BioEthics

869 Words2 Pages

As technology advances and medical procedures and research expand, new treatments and new conflicts are created. A problem that has always plagued medical science is failing organs. As of today, organ failure is impossible to reverse and the only solution is replacement. There is a massive demand for healthy organs and with this demand comes the issue of bioethics. The issue of bioethics has become so prevalent it has also arisen in popular culture. The best example of this being the movie Repo! The Genetic Opera¸ which takes place in the future, years after an epidemic of organ failure wreaked havoc on the population of man. During this time a “savior” arose in the form of Rotti Largo who developed the Bio-Tech Company GeneCo. GeneCo provides organ transplants and surgeries for a fee. This exchange worked fine in the beginning but organ transplants and surgeries suddenly became all the rage for cosmetic reasons rather than health reasons and that’s when greed kicked in. When a patient could not pay for his or her surgeries or organs a repo man from GeneCo would come and repossess the organs, which would then be sold again to someone else. This film is wracked with issues regarding bioethics. GeneCo is arguable an immoral company despite the fact that it provides the means to help people. That good will is easily cancelled out by the brutal repossessions led by the repo men and the ridiculous sums of money Rotti Largo requires for procedures. This relates remarkably to current events and future prospects. Currently bioethics in the realm of organ donation has become a hot topic. In the United States organs cannot be legally be sold or bought (Hanto), thus opening up a large black market for organs, and also making it difficult f... ... middle of paper ... ...ant to live forever. They have expiration dates, and when one messes with said expirations dates only short term benefits will occur. In the long term problems will become very prominent. Whatever happened to the concept of natural selection? Natural selection weeds out the weak and also the weak traits associated with them. It keeps the gene pool strong, and the recipients thriving. Organ donation and the creation of new healthy organs are good things as long as used properly, but when used in a way to search for immortality or in a way that promotes greed, it causes more harm than good. Works Cited Hanto, Douglas W. “Ethical Challenges Posed by the Solicitation of Deceased and Living Organ Donors.” The New England Journal of Medicine. 8 Mar. 2007: 1062. eLibrary. Web. 25 Jan. 2010. Repo! The Genetic Opera. Dir. Darren Lynn Bousman. 2008. Lionsgate, 2009. DVD.

Show More
Related

  • Transplant Tourism Case Study

    1789 Words  | 4 Pages

    First of all, we can assess issues concerning the donor. For example, is it ever ethically acceptable to weaken one person’s body to benefit another? It has to be said that the practiced procedures are not conducted in the safest of ways, which can lead to complications for both donors and recipients (Delmonico 1416). There are also questions concerning of informed consent: involved donors are not always properly informed about the procedure and are certainly not always competent to the point of fully grasping the situation (Greenberg 240). Moral dilemmas arise for the organ recipient as well. For instance, how is it morally justifiable to seek and purchase organs in foreign countries? Is it morally acceptable to put oneself in a dangerous situation in order to receive a new organ? Some serious safety issues are neglected in such transactions since the procedures sometimes take place in unregulated clinics (Shimazono 959). There is also the concept of right to health involved in this case (Loriggio). Does someone’s right to health have more value than someone else’s? Does having more money than someone else put your rights above theirs? All of these questions have critical consequences when put into the context of transplant tourism and the foreign organ trade. The answers to these questions are all taken into account when answering if it is morally justifiable to purchase

    Read More

  • Anthony Gregory Analysis

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    Yearly, thousands die from not receiving the organs needed to help save their lives; Anthony Gregory raises the question to why organ sales are deemed illegal in his piece “Why legalizing organ sales would help to save lives, end violence”, which was published in The Atlantic in November of 2011. Anthony Gregory has written hundreds of articles for magazines and newspapers, amongst the hundreds of articles is his piece on the selling of organs. Gregory states “Donors of blood, semen, and eggs, and volunteers for medical trials, are often compensated. Why not apply the same principle to organs? (p 451, para 2)”. The preceding quote allows and proposes readers to ponder on the thought of there being an organ

    Read More

  • Death's Waiting List by Sally Satel

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    In her article, Satel criticizes the current methods governing organ sharing in the United States, and suggests that the government should encourage organ donation, whether it was by providing financial incentives or other compensatory means to the public. Furthermore, the author briefly suggests that the European “presumed consent” system for organ donation might remedy this shortage of organs if implicated in the States.

    Read More

  • A Bioethical Decision

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nathaniel Wu, a talented and dedicated microbiologist, should be hired for the Intercontinental Pharmaceutical Company (ICP) under certain conditions. Wu, who was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, was seen as the ideal candidate for the employment position the IPC was offering until this inconvenience was unveiled. To offer Wu employment unconditionally is extremely risky for the medical costs and equipment damages he can bring to the company can be devastating; to deny Wu employment entirely is a violation of bioethics and discrimination, for he was already offered the job position conditionally before taking medical tests. By offering Wu employment under certain conditions, Wu can be part of the IPC and have him employment terminated as soon as his condition begins interfering with his work quality.

    Read More

  • Death's Waiting List

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    The argument for organ donor system reform is compelling and strong. Satel supports her thoughts with facts and opinions from prominent authorities. As well as the argument is documented, there are a few weaknesses. While attempting to support her thoughts that having the body “for sale” would be socially acceptable, the author uses a source that could be seen as detrimental to her own argument. Stated in the text, “a recent poll by researchers in Pennsylvania found that 59 percent of respondents favored the general idea of incentives, with 53 percent ...

