Preview

Whitaker Family Ethical Case Study

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
262 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Whitaker Family Ethical Case Study
There has been a large ethical debate over the conception of children solely for the purpose of saving the life of a sibling. The Whitaker family publicly announced that they were conceiving another child for the sole purpose of saving their preexisting son, Charlie. The Whitaker family selected a specific embryo so that they knew that once the baby was born he would be a definite match for tissue donation. The family has received support from the public, but there has also been many cases of opposition. Kantian ethics can be used both to support and oppose this case. One of the main parts of Kant’s theory is that one should never be used as a means to an end. Even though the end would present good results for Charlie, the sick

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    To solve this problem, Jerry could use the Three-step Ethics model by asking himself the question: Is it legal? (Fremgen, 2009). This would be a quick and easy way to make the ethical decision. The quick answer for Jerry would be, no is it not legal for him to call in the prescription for Valium.…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    1) "Though no one had told Henrietta that TeLinde was collecting samples or asked if she wanted to be a donor – Wharton picked up a sharp knife and shaved two dime-sized pieces of tissue from Henrietta’s cervix" (pg. 33). Lacks's cells have been an immense help to the medical world, but even with that, it was not justifiable to remove her cells without her knowing. It was wrong for Dr. Lawrence Wharton, Jr. to remove the tissue from Lack because she was not given informed consent about the removal of her cells; therefore, preventing her from making an autonomous decision. According to Kant, it is vital to treat people as means rather than ends (powerpoint slide 2). It may be argued that it was justifiable to remove a sample of tissue from Lacks because they have played a key role in many medical breakthroughs;…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of Mice and Men Essay

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Of Mice and Men brings up the sensitive and controversial humanitarian idea of whether or not it is ethical to take the life of someone who is pained by living. Twice in the novel a life is taken because the other characters come to the conclusion that their life is not worth living any more and the deceased would be better off without having to face their troubles for another day. This is a topic relevant to charity…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    save lives. Why would you risk taking one life of an embryo then implanting it into another life…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In this analytical paper I’ll be analyzing a scenario about a five year old girl who is in renal failure and is in need of a kidney transplant. In this the father is the only one compatible with her, but he does not want to donate his kidney to save her life. The scenario will be analyzed through the deontological/Kantian and the consequentialist/utilitarian viewpoints in ethical decision making. It’ll also be analyzed by deciding which perspective would be relevant and a discussion of what I as a doctor would do following the ethical view point of my choice.…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Immanuel Kant would never condone Scott’s behavior to use Bailey in the way he did. He would have called Scott’s actions immoral and unethical. Kant’s theory indicated that, “we should never use people” and “everyone, no matter who they are, should be both the legislator and the follower of moral laws” (Ciulla 95). He similarly stated, “For all rational beings stand under the law that each of them should treat himself and all others never merely as a means but always at the same time as an end in himself” (Ciulla 107). Kant would feel that it was Scott’s duty to make decisions without using another person as simply a means to an end, and that people should be treated as ends in themselves. By Scott attempting to make Bailey do these unethical…

    • 197 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Title of Assignment: Term Paper – “Integrating Values – The Legality, Morality, and Social Responsibility of Paying College Athletes”…

    • 8737 Words
    • 35 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Your CLC group will interview four different people about the ethical dilemma selected for Part 1 of this assignment.…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cohen-Almagor argues that a person who would like to die due to unendurable pain should be able to do so if it is in the best interests of the individual. He then moves on to cite Immanuel Kant’s teaching that all people deserve respect and that may be reached by allowing them to seek their interests if they do not undermine the interests of others. Another means to maintain the respect of the patient is to consider his or her quality of…

    • 1912 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Utilitarianists, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, said, “The right action is the one that, on balance, promotes the most happiness, or the greatest amount of pleasure over pain” (Steinbock p.9), and “Man desires as much happiness and as little suffering as possible, and nothing else is worth desiring” (Fenigsen p.244). I can’t say that I always agree with utilitarianism, but in this case of PAS I convinced that doctors have to satisfy the small amount of terminally ill patients what is very popular in this ethical theory. This way of thinking might be criticized by Kantianism which advocates promoting the happiness not only for few people. Some cases from countries and a few states in USA, where PAS is legal, show that it might happen that satisfying some people doctors could abuse others, but it’s not too much occasions, because the number of people who ask for help is still so small, and the affairs of abuse are rare. For example, the statistic in 2010 in Oregon shows that 96 Oregonians asked their doctors to prescribe a deadly barbiturate which they could ingest causing their own death; 65 of them went ahead and did so. This mode of dying accounts for just 0.2% of death in Oregon (Brennan p. 18). Also the request of PAS was from really terminally ill patients. In the Netherlands and Belgium the large majority of the patient suffered from…

    • 2039 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Kant, 2008 making a false promise is something that could never will to be universal law. Promising a patient that conceding to the life –saving medications will prolong life with little pain is not adhering to the code of medical ethics and moral reasoning. However, the patients’ right to die as they wish should be the top priority. The choice should be to only endure severe pain if that is the decision of…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Stakeholder, pleasure v. pain, numerical model of Utilitarianism - Utilitarian analysis as per required model (See required Utilitarian model below)…

    • 9503 Words
    • 39 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the past thirty years, humans are witnessing a huge revolution in the genetic engineering industry. Having identified most of the Human Genome, gene sequencing has become programmed and extremely fast, and laboratory techniques in molecular biology allow for in-vitro fertilization and transfer of genetic material. Gene therapy and repair based on stem cells research allows for replacement of a defected allele in the DNA, and even a whole damaged tissue in the patient. In general, it is accurate to say that genetic engineering is a controversial topic about which people tend to have strong opinions. The genetic engineering issues that mainly catch the attention of the moral community involve the pre-birth improvement of human fetuses. The ability to screen for detectable diseases is already available in the laboratories. Fertility clinics are also currently able to satisfy the need of a couple for conceiving a male or female child, following the parents’ request, but this is routine compared to the potential of genetic engineering, whose avant-garde aim is the selection of specific traits such as hair color, height and even intelligence. It is this selection that is the most fascinating upshot of advances in genetic engineering, but also the most difficult genetic issue facing the moral society.…

    • 1595 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The surrogate motherhood controversy has been an ongoing battle for many years with two different sides giving their viewpoints. This has created much of a battle over recent years. Surrogate motherhood controversy has stirred up many critics and authors viewpoints to justify whether surrogacy should be practiced at all and if it should be legalized. While interpreting and analyzing the debate on whether surrogacy has ethical or moral values, or if it has turned the creation of a child into a new form of commodity to individuals, especially the women who bear the child for childless couples.…

    • 3706 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cafs

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Surrogate motherhood raises difficult ethical, philosophical and social issues. There is debate in the community as to the wisdom of surrogacy arrangements. There is scope for disagreement as to the morality of aspects of such reviews the arrangements. This Chapter reviews the arguments for and against surrogacy, including the moral bases for making judgements about surrogacy. In raising these issues the Commission is seeking guidance on community attitudes to assist in formulating principles on can he made.…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays