Argumentative Essay On Bioethics
In health care there is constantly a drive for attaining a level of quality care. The advancements in technology have also helped in providing that quality of care, but some of these technologies and scientific advances have caused some bioethical issues for health care professionals today. The three common issues in bioethics are beginning of life, sustaining life and improving quality of life and death and dying. We will explore one area in each cycle to understand
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some current issues and challenges in bioethics. In the beginning of life cycle one of the major issues that are surrounding this is the issue of abortion which refers to the termination of a pregnancy before the viability of the fetus. This only becomes a concern when issue of abortion is an elective decision or therapeutic reasons, but not from an abortion that is from natural causes. When a woman miscarriage this is something as accepted as it was meant to be, and we understand there is a possible risk on the pregnancy and potential outcome of the childbirth. This issue also crosses over to prenatal ethics as well. Abortion is a debate of what stage do we consider human life of the fertilized egg. There is one side that believes that life begins at the beginning of conception and it should be preserved and protected. There are also others that feel that life doesn’t begin until birth and the fetus is not considered human. These ideas are based on different group feelings of how they value the beginning cycle of life. More of the religious groups are adamant against abortions and feel that it’s murder to proceed with an abortion. While there are others that feel that abortion can be a necessary procedure when facing a crisis like rape, but this also brings about other views that abortions can be misused as a form of birth control. In the issue of a rape incident this can be seen as one group as one wrong that is done after another wrong. The procedure of an abortion is not going to address the problems in society we have with rapist. For moral idealist the problem in this case is to see what can be done decrease this type of event from happening and in turn would decrease the need for abortions. These ideas are rooted in the values that people have whether they are from religious associations, moral ideals, or from personal liberties. A health care professional aim is to administer a safe delivery of quality care, and sometimes this is shaped by what our legal system had deemed as safe. The Roe .v Wade case in the Supreme Court decided that a beginning trimester of a pregnancy an abortion is allowed and special restrictions for the second trimester. The courts took a deontological perspective to draw the line on the different ideas on how abortion should be interpreted. With this court decision, health care professionals are in a sense can’t exercise any moral judgment based on their opinion of abortion. This can be a challenge for some health care professionals, or even some religious based hospitals. This will leave the health care facilities that perform this procedure open for much opposition by groups that are against abortion. In the next life cycle in sustaining, life organ transplantation is one of the most effective procedures for improving the quality of life. Organ transplanting is when body part is removed with surgery from a person’s body or location to another person. These can also be done from the person’s own body like a skin graph when a person is burned in one area and they take tissue from another part of the body to repair the damaged tissue. Transplants can be done with human tissue and animal tissue and can help or prolong the quality of life for the body part. One of the major problems that health care professionals face is the allocation of available body parts because the demand is so much more than the supply of body parts. The challenge that health care professionals can face is deciding who has a higher priority to receive an organ transplant. The decision on to give priority to a body part to a person who could be dying or a person who is very young can be a very difficulty decision. Looking for the person in need and who is compatibility with the body part is time sensitive and critical process. An organ sharing network called, United Network for Organ Sharing, is funded by the federal government to serve as a clearinghouse to assess patients with the most critical need for the best organ transplant candidate. This takes a lot of the stress out for health care professionals to make that kind of decision. There is another important question to see who is a viable candidate for organ transplant. Is the patient’s healthcare insurance able to cover the procedure as well? This should not be a consideration, but for some hospitals this is a huge concern in determining what level of quality care can be considered like any other procedure that the hospital may perform. Some patients would like the right not to receive a certain level of quality care to prolong life like Euthanasia in the end cycle relating to death and dying. In euthanasia it is the act of causing death painlessly with the intention to end unbearably suffering. There are disagreements to both sides of this argument. Since physicians are trained to prevent harm while delivering care it is hard for most physicians to believe pre-mature death is easier to give a patient. While other physicians feel it will cause more harm to have a patient suffer needlessly where they feel that “continued life can actually cause more harm than death” (Hinkley, 2011). Health care professionals make the decisions from the patient’s request like a DNR (do not resuscitate), or no-code order. In passive euthanasia the health care professional would not do anything to change the course of a patient’s condition. In active euthanasia this is where the process of death is sped up by some use of drug to cause death. This is where an extreme amount of suffering is happening to the patient and is usually in a terminally ill condition or a disease with no cure. The point when the decision to be active or passive in euthanasia should be determined before the patient gets in that state. Family members in the decision process should also know what the wishes are for the patient and the family decision. Health care professionals should know when to administer active or passive euthanasia during the patient’s care. This is done by knowing the patient and their family members who are apart of the process. There is another bioethical issue that has caused some controversy over the years and is tied to one of the life cycles mentioned earlier.
Stem cell research which has caused a big concern because the success of the research is done with embryonic cells. This has also put a bad name for health care facilities that perform abortions because the idea is that they can be accused of harvesting embryos for the use of stem research since embryonic stem cells are commonly used in this type of research. Much political debate has been on the funding of stem cell research. In the beginning there was no federal funding only state funding and research done on private level. Currently, there is state and Federal funding for research and the laws are created not to restrict such funding. Congress has restricted the supply of embryonic stem cells from “embryos stored at in-vitro fertilization clinics; created for the purpose of reproductive treatment; in excess of clinical need; and would otherwise be discarded. The donor must also have written informed consent on file and not be reimbursed for the donation.” (Research America, 2012). Congress has tried to keep the control of harvesting embryonic stem cell from opportunists. There is still much debate about the embryonic stem cells research is still tampering with a human life. The congress rule to take the embryonic stem cells from fertilization clinics from cells that would be discarded anyway is keeping this process as humane as possible. I see this as a person who donates their body to science after they die or a person who signs a donor card for their driver’s
license. References
Boyle, J. (2004). Abortion and Christian Bioethics: The Continuing Ethical Importance of Abortion. Christian Bioethics: Non-Ecumenical Studies In Medical Morality, 10(1), 1-5. doi:10.1080/13803600490489771
Dawson, A. (2010). The future of bioethics: three dogmas and a cup of hemlock. Bioethics, 24(5), 218-225. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Hinkley, A. E. (2011). Introduction: Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Abortion, Euthanasia, and the Plurality of Moralities in Bioethics. Journal Of Medicine & Philosophy, 36(3), 217-220.
Retrieved from online resource, Research America, Voters Favor Expanding for ESC, (2012),Researchhttp://www.researchamerica.org/stemcell_issue?gclid=CPj23uq4t7QCFQuCQgodcyEASg
some current issues and challenges in bioethics. In the beginning of life cycle one of the major issues that are surrounding this is the issue of abortion which refers to the termination of a pregnancy before the viability of the fetus. This only becomes a concern when issue of abortion is an elective decision or therapeutic reasons, but not from an abortion that is from natural causes. When a woman miscarriage this is something as accepted as it was meant to be, and we understand there is a possible risk on the pregnancy and potential outcome of the childbirth. This issue also crosses over to prenatal ethics as well. Abortion is a debate of what stage do we consider human life of the fertilized egg. There is one side that believes that life begins at the beginning of conception and it should be preserved and protected. There are also others that feel that life doesn’t begin until birth and the fetus is not considered human. These ideas are based on different group feelings of how they value the beginning cycle of life. More of the religious groups are adamant against abortions and feel that it’s murder to proceed with an abortion. While there are others that feel that abortion can be a necessary procedure when facing a crisis like rape, but this also brings about other views that abortions can be misused as a form of birth control. In the issue of a rape incident this can be seen as one group as one wrong that is done after another wrong. The procedure of an abortion is not going to address the problems in society we have with rapist. For moral idealist the problem in this case is to see what can be done decrease this type of event from happening and in turn would decrease the need for abortions. These ideas are rooted in the values that people have whether they are from religious associations, moral ideals, or from personal liberties. A health care professional aim is to administer a safe delivery of quality care, and sometimes this is shaped by what our legal system had deemed as safe. The Roe .v Wade case in the Supreme Court decided that a beginning trimester of a pregnancy an abortion is allowed and special restrictions for the second trimester. The courts took a deontological perspective to draw the line on the different ideas on how abortion should be interpreted. With this court decision, health care professionals are in a sense can’t exercise any moral judgment based on their opinion of abortion. This can be a challenge for some health care professionals, or even some religious based hospitals. This will leave the health care facilities that perform this procedure open for much opposition by groups that are against abortion. In the next life cycle in sustaining, life organ transplantation is one of the most effective procedures for improving the quality of life. Organ transplanting is when body part is removed with surgery from a person’s body or location to another person. These can also be done from the person’s own body like a skin graph when a person is burned in one area and they take tissue from another part of the body to repair the