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| How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being. - Oscar Wilde |
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| Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein |
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| Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge. - Mark Twain |
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| I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him. - Mark Twain |
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| Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence. - Albert Einstein |
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| Wednesday, January 25, 2006 |
| Ethics Brain Dump |
This is in no way intended to answer questions & may in fact raise far more - I am merely dumping stuff that has been roaming around my skull.
I have been pondering the pro's & con's of medical advances over the past couple of hundred years, and the existence of medical ethics. I don't understand ethics & in a medical sense find the complexities enough to cause a brain scrambling and/or bleed.
To help you understand my dilemma here is an illustration:
If it were not for the medical discovery/development of corticosteroids, my mother would not have lived to adulthood - meaning I would not have been born (I would consider this a tragedy - I don't expect everyone to agree). Anyway she did, met & married my dad & had me. Then she had my brother, who without modern medicine would not have lived to see his 2nd birthday. This was followed with another brother.
When I was 9 my father was in a serious car accident - his life saved by a seat belt & modern medicine.
Fast Forward 6 years and my youngest brother suffers an aquired brain injury - again without modern medicine he would not be with us.
Fast Forward 7 years and the other brother suffers an aquired brain injury - again without modern medicine he would not be with us.
Now my dilemma is my mother & father are both functioning, contributing members of society. Neither of my brothers are, in fact both could be considered to be an incredible drain. Is there anyway we could have known that at the point medicine was saving their lives? No.
I learnt a lot about myself, my coping abilities, my mental, emotional and physical strengths and weaknesses through these experiences. I know I would not be the person I am today without them. But I would have preferred not to suffer them.
A friend of mine has a severely disabled child. Again they have learnt alot about themselves in going through the processes of raising and living with a child that will never be a contribuing member of society. I know that they would not give him away now for any money, but if given the choice they would prefer that he had not been disabled, and been able to participate more in their lives; they could have had more children, had different experiences. Their life as they know it would never have existed. They would certainly not be the people and parents they are now. Whether that is a good or bad thing is an unasked question.
Science has traditionally taken advantage of the weak, injured, malformed and diseased in the pursuit of learning, maintenance and cure of illness and disease. I find it inexplicable that medical ethicists object to stem cell research, even when only using those found in umbilical cords, when the pronounced benefits are so great. [more info here...]
There seems to be two opinions forever at war - science (for the betterment of humankind) and religion (for the maintenance of human souls)
I don't pretend to have the answers, and would extremely sceptical of anyone who claims to have them all either. I ponder the decisions of who decides who lives and dies and quite frankly while I feel reasonably confident making decisions about some inDUHviduals, I don't need the responsibility. Perhaps I can take some consolation in the 'trouser legs of time' theory, whereby anything that can happen does happen in different dimensions.
I'm not going to solve this, but at least I have cleared space in my brain for something new :-)
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posted by Blue @ 9:17 pm  |
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| 4 Comments: |
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Hmmmm, very shaky ground...As you stated, there are too many variables and exceptions to be able to take a definitive postion on it.
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Another nurse posting here. I agree with graffitti artist. We hang on far too long.
Take the case of Terri Schiavo, for example. Her parents IMHO had some real issues going on. When they published pictures of her for the world to see in the condition she was in..........how could you do that to someone you loved? Someone who cared so much about their appearance........or even someone who didn't.
We've made tremendous medical advancements yes, but how do you know when to stop? Most of the time, in my experience, its not so much the individual who is wanting to go on living with their condition . . . its the members of their family who just can't let go
And how do you know at the beginning of something what the outcome will be? You can't possibly know, so you try to save someone and sometimes you're successful and sometimes you're not. When you're not, have mercy on the person and let them go on. Don't keep them alive artificially, locked into a body, a living hell. Ask yourself if you would want to live that way and you'll know.
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Many years ago I also nursed the disabled at Stockton. As a young woman it was quite an experience, so when I finally was having my own children the memories of these people were in the forefront of my brain. Fortunately I had three healthy children, but if it had not been for medical intervention my first born (or/and I) would not have survived. Your arguments for stem cell research are, to me, only sensible. Having been at the last moments of both my Parents death I now have a firm belief in Euthanasia ( at the other end of the scale).
I shall keep your blog bookmarked for further interesting mind-clearing comments.
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Hmmmm, very shaky ground...As you stated, there are too many variables and exceptions to be able to take a definitive postion on it.