Sunday, December 2, 2012
Cambridge University: Research
See & read about research at Cambridge related to Biomedical Ethics:
Grave Robbing & Increased Scientific Knowledge of Anatomy
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/the-body-snatchers-corpse-and-effect/
(relates also to our visit to the Museum of London & the Doctors, Dissections & Resurrection Men exhibit)
Genetics, Assisted Reproduction, Personal Identity
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/who-do-you-think-you-are/
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I haven't heard about the body snatchers before, but I found it intriguing. I do not think that it was right to make it legal for any person who died without family or friends to claim them would automatically be used for research. On the positive side, this prevented the grave digging and body snatching, but the people should have had to say that they were in agreement. However, this took place in the early 1800's. It was crazy to hear that since different medical students dissected and examined different parts at the different times, the parts from the same body weren't always available to be buried again together. They just made the coffins feel heavy like a body was in there, even though it could have been full of only legs. It is important that these medical students were able to use real bodies because they gained a better understanding of the anatomy of the human and how the body worked. In the second article, I think that any person who was conceived by a donor should be able to get information about the identity of the donor when they turn 18. I think that parents should tell their children that they were conceived by a donor although I'm sure some do withhold this information. I would definitely lose trust in my parents if I was not told this until I was a teenager. As in the case of Jiten, kids have different experiences as they are raised depending on their parents. If the child finds out that their father is a donor and the man in their life is not their biological father, then he or she may choose to live his or her life differently.
ReplyDeleteEthically I don't think that it's right to use the corpse of anyone, even for the advancement of the medical field, without the explicit consent of the individual prior to death. As a result of body snatching and use of unclaimed corpses, much been accomplished in the field of medicine in the last 200 years. But at what cost? Medicine, perhaps over all other fields, should emphasize and strive to preserve the dignity and rights of the individual, living or deceased. This practice of depriving one individual of their rights for the advancement of medical science tarnishes the ethical basis of the resultant knowledge. About the second article, I think that it is a duty of the parent and right of the child, in the circumstance of conception by donor tissue, to be informed of their biological parent. Although withholding such information may prevent feeling of deception and mistrust, the child may gain new insight into his/her background, and may find comfort in this knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI found the article on the body snatchers very interesting, although I do not believe it is moral or ethical to remove corpses without the family or deceased consent, the findings are very interesting. The fact that a lot of our knowledge of anatomy and how organs work come from these findings proves how useful these snatching and experiments are. The fact that medical students would perform procedures on these corpses probably also led to many successful surgeries on the living proves that although ethically it was wrong, it probably saved lives. In the second article, they discussed assisted reproduction using donor sperm and whether or not parents should tell their children that they are from donors. I believe strongly that these parents should in fact tell their children at the earliest age of proper understanding that they are from donors. It is the child's right to know and to have the chance to find their donor parent. In the end, the parents who do not tell their children, are risking their child finding out through them, or possibly through medical discovery. It is wrong to deny anyone the knowledge of who they really are and where they came from.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of using corpses to further medical education is a difficult one because it is very easy to step over ethical boundaries. The use of the bodies has helped with the education of medical students in a tremendous way; however, it is not right to use these bodies without consent. Every person should have the right to rest in peace, and unless they agreed before their passing to be used for educational purposes, this right should be acknowledged. This occurred many years ago and there have been many improvements to obtaining bodies for medical purposes since then. Even today, the person and their family should have the ultimate decision about what happens to their body after they have passed.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to telling a child that they were conceived via a donor, I think it depends on the individual family's situation. I don't think there is a universal right or wrong approach to this issue. Sure it may save the child from feeling like they have been lied to, but if you tell them the truth they may not be able to look at their "father" the way they have always looked at him, which can be seriously damaging to a relationship. I think the parent has the right whether or not to inform their child, but they have to understand the there may be risks either way.
I think that it is a great idea to use bodies for research instead of putting them into the grave where they lay and decay. However, I do think that you must have the persons consent before death or the families consent after death. Using the dead bodies for medical students is a great way for them to better their knowledge of the human body. It has a much greater effect than using an animal. I think it is great to donate your body to science when you die.
ReplyDeleteThe second article made me think when would be the right time to tell your child that he/she was conceived by donor sperm. The situation is similar to adoption. The parent may wonder how the child will react, positively or negatively. But I think it is important as Evan said to let the child know who they really came from and what their background really is. I still do not know when the right age to tell a child this is. When are they prepared enough emotionally to know this?
Body Snatchers
ReplyDeleteUsing a human body for experimentation has great opportunities to affect the living in a positive way, since it creates great advances in the medical field and reveals information about the human body that otherwise could not be known. It has little opportunity to affect the living in a negative way, but possibly could diminish the sense of security of the living if they are afraid of having their corpse experimented on. There are also certain cases such as the murderers who sold their victims to research, but these are uncommon. I would like to take Kant’s point of view on this subject, that morality is based on respect for humanity and reason, both of which a dead body does not possess. When this type of experimentation started, there was no formal system to obtain the consent of the living to use their body for research when they die. Now that these systems have been put into place, the morality of post-mortem experimentation isn’t such a concern. However, I do think the consent of the individual should be obtained when possible, in order to decrease the fear of “body snatching” in the people who are still living.
“Who do you think you are?”
The author of this article presents a valid reason that lying to a child about his biological origin is immoral. According to Appleby, sharing this situation with your children early removes the chance that they will find out by accident. There is more of a risk that the child will feel deceived when he/she discovers this information accidentally or in their teenage years. I think the best thing to do in the case of donor-conceived birth is to tell the children who their biological father is as soon as they have the capacity to understand what a father is. This way, the child can grow up already being used to the idea of their real father, and it won’t be a major life change. However, I don’t think the child needs to know exactly how they were conceived until much later in their childhood.
I also believe that the parent has a duty to tell the child who his/her father is because it is the child’s right to know. If I were in the situation of the child, I would certainly want to know who my biological father is. There is a certain personal connection that a child has with his/her father, and this connection is broken when a child doesn’t know who the actual father is.
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