damaged tissue. Transplants can be done with human tissue and animal tissue and can help or prolong the quality of life for the body part. One of the major problems that health care professionals face is the allocation of available body parts because the demand is so much more than the supply of body parts. The challenge that health care professionals can face is deciding who has a higher priority to receive an organ transplant. The decision on to give priority to a body part to a person who could be dying or a person who is very young can be a very difficulty decision. Looking for the person in need and who is compatibility with the body part is time sensitive and critical process. An organ sharing network called, United Network for Organ Sharing, is funded by the federal government to serve as a clearinghouse to assess patients with the most critical need for the best organ transplant candidate. This takes a lot of the stress out for health care professionals to make that kind of decision. There is another important question to see who is a viable candidate for organ transplant. Is the patient’s healthcare insurance able to cover the procedure as well? This should not be a consideration, but for some hospitals this is a huge concern in determining what level of quality care can be considered like any other procedure that the hospital may perform. Some patients would like the right not to receive a certain level of quality care to prolong life like Euthanasia in the end cycle relating to death and dying. In euthanasia it is the act of causing death painlessly with the intention to end unbearably suffering. There are disagreements to both sides of this argument. Since physicians are trained to prevent harm while delivering care it is hard for most physicians to believe pre-mature death is easier to give a patient. While other physicians feel it will cause more harm to have a patient suffer needlessly where they feel that “continued life can actually cause more harm than death” (Hinkley, 2011). Health care professionals make the decisions from the patient’s request like a DNR (do not resuscitate), or no-code order. In passive euthanasia the health care professional would not do anything to change the course of a patient’s condition. In active euthanasia this is where the process of death is sped up by some use of drug to cause death. This is where an extreme amount of suffering is happening to the patient and is usually in a terminally ill condition or a disease with no cure. The point when the decision to be active or passive in euthanasia should be determined before the patient gets in that state. Family members in the decision process should also know what the wishes are for the patient and the family decision. Health care professionals should know when to administer active or passive euthanasia during the patient’s care. This is done by knowing the patient and their family members who are apart of the process. There is another bioethical issue that has caused some controversy over the years and is tied to one of the life cycles mentioned earlier.
Stem cell research which has caused a big concern because the success of the research is done with embryonic cells. This has also put a bad name for health care facilities that perform abortions because the idea is that they can be accused of harvesting embryos for the use of stem research since embryonic stem cells are commonly used in this type of research. Much political debate has been on the funding of stem cell research. In the beginning there was no federal funding only state funding and research done on private level. Currently, there is state and Federal funding for research and the laws are created not to restrict such funding. Congress has restricted the supply of embryonic stem cells from “embryos stored at in-vitro fertilization clinics; created for the purpose of reproductive treatment; in excess of clinical need; and would otherwise be discarded. The donor must also have written informed consent on file and not be reimbursed for the donation.” (Research America, 2012). Congress has tried to keep the control of harvesting embryonic stem cell from opportunists. There is still much debate about the embryonic stem cells research is still tampering with a human life. The congress rule to take the embryonic stem cells from fertilization clinics from cells that would be discarded anyway is keeping this process as humane as possible. I see this as a person who donates their body to science after they die or a person who signs a donor card for their driver’s
license. References
Boyle, J. (2004). Abortion and Christian Bioethics: The Continuing Ethical Importance of Abortion. Christian Bioethics: Non-Ecumenical Studies In Medical Morality, 10(1), 1-5. doi:10.1080/13803600490489771
Dawson, A. (2010). The future of bioethics: three dogmas and a cup of hemlock. Bioethics, 24(5), 218-225. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Hinkley, A. E. (2011). Introduction: Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Abortion, Euthanasia, and the Plurality of Moralities in Bioethics. Journal Of Medicine & Philosophy, 36(3), 217-220.
Retrieved from online resource, Research America, Voters Favor Expanding for ESC, (2012),Researchhttp://www.researchamerica.org/stemcell_issue?gclid=CPj23uq4t7QCFQuCQgodcyEASg