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Results for “Wedge Argument”

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At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Approaches to ethical decision making in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Despite the "Baby Doe" regulations, there is no consensus on principles for deciding the fate of severely handicapped neonates. This essay analyzes four alternate positions--value of life, parental authority, best interests, and personhood--and suggests for consideration a fifth, ie, proximate personhood. The latter position, building on the strengths of the first four, argues that a handicapped newborn must possess a reasonable potential for minimal personal capacities to have a unique claim to life. Projected minimal capacities include personal self-awareness and net physiological benefit. If newborns are not expected to develop such capacities, parents should be free to choose the option of nontreatment.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗
PubMed1992

Pediatric euthanasia.

Pediatric euthanasia is currently practiced in the Netherlands on newborns, infants, children, and adolescents, although exact numbers are not known. Euthanasia in the Netherlands is generally assumed to be active and voluntary, but some cases of pediatric euthanasia would have to be characterized as nonvoluntary. Much of the motivation behind the euthanasia movement and the performance of pediatric euthanasia in the Netherlands is a genuine, compassionate desire to alleviate pain and suffering. In this study, we review the Dutch experience, with particular attention to the current practice of euthanasia on newborns, infants, children, and adolescents. We discuss pediatric euthanasia from an ethical point of view. We assert that more effective pain control, better symptom management, and psychosocial support of the dying and their families would alleviate the perception of suffering, and reduce the perceived need to resort to euthanasia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Deciding life and death in the courtroom. From Quinlan to Cruzan, Glucksberg, and Vacco--a brief history and analysis of constitutional protection of the 'right to die'.

This article analyzes judicial determinations on the "right to die" from Quinlan to Cruzan, Glucksberg, and Vacco. The body of law known as right-to-die cases extends ordinary treatment refusal doctrine to end-of-life decisions. The courts, having affirmed a right to refuse life-sustaining treatment, held that certain categorical distinctions that had been drawn lacked a rational basis. No rational distinction could be made between competent vs incompetent patients, withholding vs withdrawing treatment, and ordinary vs extraordinary treatment. The courts, however, had persistently affirmed one categorical distinction: between withdrawing life-sustaining treament on the one hand and active euthanasia or physician-assisted dying on the other. In Washington v Glucksberg and Vacco v Quill, the Supreme Court unanimously held that physician-assisted suicide is not a fundamental liberty interest protected by the Constitution. Notably, five members of the Court wrote or joined in concurring opinions that took a more liberal view. The Court powerfully approved aggressive palliation of pain. The Supreme Court, hinting that it would find state legalization of physician-assisted suicide constitutional, invited the nation to pursue an earnest debate on physician assistance in the dying process.

Double Effect Principle↗
PubMed2006

How the Pernkopf controversy facilitated a historical and ethical analysis of the anatomical sciences in Austria and Germany: a recommendation for the continued use of the Pernkopf atlas.

Eduard Pernkopf's Topographical Anatomy of Man has been a widely used standard work of anatomy for over sixty years. International inquiries about the National Socialist (NS) political background of Eduard Pernkopf and the use of bodies of NS victims for the atlas were first directed at the University of Vienna in 1996. A public discussion about the further use of the book followed and led to the creation of the Senatorial Project of the University of Vienna in 1997. This historical research project confirmed the strong NS affiliation of Pernkopf and revealed the delivery of at least 1,377 bodies of executed persons to the Anatomical Institute of Vienna during the NS time. The possible use of these bodies as models cannot be excluded for up to half of the approximately 800 plates in the atlas. In addition tissue specimens from NS victims were found and removed from the collections of the Viennese Medical School and received a burial in a grave of honor. The Pernkopf controversy facilitated the historical and ethical analysis of the anatomical sciences in Austria and Germany during the NS regime. The continued use of the Pernkopf atlas is not only justifiable but desirable as a tool in the teaching of anatomy, history, and ethics.

Anatomy↗
PubMed2002

The ethics of germ line gene manipulation--a five dimensional debate.

Contributors to the debate surrounding the ethics of germ line gene manipulation have by and large concentrated their efforts on discussions of the potential risks that are associated with the use of this technology. Many international advisory committees have ruled out the acceptability of germ line gene manipulation at least for the time being. The purpose of this work is to generate much needed discussion on the many other ethical issues concerning the implementation of not only germ line gene manipulation but also other related biotechnologies. In this paper I systematically investigate and analyse the most salient issues put forward by proponents and opponents alike. I argue that if germ line manipulation proves to be a safe and effective procedure, then the principle of beneficence imposes on the medical profession a moral duty to pursue the technology.

Anemia, Sickle Cell↗
PubMed2005

Human cloning and 'posthuman' society.

Since early 1997, when the creation of Dolly the sheep by somatic cell nuclear transfer was announced in Nature, numerous government reports, essays, articles and books have considered the ethical problems and policy issues surrounding human reproductive cloning. In this article, I consider what response a modern liberal society should give to the prospect of human cloning, if it became safe and practical. Some opponents of human cloning have argued that permitting it would place us on a slippery slope to a repugnant future society, comparable to that portrayed in Aldous Huxley's novel, Brave New World. I conclude that, leaving aside concerns about safety, none of the psychological or social considerations discussed in this article provides an adequate policy justification for invoking the state's coercive powers to prevent human cloning.

Cloning, Organism↗
PubMed2005

Design constraints for the post-human future.

A variety of objections to human germ-line genetic engineering have been raised, such as the claim that we ought not to place individuals at significant risk without their consent. It has also been argued that it is paternalistically objectionable to confer significant benefits on individuals without their consent. As well as imposing risk of harm to non-consenting parties, there is the risk of harm to others. This paper evaluates these and related objections to germ-line genetic engineering. While a complete prohibition on human germ-line genetic engineering is rejected it is argued that acceptable germ-line engineering (a) should at least expand and enrich rather than restrict and constrain the choices for individuals affected, and (b) should not seek to change basic human dispositions and values ('human nature').

Ethical Analysis↗