PHIL 235 BIOMEDICAL ETHICS LATEST EXAM
TEST PAPER QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔- Her position assumes a fetus is a person. But even if so does that mean abortion is
not allowed anyway?
- Does a right to life outweigh a right to bodily integrity?
Example: If a violinists needs your kidney to survive meaning your in the hospital why
cant you just leave and f him
- Even with the right to life acknowledged the right to ones body is not overridden
- Right to life- at best a negative right (right not to be killed)
- Not a positive right to my body
- TOTAL OPINION: Even with right to life acknowledged, she concludes that does not
entail abortion is not an option. She allows that at times it can be unjust and sometimes
indecent but the right to life is a negative right and does not trump the right to your own
body. - ✔✔A defense of abortion - Judith Jarvais Thomson
✔✔She wrote an article about how virtue ethics can be related to abortion. She defends
virtue ethics from the claim that they don't provide action-guiding principles. She states
they provide numerous principles and an important distinction that solving ethical
dilemmas is not as simple as applying a straight forward principle or simple calculation.
- Virtue Ethics would not attempt to say that abortion either is or is not immoral
,- She says the question isn't "would a virtuous person have an abortion, but is THIS
abortion in these circumstances and with her decision-making partners a virtuous,
vicious or neutral action".
- in a society where young, single mothers struggle for opportunities, it may not be
"vicious" but rather "neutral" if a young woman decides she is not ready to be a mother.
- ✔✔Virtue Ethics Related to Abortion - Rosalind Hurtshouse
✔✔-People assume feminist and liberal would both give the right to choose
-They reach the same conclusion but for different reasons.
1. Liberals focus on justice, feminists on care
2. Liberals focus on rights, Feminists on broader social question.
- Feminists consider the pregnant woman as the principal concern but other arguments
she is treated as invisible.
- Feminist feels that the safety of woman is important because women even seek
unsafe and illegal abortions
- Feminist reason believe that every abortion is taken seriously and not frivolously
- Abortion is necessary to escape social and economic oppression
- The nature of the decision must belong to the woman because shes the only one who
can come to a reliable conclusion and all pregnancies cant be avoided due to sexual
power structure.
"Fetuses develop in specific pregnancies which occur In the lives of particular women
not generic female wombs, nor are t - ✔✔Abortion through feminist ethics - Susan
Sherwin
✔✔Slippery slope: enforcing treatment in cases of dangerous pregnant behavior opens
the door to other enforced treatments which leads to less patient autonomy and
undermines trust in health care system for fear of being forced into things. -
✔✔argument against forced treatment on alcoholic moms
✔✔either (a) (according to the biological humanity perspective) an individual with either
human dna or specific physiological characteristics, such as a human brain or
cardiovascular system; or (b) (according to the psychological humanity perspective) an
individual with psychological existence, specifically the ability to know that it exists and
has interests. - ✔✔human being
✔✔a condition in which an individual's higher-order brain function is absent due to
trauma or lack of oxygen, resulting in an irreversible coma or "brain death." -
✔✔persistent vegetative state
✔✔The intentional killing, either through act or omission, for the good or supposed good
of the patient - ✔✔Euthanasia
✔✔A killing enacted by the patient by means provided from the physician such as a
prescription for a lethal dose - ✔✔physician assisted suicide
, ✔✔Arguments in favor of assisted suicide is based on autonomy
Arguments against are a slippery slope: what if someone doesn't want to die but feels
like a burden to family, what if they push euthanasia because they don't have enough
resources.
- Arguments against fail to see protective measures, such as consultation etc. -
✔✔Arguments for and against assisted suicide
✔✔- Futility is when we withdraw treatment that is no longer effective
- Patients may decide but doctors offer the suggestions
- Is the HCP best to predict what's futile?
3 Types of futility
1. Physiological futility: no reasonable chance it will achieve medical goal
2. Patient goal related futility: procedure has no chance of meeting patients goal.
3. Professional standards of futility: the line between patient and physician. If there's
less than 1 % and a patient says go for it the physician may need to appeal to standards
or tell them to f off
- futility is not an "objective" term; it is defined in relation to a goal - ✔✔"Medical Futility:
A conceptual and Ethical Analysis" - Mark. R. Wicclair (3 types of futility)
✔✔Terminal sedation: when physician administers a high dose of pain medication to
treat patients suffering knowing it may cause death.
Doctrine of double effect: certain actions have two effects and the secondary effect was
not the intention.
- He says that the doctrine cannot justify euthanasia
- Actions have more than one effects... the actor can intend one outcome, but accept
the side effects as regrettable but necessary...
- The double effect requires that the accepted side effects are not wanted and are not
the primary intention - ✔✔"Medical Ethics and Double Effect: The Case of Terminal
Sedation" - Joseph M. Boyle
✔✔- Through the principle of autonomy, many assume that individuals should be able to
choose the manner and timing of death.
-If we are approaching this as a right, we will all die so why talk about rights If its
inevitable
- HE says that a right to die is problematic because it means they you have a claim on
other people to deliver what you want. It means you have a negative right to suicide and
a positive right for someone to kill you but we all die anyway - ✔✔Is there a right to die?
- LEON KASS
✔✔-Medicine is great but now we survive so long we become ill and cant take care of
ourselves
-Technological imperitive: if we have technology we should use it
-But hardwig says just because we can keep people alive doesn't mean we should. If
we were not related to other people we would have no duty to die but since we are
TEST PAPER QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔- Her position assumes a fetus is a person. But even if so does that mean abortion is
not allowed anyway?