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Organ Transplantation

    1198 Words  | 3 Pages

    I am very interested in the topic of Organ transplantation. I am interested in biology and the process of surgeries. What intrigues me is the process of saving someone’s life in such a dramatic and complicated process. My dad happens to be a doctor and in his training he cut open a human body to see for himself the autonomy of the body. So being interested in the field of medicine is in my blood. Modern technology helps many people and saves people around the globe. However even with modern technologies that progress mankind, bio medical and ethical dilemmas emerge. And ultimately life falls into the hands of the rabbis, lawmakers and philosophical thinkers.

    Read More

  • Legalization of human organs sales in America

    1481 Words  | 3 Pages

    Have you ever had the experience of a long wait that seems like it was going to take forever? Or how about when you went to the amusement park that you have been so anxiously waiting for, finally to got inline just to peer over your shoulder to see that dreaded 3 hour waiting sign? Well hundreds of thousands of men,women and children feel that same pressure each and every day just in a greater sense of urgency than waiting in that line at the amusement park. Organ failure is an ever growing problem in America around about 20 people die each day from this leading to thousands of deaths each year, with the number of donors dwindling each year.

    Read More

  • Distributive Justice and Organ Transplants

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history physicians have faced numerous ethical dilemmas and as medical knowledge and technology have increased so has the number of these dilemmas. Organ transplants are a subject that many individuals do not think about until they or a family member face the possibility of requiring one. Within clinical ethics the subject of organ transplants and the extent to which an individual should go to obtain one remains highly contentious. Should individuals be allowed to advertise or pay for organs? Society today allows those who can afford to pay for services the ability to obtain whatever they need or want while those who cannot afford to pay do without. By allowing individuals to shop for organs the medical profession’s ethical belief in equal medical care for every individual regardless of their ability to pay for the service is severely violated (Caplan, 2004).

    Read More

  • Organ Sale

    1015 Words  | 3 Pages

    The National Organ Transplant act was enacted in 1984 as a free market for organs began to arise in America. Congress was concerned about the injustice that could arise from impoverished donors being pressured into selling their organs (Ci...

    Read More

  • Organ Sales Will Save By Joanna Mackay

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death is an unavoidable factor in life. We are all expected to die, but for some of the people the end does not have to come too soon. Joanna MacKay in her article Organ Sales Will Save discuss how the legalization of the organs sale, possesses the capability of saving thousands of lives. MacKay in her thesis stipulates that the government should not ban the human organs sale rather they should regulate it (MacKay, 2004). The thesis statement has been supported by various assertions with the major one being that it shall save lives. The author argues that with the legalized sale of organs, more people would be eager to donate their kidneys.

    Read More

  • The History of Organ Donation and Transplantation

    995 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nadiminti, H. (2005) Organ Transplantation: A dream of the past, a reality of the present, an ethical Challenge for the future. Retrieved February 12, 2014 from http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2005/09/fred1-0509.html

    Read More

  • Bioethics

    1906 Words  | 4 Pages

    The case of Dr. Lowell and Mrs. Jackson revolves around a conflict between the doctor, who advocates the implementation of a particular treatment and the patient who disagrees with the doctor and wishes to do things her own way. The doctor feels that the suggested course of action is disastrous and threatens to have the patient declared mentally incompetent. The question now is whether or not the doctor is morally justified in taking action against the patient in order to implement the course of treatment she feels would be most effective. Is this an infringement on the autonomy of the patient or is the doctor morally obliged to do everything that he/she can possible do in order to restore the patient’s health even if that includes to go so far as to take this decision out of the hands of the patient?

    Read More

  • Financial Compensation for Organ Donation

    1323 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the United States, there are over one hundred thousand people on the waiting list to receive a life-saving organ donation, yet only one out of four will ever receive that precious gift (Statistics & Facts, n.d.). The demand for organ donation has consistently exceeded supply, and the gap between the number of recipients on the waiting list and the number of donors has increased by 110% in the last ten years (O'Reilly, 2009). As a result, some propose radical new ideas to meet these demands, including the selling of human organs. Financial compensation for organs, which is illegal in the United States, is considered repugnant to many. The solution to this ethical dilemma isn’t found in a wallet; there are other alternatives available to increase the number of donated organs which would be morally and ethically acceptable.

    Read More

  • Organ Donation Shortage

    2036 Words  | 5 Pages

    In conclusion, although there are some valid reasons to support the creation of an organ market based on the principles of beneficence and autonomy, there are also many overriding reasons against the market. Allowing the existence of organ markets would theoretically increase the number of organ transplants by living donors, but the negative results that these organ markets will have on society are too grave. Thus, the usage of justice and nonmaleficence as guiding ethical principles precisely restricts the creation of the organ market as an ethical system.

    Read More

  • Bioethics Essay

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bioethics is a reflection of controversial moral choices or decisions pertaining to medical and healthcare fields. There have always been ethical standards in healthcare handed down within each profession. Although ethical decisions of the past were followed without question, bioethics today is constantly debated among those in the medical field, the general public, and those in governmental positions. Technological advances within the last century have opened the door to discussion about the ethics surrounding the last medical and technological advances. The decisions are influenced by culture, religion, philosophy, and personal preference. Bioethical decisions are always open for questioning. It is even possible for issues to be ethical during one decade and upon review, deemed unethical several years later. It is the job of the medical community and the public to question these issues, debate them, and accept or reject them. Although there have been hundreds of people who have influenced bioethics through their technological advances, Sir Robert Edwards’ invitro- fertilization techniques have changed the way many women today can become a mother.

    Read More

More about BioEthics

Open Document