Benchmark Assignment: Ethical Dilemmas

Benchmark Assignment: Ethical Dilemmas

Ethical dilemmas are part of everyday life; they require a decision to be made. A decision that leaves us asking ourselves, what is right verses wrong? There is no correct answer to this question. There is an old saying, “Give me the strength to do something about what I can do something about and to accept what I can’t do something about and the wisdom to know the difference (A. Alda, Bionic Body). This paper will compare the views of a Christian verses Atheist on the choice to persevere through a spinal cord injury rather than the face ethical dilemma of euthanasia.

Ethical Dilemma

Joni was a young girl when she injured her spine. Her and her friends had gone to Chesapeake Bay to go swimming when she misjudged the depth of the water where she dove in. She was only 17 years old, her life had changed in that moment forever. Joni had fractured her vertebrae that left her paralyzed from the shoulders down and was now considered a

Atheist believe there is no eternal life, there is nothing after death. However, an Atheist would agree with the Christian view that Joni should not be granted Euthanasia in her current situation. She is not terminally ill and there is possibility for improved life. An Atheist builds their views predominantly from science based fact. If Joni were an Atheist, she would seek medical science to improve her life. Medical science continues to make great improvements for the lives of those with spinal cord injuries. John McDonald from the Spinal Cord Injury Program at Washington University speaks of a successful experiment using embryotic stem cells to become nervous tissue, and are treated to turn into neuron cells. Those cells are then placed in the damaged spinal cord of a rat. After the experiment, the rat regains normal function of his legs that were once paralyzed (J. McDonald, Bionic