Medical Ethics QuestionsBy: Morgan Venz

What are these Questions?• There are many questions

surrounding medical ethics some include– Does a child have the right to

refuse treatment– Should surrogate mothers be

paid– Should people be allowed to

sell their organs– Should physicians be

allowed to help be commit suicide

– Should their be a cap on mal practice pay outs

Why• No easy answer•People can’t agree for various reasons including

•Different backgrounds•Different values or morals

•Arguments over some of these very questions has been ongoing for years

Seeing Both Sides?• If everyone saw both sides

of any of these issues their would be no issue

• Because then they would have an educated opinion

• They would also be able to see where other people are coming from

• Making it easier to come to an agreement

Con’s to organ selling• It is against the law• People may become

blinded by money and not understand the risk

• It has potential for abuse• Cheapens life• In some cases such as egg

donation the risks have not been fully evaluated

• Do it because out of the kindness of your heart

Benefits of organ selling• The law has already created

a black market• Urgent growing need is not

being met with current system

• Donor is giving and has to pay with non-tangible thing

• My body my property• I should benefit along with the

recipient• People can already donate

blood for money• People make decisions for

money all the time

Regulations • If organ selling were to

become legal. There would have to restrictions to protect form abuse some of them would include– Tight restrictions on who can

donate – A contract between the buyer

and the receiver– Risks would have to be

disclosed– The lab would have to run

tests

Surrogate mothers should not be paid• Basically organ selling• It make pregnancy a

dirty task• Only the wealthy can

afford it• It is not a dependable

source of money• Military wife's abuse

the insurance known as tricare when they become a surrogate

Surrogate mothers should be paid• Most surrogates could really

use the money• Surrogates a lot of the time

are alone during and after the process

• Surrogates suffer very real pain

• It lets them make money doing something they enjoy

• They have to let someone else into their life's

• They go through the emotions

• They feel they deserve their insurance

There should not be caps on mal practice pay outs

• Mal practice is the #1 cause of accidental injuries and deaths

• Caps make victims pay instead of the harm doers

• Caps create a problem in proportion of payments and injuries

• Just places more costs on the victim

• System is already corrupt in that victims continue to be compensated for less and less

The benefit to the general public of caps on mal practice payouts

• Physicians are scared of being sued– Making them hyper-

cautious providing unnecessary care

– This in turn raises healthcare prices

– Mal practice caps would be one solution to this problem and drive down health care costs

Assisted suicide is wrong• Changes the role of a

doctor from a healer to an executioner

• Makes the right to die a duty

• Goes against the idea that every life counts

• Not researched very well

Other options• There are other

options such as hospice care

• Which focuses on comfort not a cure

• The goal of this care is to maximize the quality of life of a person

• But still it is not always enough

Last resort options• Some last resort options

include– Intensive pain and

system management– The right to forego life

sustaining therapy– Voluntarily stopping

eating or drinking– Sedation to

unconsciousness• Some of these are

considered ethically correct others are not

Options are good• Assisted suicide and

all of these other options give the patient choices

• Talk to them• Support them

regardless if you agree

No, a ahild should not have a say in their health care

• A child can’t weigh what the consequences of his choices

• Adults learn with experience and a child hasn’t lived long enough to have that

• It exposes a child to harm over something they can’t understand

• It show’s we don’t place a high value on a child's life

Yes, a child should have a say in their health care

• The right to refuse treatment is fundamental regardless of age

• Practitioners have a responsibility directly to the child

• A child should have an opportunity to make important decisions

• It can to harm to the child emotionally harming their dignity and self image

It is their Illness• They are the only true

expert on what ails them• They know the limits of

their body– Samantha

• They have to live with the pain– 11 year old boy– Hannah Jones

Bibliography• Unknown. "A Child Can't Weigh Life and Death." Globe and Mail

(Toronto, Canada) 13 May 2008: A.20. SIRS Researcher. Web. 24 November 2009.

• Susan Pigg. "Respect Grows for Sick Kids' Wishes." Toronto Star (Toronto, Canada) 11 Dec 2008: L.1. SIRS Researcher. Web. 24 November 2009.

• Lazar, Kay. "Doctors' Fear of Lawsuits Tied to Added Costs of $1.4b." Boston Globe (Boston, MA) 18 Nov 2008: A1+. SIRS Researcher. Web. 28 December 2009.

• Michael J. Saks. "Capping Malpractice Damage Awards Is the Cruelest Idea in Decades." KRT News Service Aug. 14 2003: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 28 December 2009.

• Quill, Timothy E. "Physician-Assisted Death in the United States: Are the Existing..." Hastings Center Report Vol. 38, No. 5 Sep/Oct 2008: 17. SIRS Researcher. Web. 05 January 2010.

Bibliography Cont.• Campbell, Colleen Carroll. "When the Right to Die Becomes a

Duty." St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO) 28 May 2009: A17. SIRS Researcher. Web. 05 January 2010.

• Gary Jason. "The Market for Body Parts." Liberty Vol. 21, No. 10 Oct. 2007: 33-36. SIRS Researcher. Web. 05 January 2010. 

• Roni Caryn Rabin. "As Demand for Donor Eggs Soars, High Prices Stir Ethical Concerns." New York Times (New York, NY) 15 May 2007: D6. SIRS Researcher. Web. 05 January 2010.

• Hennessy-Fiske, Molly. "A Dream Transferred." Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) 11 Mar 2009: A.1. SIRS Researcher. Web. 05 January 2010.  

• Henry Chu. "Wombs for Rent, Cheap." Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) 19 Apr 2006: A1+. SIRS Researcher. Web. 05 January 2010.

Picture Bibliography• www.flickr.com/• jp.inmagine.com/• www.selftrading.co.uk/• www.cyber... inois.com• http://www.echonews.com• archive.constantcontact.com • www.modernmom.com • /i.ehow.com • www.albany.com • www.burlisonlaw.com • /franciscanservices.org• www.blisstree.com• www.deathreference.com• i273.photobucket.com• /www.imagedj.com• /images.inmagine.com• /www.homeforlife.org