I have offered $3$ scenarios $($below$).$ After reading each case, offer your answer as to who it is permissible to save $($each scenario will have a separate answer$).$ Do your three answers match $($always individual or always group$)?$ If not, state why it is permissible to save the group of $5$ in some cases but not in others. If your answers match, offer a clear reason as to why you hold the view that you do$.$ Explain each decision in terms of ethical theories.

The trolley case

The driver of a trolley has passed out at the wheel, and his trolley is hurtling out of control down the track. Straight ahead on the track are five men who will be killed if the trolley reaches them. You are a passerby, who happens to be standing by the track next to a switch. If you throw the switch, you will turn the trolley onto a spur of track on the right, thereby saving the five. But Bob is on that spur of track on the right; and he will be killed if you turn the trolley.

The scarce drug case

You are an emergency room physician, and you only have five doses of a certain drug left. Alas, you have six patients who need it$.$ Bob has a very severe version of the condition for which the drug is a treatment, and it will take all five doses of the drug to cure him. Your other five patients have mild versions of the condition, and each of them will be cured by a single dose. Any one of the six who does not get the full dosage they need will die.

The transplant case

Suppose that you are a famous transplant surgeon, and that your transplants always work. You have five patients, each of whom needs a transplant. One needs a heart, one a brain, two need one lung apiece, and one needs a liver. One of your patients, Bob, has come in today to find out the results from some lab work. You know from the results of the lab work that Bob would be a perfect donor for each of your five other patients, and you know that there are no other available donors. So you ask Bob if he would be willing to be cut up and have his organs distributed. He declines your kind offer, but you realize that you could easily overpower Bob and cut him up without his consent.