Group items tagged

My conception of ethically permissible behavior is based on the view that any decision is ethically permitted if it is voluntary and does not cause gratuitous harm to others. This is congruent with the early ethical stricture in medicine, Primum non nocere, "First, do no harm." However, our perception of harm must be qualified. A living being can be harmed without being harmed in a moral sense. I harm a mosquito when I swat it, but I do not harm it in a moral sense unless I assign a moral absolute value to the mosquito's well-being. To be harmed in a moral sense is to be wronged. Thus, my concern is with behavior that does or does not wrong another.

This article discusses the ethics behind banking the blood from a baby's umbilical cord and using the stem cells to treat sick people. It informs us that the blood from one cord is only enough to treat one patient and that, as the demand for cord blood increases, the ethics behind the storage and usage of cord blood may become compromised.

This article discusses the ethics of stem cell research and the effectiveness of "Induced pluripotent stem cells"-reprogramming of adult human cells-vs. the use of embryonic stem cells. The article also discusses the ethics of destroying human embryos. 

Although this paper was written back in 1996, I find its vision uncanny. To note that this paper was not written in the United States nor Europe or Canada, but in South Africa. J.J. Britz brings together the concept of privacy as it relates to ethics, confidentiality, socio-economical effects, and autonomy. Well written and researched.

Paper written by a research assistant at the Makkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. Posted just under two months after 9/11. This issue discussed is what freedoms and how much should be surrendered for safety. Past issue of freedoms being taken in times of wars and other emergency situation. Thought provoking and maybe even a little eye opening.

Parents used an embryo selection process to have a healthy baby that would potentially be a donor match to cure its siblings of a genetic disease. In most cases like this, the children that were created as a "savior sibling" become part of the family, but what happens to those that serve their purpose and aren't needed after that? Embryos that don't meet the donor criteria are discarded. So what happens to the children that donate and cure their siblings, can they be discarded as well (put up for adoption)?

On March 5, 2002, Kirk Hanson, executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, was interviewed about Enron by Atsushi Nakayama, a reporter for the Japanese newspaper Nikkei.

Dr. Chopra writes this article for the AMA's Journal of Ethics as a practicing CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) Practitioner. Dr. Chopra relates errors in the research in Allopathic Medicine as well as the declining effect of medicine. He relates to Holistic and Allopathic Medicine as a divorces couple who are beginning to reconcile and to establish a new the relationship.

Non-religious view on the morality of prostitution and why it should not be allowed.  The argument is made by Scott A. Anderson and the article is written by Austin Cline.  Good overview of Anderson's argument

It was announced by a team of scientists at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, Scotland, that for the first time an adult mammal has been successfully cloned by anyone. The procedure is simple enough that it would be easy for a human being now to be cloned.

This article asks the question, "How much privacy is too much?". Some privacy must be protected while on the internet, but too much privacy would be catastrophic too.

This youtube video interview is basically questioning the ethical decision to allow girls to take gardasil vaccine, and who will be held responsible and liable for problems associated with the vaccine.

If privacy is your concern, this is the paper for you. James Moor, Dartmouth College, introduces the reader to the fact that neither in the Declaration of Independence, nor the Constitution is the issue of Privacy discussed or mentioned. He goes on to examine various levels of privacy and what constitutes those privacy. He ties it all together by factoring technology into the fray. Well written. Although it is nearly 12 years old, very appropriate to today's discussion.

This article talks about whether or not terminally ill, suffering people should have the right to choose to end their own life in a painless manner, like we do with animals, or even how we use it with the death penalty in some states. It talks about it as a Global issue. It gives you the history on the issue. It gives you the whole ethical debate on the issue.

The issue of whether or not patients have a right to die is explored, as well as whether or not those who help such people should be considered murderers. It gives anecdotes about family members who could not bear to see their loved ones suffer, and offers opinions on both sides of the issue.

Another good article about the morality and legality of assised suicide. Who are weto decided a person can be helped to die and be forced to live on constant pain?

Another good article about the morality and legality of assised suicide. Who are weto decided a person can be helped to die and be forced to live on constant pain?

This website discusses the issue of physician-assisted suicide. It explores the ethics of such an act, as well as the proliferation of such requests. It offers the opinion that doctors must respect the patient's wishes not to endure life-prolonging treatments that do little to help the patient's quality of life. However, it does not advocate nor denigrate assisted suicide.

The author describes the process of organ harvesting in detail. Also embraces a few of the ethical questions surrounding the donation process.

Uses for stem cell research, guidelines set by the government, learn about ethical issues on the subject, and what stem cell research promises.

This article talks about physician assisted death. Discusses whether or not it is ethical.

The videos that surfaced of Planned Parenthood officials speaking of the collection of fetal tissue is unsettling, however this practice is not illegal. While I am not sure how ethical Planned Parenthood's practices are in collecting the tissue, I know that the researching of the tissue could provide many cures that humans are in desperate need of.