assistants in there with the doctor conducting the surgery. The only put you to sleep for surgeries. Surgeries require a surgical team. The odds of a whole surgical team being pedophiles/molesters are pretty slim to none.

When it comes to telling someone anything, you should ask yourself something like this: Is it true? Is it beneficial for them? If it is true and beneficial for them, then you should tell them. If it's just one or the other, or none, then you should keep quiet. You also want to do what is going to cause the least amount of suffering in people.

Philosophy undergraduate by any chance?

I think the answer is yes, because I don't think there is any conceivable way to without-a-doubt verify if somebody has been actually affected or not (for example, some people stay awake during anesthetic). With this in mind, I wouldn't want to withhold potentially life-altering information from someone, particularly if it might enable them to fix unresolved issues. If there WAS a way to know that someone would be unaffected by it, my answer would probably be different.

[QUOTE=Triage;46166260]Just today I went to the dentist to have two teeth removed. There were several assistants in there with the doctor conducting the surgery. The only put you to sleep for surgeries. Surgeries require a surgical team. The odds of a whole surgical team being pedophiles/molesters are pretty slim to none.[/QUOTE] We should assume that the scenario is true to debate the idea at hand.

Its a classic choice: Ignorance or Bliss? Blind and happy or aware and sad? I think for me, I would always choose knowing. In that experience, one may learn certain cautions he or she should hold, but don't from lack of knowledge. So instead of learning from a bad situation they are left susceptible to further occurrences if the proper caution isn't taken. But how can the victim adapt without the correct knowledge?

I would choose ignorance and bliss. IT doesn't serve any purpose in telling the victim of what has happened to them other than for them to simply know. Its like when an infant is adopted and them finding out later in life and getting upset at their parents for not telling them them the truth.

I would choose death to the dentist.

If knowing helps prevent future incidents, then I don't see why not. Assuming you know that the dentist(s) did this, you would turn them in. If they then are no longer at the dentist office, something is going to seem off anyways. I think letting a person know that they have made the mistake of trusting someone will help them to be slightly more vigilant in the future. At the very least, they would be able to stop going to that dentist's office.

That differs from person to person. I know some people would be horrified. Personally, if there is no lasting damage, I wouldn't give a single fuck. If there's no practical difference between done/not done, then what's the point?

[QUOTE=Glorbo;46596171]That differs from person to person. I know some people would be horrified. Personally, if there is no lasting damage, I wouldn't give a single fuck. If there's no practical difference between done/not done, then what's the point?[/QUOTE] So if a dentist inserted his penis into your mouth for an entire hour, while ejaculating down your throat, as long as he doesn't chip ya teeth, ya good, right?