Bioethics questions?

[CruciFixed]

So I'm told to answer these bioethics questions in my class and some are very vague. I'm working with a liberal/atheist teacher as I've stated in the past. I don't know how to answer some of these questions with my own opinion because I need more...

Like this question
Defective newborns should be allowed to die if the parents decide this is best.
Assisted suicide is an acceptable option.
I have to say yes or no and why.

Here's where the problem lies:
What does he mean by defective?
What does the teacher mean by "allow"

For the assisted suicide question
Does the teacher mean:
For someone who is severely depressed and could otherwise seek a shrink?
Does he mean someone who is in excruciating pain and has not found a cure? What does he mean?


Okay so here's the point to this thread:
How would you answer these questions? I get confused easily and vagueness makes it harder for me.

 

[Cris413]

So I'm told to answer these bioethics questions in my class and some are very vague. I'm working with a liberal/atheist teacher as I've stated in the past. I don't know how to answer some of these questions with my own opinion because I need more...

Like this question
Defective newborns should be allowed to die if the parents decide this is best.
Assisted suicide is an acceptable option.
I have to say yes or no and why.

Here's where the problem lies:
What does he mean by defective?
What does the teacher mean by "allow"

For the assisted suicide question
Does the teacher mean:
For someone who is severely depressed and could otherwise seek a shrink?
Does he mean someone who is in excruciating pain and has not found a cure? What does he mean?


Okay so here's the point to this thread:
How would you answer these questions? I get confused easily and vagueness makes it harder for me.

Defective newborns should be allowed to die if the parents decide this is best.

That is certainly a subjective question as it does not say whether or not the newborn is being kept alive by artificial means....or whether or not measures to maintain life or life saving procedures are being withheld.

To deny medical treatment simply because a newborn is "defective" is wrong...plain and simple...to choose against permanent artificial life support is another question entirely.

Assisted suicide is an acceptable option.

IMHO...No...it's not acceptable.

 

[CruciFixed]

Thanks for your insight. I don't know what the dude wants me to say "Liberals rule!!" Maybe I'll get an A++ if I say I agree with all the immoral stuff in that lesson.
I'd rather fail than agree with stuff like one question had something to do with being allowed to choose the sex of your child and if you don't like it offing it or something?

 

[green wolverine]

In the case of a 'defective' infant, if the child was going to die anyway, I would probably allow it. What I'm thinking of are cases where a person of any age has something terribly wrong with them and wouldn't live apart from the application of heroic livesaving measures such as being put on life-support and the like. If it was 50 years ago, would the person survive??

A child with Down's Syndrome isn't at the point of death when he's born so while your profession might consider him 'defective,' I would exclude him from the question. Same with a child born with a cleft pallet or without a hand. Those are deformities and don't impact the child's ability to survive.

In the case of assisted suicide, Washington state just passed such a law last fall. In discussing the issue with my hubby, I was shocked that he was voting for it. His reasoning is that he's with the fire department and sees lots of cancer patients on aid calls who are suffering and thinks it's okay for them to be given a lethal combination of meds to end their suffering. While I understand where he's coming from, I see life as God's to take or give.

In the case of mental illness, just by the very nature of it, a mentally ill person isn't of sound mind when they're in the throughs of the illness and can't make a rational decision about their life. In such cases, while the urge to kill yourself is very strong, what the person really wants is for the pain to end. There again, to assist someone in killing themselves because they're depressed is wrong IMO.

When I was trying to find out what was wrong with me a few years ago, my neurologist mentioned how fibromyalgia patients [turns out that's what I have] often commit suicide after their diagnosis as fibro is a chronic pain disorder among other things. He mentioned Jack Kevorkian and his suicide machine.

Chronic pain disorders and people who've been in terrible accidents are a real moral dilemma as the medical profession is cracking down on the use of pain meds. Still, I'm not in favor of helping someone kill themselves.

 

[Cris413]

Thanks for your insight. I don't know what the dude wants me to say "Liberals rule!!" Maybe I'll get an A++ if I say I agree with all the immoral stuff in that lesson.
I'd rather fail than agree with stuff like one question had something to do with being allowed to choose the sex of your child and if you don't like it offing it or something?

Stick to your convictions B... It doesn't matter what the instructor wants you to say...the questions are asking..."what do you think?"

Yes...you'll probably get a lot less flack and perhaps a better grade if you go with the flow of what they are trying to instruct you to think...

...praise God....it's not the approval of the world...or any class instructor....that we seek....

 

[CruciFixed]

Amen to that.

 

[CruciFixed]

-

 

[CruciFixed]

Ha! He gave me a 93.

 

[Tenebrae]

Well done

 

[CruciFixed]

-

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

congrats on your 93 Brikkz!

 

[CruciFixed]

Yeah I don't get how this stuff is Earth Science. I was hoping to relearn the animal kingdom and Earth stuff like that. I didn't know all this other stuff mattered. They talk about cloning animals and stuff.

 

[Albion]

By now, I'm more than curious to have you tell us exactly how you answered the questions. Did you, as you were thinking, outline the vagueness of some of the words used in the questions and point out how different answers would be reasonable depending upon just what is meant by the words used?

I found that my liberal profs tended to respect, if grudgingly, a well-thought out answer that took account of different POVs, just so long as I didn't give a cut and dried answer, without explanation, that went against his own ideas.

 

[CruciFixed]

I actually got a 93 for accidentally skipping some of the questions. I told him the questions were very vague and he accepted my opinion.

All of the opinion questions I answered I got correct. The fact based ones I missed like 2 that dropped my score but he let me retake the test so I'll see Friday what I got.

 

[JustAsIam77]

Brikzz,

Are you working toward being an RN or soon to be one? I'm not clear where you are with your progress/education.

Regardless, congrats on your recent superb grade.

 

[CruciFixed]

Thanks for that.

I'm not in college yet. I just talk about being an RN because of the fact that is what I want to study when I go to a university which is hopefully soon.

I'm in an adult program that helps those of us who are a little too old to go to normal high schools get a diploma. I started when I was 19 I'll be hopefully walking the stage in June....with enough hard work
The program is also to allow those students who've struggled in regular high school environments turn their lives around and earn their diploma.

 

[MrJim]

Thanks for that.

I'm not in college yet. I just talk about being an RN because of the fact that is what I want to study when I go to a university which is hopefully soon.

I'm in an adult program that helps those of us who are a little too old to go to normal high schools get a diploma. I started when I was 19 I'll be hopefully walking the stage in June....with enough hard work
The program is also to allow those students who've struggled in regular high school environments turn their lives around and earn their diploma.

 

[CruciFixed]

I'm still glad I'm not you