- Does a right to life outweigh a right to bodily integrity?
Example: If a violinists needs your kidney to survive meaning your in the hospital why
cant you just leave and f him
- Even with the right to life acknowledged the right to ones body is not overridden
- Right to life- at best a negative right (right not to be killed)
- Not a positive right to my body
- TOTAL OPINION: Even with right to life acknowledged, she concludes that does not
entail abortion is not an option. She allows that at times it can be unjust and sometimes
indecent but the right to life is a negative right and does not trump the right to your own
body. - ✔✔A defense of abortion - Judith Jarvais Thomson
✔✔She wrote an article about how virtue ethics can be related to abortion. She defends
virtue ethics from the claim that they don't provide action-guiding principles. She states
they provide numerous principles and an important distinction that solving ethical
dilemmas is not as simple as applying a straight forward principle or simple calculation.
- Virtue Ethics would not attempt to say that abortion either is or is not immoral
,- She says the question isn't "would a virtuous person have an abortion, but is THIS
abortion in these circumstances and with her decision-making partners a virtuous,
vicious or neutral action".
- in a society where young, single mothers struggle for opportunities, it may not be
"vicious" but rather "neutral" if a young woman decides she is not ready to be a mother.
- ✔✔Virtue Ethics Related to Abortion - Rosalind Hurtshouse
✔✔-People assume feminist and liberal would both give the right to choose
-They reach the same conclusion but for different reasons.
1. Liberals focus on justice, feminists on care
2. Liberals focus on rights, Feminists on broader social question.
- Feminists consider the pregnant woman as the principal concern but other arguments
she is treated as invisible.
- Feminist feels that the safety of woman is important because women even seek
unsafe and illegal abortions
- Feminist reason believe that every abortion is taken seriously and not frivolously
- Abortion is necessary to escape social and economic oppression
- The nature of the decision must belong to the woman because shes the only one who
can come to a reliable conclusion and all pregnancies cant be avoided due to sexual
power structure.
"Fetuses develop in specific pregnancies which occur In the lives of particular women
not generic female wombs, nor are t - ✔✔Abortion through feminist ethics - Susan
Sherwin
✔✔Slippery slope: enforcing treatment in cases of dangerous pregnant behavior opens
the door to other enforced treatments which leads to less patient autonomy and
undermines trust in health care system for fear of being forced into things. -
✔✔argument against forced treatment on alcoholic moms
✔✔either (a) (according to the biological humanity perspective) an individual with either
human dna or specific physiological characteristics, such as a human brain or
cardiovascular system; or (b) (according to the psychological humanity perspective) an
individual with psychological existence, specifically the ability to know that it exists and
has interests. - ✔✔human being
✔✔a condition in which an individual's higher-order brain function is absent due to
trauma or lack of oxygen, resulting in an irreversible coma or "brain death." -
✔✔persistent vegetative state
✔✔The intentional killing, either through act or omission, for the good or supposed good
of the patient - ✔✔Euthanasia
✔✔A killing enacted by the patient by means provided from the physician such as a
prescription for a lethal dose - ✔✔physician assisted suicide
, ✔✔Arguments in favor of assisted suicide is based on autonomy
Arguments against are a slippery slope: what if someone doesn't want to die but feels
like a burden to family, what if they push euthanasia because they don't have enough
resources.
- Arguments against fail to see protective measures, such as consultation etc. -
✔✔Arguments for and against assisted suicide
✔✔- Futility is when we withdraw treatment that is no longer effective
- Patients may decide but doctors offer the suggestions
- Is the HCP best to predict what's futile?
3 Types of futility
1. Physiological futility: no reasonable chance it will achieve medical goal
2. Patient goal related futility: procedure has no chance of meeting patients goal.
3. Professional standards of futility: the line between patient and physician. If there's
less than 1 % and a patient says go for it the physician may need to appeal to standards
or tell them to f off
- futility is not an "objective" term; it is defined in relation to a goal - ✔✔"Medical Futility:
A conceptual and Ethical Analysis" - Mark. R. Wicclair (3 types of futility)
✔✔Terminal sedation: when physician administers a high dose of pain medication to
treat patients suffering knowing it may cause death.
Doctrine of double effect: certain actions have two effects and the secondary effect was
not the intention.
- He says that the doctrine cannot justify euthanasia
- Actions have more than one effects... the actor can intend one outcome, but accept
the side effects as regrettable but necessary...
- The double effect requires that the accepted side effects are not wanted and are not
the primary intention - ✔✔"Medical Ethics and Double Effect: The Case of Terminal
Sedation" - Joseph M. Boyle
✔✔- Through the principle of autonomy, many assume that individuals should be able to
choose the manner and timing of death.
-If we are approaching this as a right, we will all die so why talk about rights If its
inevitable
- HE says that a right to die is problematic because it means they you have a claim on
other people to deliver what you want. It means you have a negative right to suicide and
a positive right for someone to kill you but we all die anyway - ✔✔Is there a right to die?
- LEON KASS
✔✔-Medicine is great but now we survive so long we become ill and cant take care of
ourselves
-Technological imperitive: if we have technology we should use it
-But hardwig says just because we can keep people alive doesn't mean we should. If
we were not related to other people we would have no duty to die but since we are
