Reference no: EM133558309

At the latest practice partners meeting, all four partners agreed from an ethical point of view that they should not provide advice to their own family members or close friends. Instead, they would organise for one of the other advisers in the practice to provide financial advice in these situations. In line with this arrangement, Rory has referred Darcy onto Linda, who is one of the other advisers in the practice. Rory has stepped back and has not taken part in the advice process between Darcy and Linda. A week after Darcy has begun to implement Linda's advice, the practice support manager comes to ask Rory a quick question. During this discussion, she mentions in passing that Rory's insurance applications have all been accepted without any concerns raised by the insurance underwriters. This surprises Rory, as he is well aware that five years ago, Darcy injured his knee quite seriously while they were playing football. In Rory's professional judgment, he would have expected the insurance underwriters to have placed some exclusion or conditions on Darcy's insurances due to the damage to Darcy's knee. As Rory was not a part of the advice process, he assumes that Darcy discussed this information with Linda and that it was appropriately disclosed to the insurer. Rory sees this as a good outcome for Darcy and decides to take no action.

Briefly define motivated blindness and discuss how it may have influenced Rory's ethical decision making and how this blind spot could be avoided.