L02 - Who is worthy of moral concern?

Question 1

What are the two main things moral concern governs?

Answer 1

Duties towards patients.

The interests of patinets in recieving treatment.

Question 2

What are the 6 grounds for moral concern?

Answer 2

Human
Personhood
Sentience
Potentiality
Patient
Autonomy

Question 3

What is the meaning of sentience as a ground of moral concern?

Answer 3

Sentience is the ability to feel and experience pain/ pleasure. This is important when considering a foetus over 20 weeks.

Question 4

What is the meaning of human as a ground of moral concern?

Answer 4

The sanctity of human life, that it must be treasured. This forbids abortion euthanasia etc.

Question 5

What is the meaning of autonomy as a ground of moral concern?

Answer 5

Autonomy is respecting a patients right to their own decision. If they are not able to make this decision then people need to make it for them.

Question 6

What is the meaning of personhood as a ground of moral concern?

Answer 6

Being a person is the ability to think about their future and have continous mental states. This provides a right to life so should people without these mental states be kept alive?

Question 7

What is the meaning of potentiality as a ground of moral concern?

Answer 7

Although they lack criteria for moral concern they could in the future. e.g. dont harm a foetus

Question 8

What is the meaning of patient as a ground of moral concern?

Answer 8

A doctor has a duty of care to patient regardless of the philosophical state.

Question 9

What is the definition of when a patient is dead?

Answer 9

Irreversible cardio-pulmonary death.

Question 10

What is the difference between biological and biographical death?

Answer 10

Biological is brain stem death where the person can no longer sustain body functions e.g. respiration
Biographical death is when PVS occurs and there is death of the upper brain.

Question 11

Which type of patients are eligible for organ donation?

Answer 11

Patients with brainstem death so biological death.

Question 12

How is PVS diagnosed?

Answer 12

 Exclude all other causes of persistent coma
 Observe the following lack of clinical signs for 6‐12
months:
 No awareness of self or environment
 No response to visual, auditory, tactile or noxious
stimulus
 No evidence of language comprehension
 Sleep/wake cycles maintained

Question 13

What is changing the view of what PVS is?

Answer 13

PET brain scans shows up to a quater of PVS patients to actually have functioning upper brains e.g. asked to imagine playing tennis then walking though house