MEDICAL ETHICS

Question 1

PERSONHOOD

Answer 1

• ‘HUMAN BEING’ = member of the species Homo sapiens, but when we refer to a ‘person’ we are referring = someone with particular characteristics such as : PERSONALITY, SELF-AWARENESS, ABILITY TO USE LANGUAGE, NETWORK OF BELIEFS, CONSCIOUSNESS OF ITS OWN EXPERIENCES, RATIONALITY..etc
• Joseph Fletcher e.g = IDENTIFIED THE INDICATORS OF PERSONHOOD = self-awareness, self-control, sense of the future, sense of the past & capacity to relate to others, concern for others, communication and curiosity.
• Personhood = central to many medical ethical debates bc in our society = generally considered morally wrong to kill a PERSON but not wrong to kill a NON-PERSON.
• Seems sensible to argue that a dead body = ‘EX PERSON’. But what about someone with brainstem death who has NO possibility of regaining consciousness, or a person with SEVERE dementia?
• Personality we knew is NO LONGER present; diminished persons.
• Likewise: foetus = no more than a potential person, we may thus feel that ABORTION = allowable.

Peter Singer: “The Notion that human life is SACRED is just because it is human life is MEDIEVAL”

Question 2

S.O.L vs Q.O.L

Answer 2

• Modern liberal societies increasingly focus on QOL over the traditional, religious SANCTITY OF LIFE ARGUMENT.
• Singer = rejects SOL arguments as absolutist and dependent on an OUTDATED christian view of ethics. While the SANCTITY OF LIFE argument states that human life = SACRED, making any form of killing wrong.
• QUALITY OF LIFE ARGUMENTS seek to show that, in certain circumstances, it is BETTER to end a life.
• Singer rejects the idea that humans are a “SPECIAL” form of life. In PRACTICAL ETHICS, he defines the idea of sanctity to be no more than a way of saying that “human life has some special value, distinct from the value of other living things”
• BOTH ARGUMENTS = facing problems in the light of medical advances. PEOPLE can NOW live longer and overcome disabilities and illnesses that would have previously caused DEATH. BUT DO WE WANT TO PRESERVE THAT LIFE?

Question 3

JONATHAN GLOVER BIOETHICS

Answer 3

In (CAUSING DEATH AND SAVING LIVES)

• Glover argues that a universal moral system is IMPOSSIBLE to achieve.
• While most of us AGREE that torture and killing are wrong and the sanctity of life argument is STILL widely upheld, we make exceptions when it comes to turning off life-support machines, or the abortion of disabled foetuses.
• GLOVER argues that a pro-life defence in the case of abortion and euthanasia is UNTENABLE.
• Modern science can keep alive HUMAN beings who would NORMALLY have just died, but in some instances their QOL = POOR and their suffering = UNJUSTIFIABLE.
• GLOVER accepts that broad legislation on euthanasia = DIFFICULT. Not all cases are the same. He stresses the IMPORTANCE of frank discussions between DOCTORS, PATIENTS and CAREFUL ASSESSMENTS of each case.

Question 4

BEGINNING OF LIFE - STATUS OF THE EMBRYO

Answer 4

• HUMAN EMBRYO DEVELOPS IN STAGES:
  1) Conception to 14 days –> PRE-EMBRYO
  2) 14 weeks to 8 weeks –> EMBRYO
  3) 8 weeks onwards –> FOETUS

we know when biological life begins –> FERTILISATION and the unique mixing of 2 sets of DNA –> BUT AT WHAT STAGE DOES THE EMBRYO/FOETUS BECOME A REAL PERSON WITH RIGHTS? CONCEPTION, IMPLANTATION, when brain activity begins, when the foetus becomes viable or at moment of birth?

To know how to act –> need more definite idea of when life begins. Need to consider RELIGIOUS AND SOCIOBIOLOGICAL FACTORS TOO e.g:

• DUALISM = argument that a person is made up of a body and soul/mind, which is SEPARATE. Religious believers maintain the soul is implanted by God and for many, ensoulment takes place from conception.
• RELATIONAL aspect of personhood = human being becomes a person when accepted as such by others. PERSONHOOD = social convention