Medical ethics Flashcards
(8 cards)
Rep uses of embryos
An embryo is a multicellular organism at the earliest stages of a human life.
IVF – An egg is removed from the womans ovaries and fertilised with sperm in a lab. Once the egg is fertalised it is then returned to the womb as it develops. Some guidelines on if you can use ivf including that you must be under 43.
Moral issues -
Leftover embryos – the issue that if we consider the embryo a life then we must be careful with how we are discarding the leftover embryos.
Playing God – having children is a natural process so if you cant then accept it. If not you are playing God. Others argue that god has given his intelligence to make IVF possible so it could be used.
Cost – The cost is really expensive but this money can be used to help with other medical procedures. Others believe that the family right overides cost.
Therapuetic
Saviour siblings – The process of IVF happens followed by the genetic testing of an embryos HLA genes approx 3 days after fertalisation. Matching embryos are placed into the mother and from birth the saviour sibling will be a donor. A sibling has a ¼ chance of the same HLA genes to an unwell sibling.
In Norfolk Uk, in 2010, there was the first successful saviour sibling. The Mathews went through the process of IVF for a saviour sibling for their daughter Megan who had an inherited condition Faconi anemia which causes bone marrow failure. When the saviour sibling Max was born they took the umbilical cord blood to give to Megan and since then Megan only needs regualar checkups and has had no other Bone Marrow Transplants.
ESC – Repair damaged or diseased organs. These are obtained from early stage embryos (about 1wk). These cells can develop into any type of cell.
Moral issues – Supply of human eggs is when eggs are increased in a woman by medicine. The worry is that its unnatural and the surgery to remove the eggs is harmful and risky.
Embryos as a commodity is when eggs are sold to illegal fertility companies on the black market. Vulnerable people might be doing this for money.
A means to an end is the worry of discarding embryos.
Slippery slope is that when will cloning of embryos go to far?
Research
ESC – These are obtained from early stage embryos (about 1wk). These cells can develop into any type of cell. These are used in research to advance knowledge with the aim of better understanding diseases and medicines which will benefit people in the future.
Disease Modelling is when embryos are created typically in a laboratory setting. They are created with genetic mutations which go with diseases ect. These are then used to find different medicines or cures.
Moral issues – Supply when eggs are increased in a woman by medicine. The worry is that its unnatural and the surgery to remove the eggs is harmful and risky.
Embryos as a commodity is when eggs are sold to illegal fertility companies on the black market. Vulnerable people might be doing this for money.
A means to an end is the worry of discarding embryos.
Slippery slope is that when will cloning of embryos go to far?
Consent
Informed consent- To donate you must inform the government of your decision by joining an organ donation register. If not organs cant be taken.
Presumed consent – unless you tell the government you don’t want to donate then its presumed you do.
Medical integrity- Concerns the relationships between the patient and the doctor. Doctors take a hippocratic oath and promise to uphold certain moral standards and do no harm to patients.
Vulnerable in society- don’t understand
Giving- generousity
Supply- The issue of not enough organs and needing to increase supply.
BHD
Brain stem death- brain cant recover but the body can be kept alive. Blood and organs still function and this is done with help from machines. These organs are desirable as thought to be in better conditions.
Non beating donors –circulatory death – heart stops beating and organs begin to shut down limited amount of time left to harvest organs.
Dead donor rule- is BSD actually death or is it harvesting organs. Is removing the organ causing death or just quickening a gradual process that would happen anyway.
Personhood – Whether a BSD patient is considered a person or not determines if BHD is morally acceptable. If they are considered a dying person then harvesting their organs treats them as already dead.
Respect – To the patients family must also be considered. BHD often simply look like they are sleeping as the ventilator is keeping them breathing.
Living D
still alive.
The most common organ donated by living donors is a kidney.
About 1/3rd of all kidney transplants in the uk are from living donors.
Over 1000 people across the uk donate a kidney each year.
Directed donation- to someone they know
Paired donation – if directed donation isnt a match then they can use paired which is a sharing scheme that enables kidney’s to be exchanged with other pairs in s similar situation.
Directed Altruistic – when a donor offers a donation to a specific person they don’t know. Seen on news
Non-directed Alturistic – Complete stranger
Coercion- Being forced to donate
Risk- Surgery – harm to help others
Organs as a commodity- product not person
Assisted dying
Assisted dying is a form of euthanasia and refers to cases where the person who is going to die needs help to die and asks for someone to help them.
Assisted suicide- wants to die.
Compassion – Whats the best thing to do for the individual allow them to die or prevent them from doing so. Untreatable suffering
Dignity-Having to rely on the help of other people to do what many consider straightforward everyday tasks such as eating, washing and using the toilet by yourself might be unimaginable, for many this loss of dignity is a key factor in wanting to legalise assisted dying.
Burden-
Autonomy - decisions
End of life care
End of life care includes palliative care. If you have an illness that cannot be cured, palliative care makes you as comfortable as possible, by managing your pain and other distressing symptoms. It also involves psychological, social and spiritual support for you and your family or carers. This is called a holistic approach, because it deals with you as a “whole” person, not just your illness or symptoms.
Main locations of palliative care- hospice, hospital, care homes and home.
Cost- One of the main issues raised by end of life care, specifically palliative care is the cost. All types of palliative care are expensive
Virtue-Most people agree that caring for someone at the end of their life is a virtuous act. Some people would argue that forcing palliative care on people that don’t want it shows a lack of compassion
Health and wellbeing - palliative care without the opinion of assisted dying is simply drawing out an inevitable death which is very detrimental to a patients mental health and wellbeing.
