Utilitarian Bioethics

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My brother deserves to die. My grandmother should have died sooner than she did. My brother is autistic, cannot speak, and cannot even completely dress himself-he makes no visible contribution to society-therefore he should not be allowed to live. My grandmother had Alzheimer's disease, slipped into a coma after Valentine's Day, and was placed on a feeding tube until she finally passed on two days before my 16th birthday-but she should not have been allowed to waste my family's money and stay in the hospital for weeks. My family should have just let her die and get over with it.

Well, that is what I would think if I were a utilitarian bioethicist. This breed of bioethicists believes in "ethical distribution" of medical resources. They believe that medical resources are limited and certain standards should be created to determine who should receive treatment and who should not. Utilitarian bioethicists do not consider human life to be sacred; they argue that "some human lives are have greater moral and social value than others and that the authority to set these comparative values belongs rightfully to their elite group. They also believe in denying medical care to the elderly if their illness would impact the quality of their lives, even if patients believed their lives were still worth living or in fact enjoyable." (Koontz 354)

Utilitarian bioethicists also believe that if a person is sick, either physically or mentally, and if their life is being a "burden" to their family members, then they have a duty to die and release the family. A burden can be defined as "emotional, extensive care giving, destruction of life's plans, and/or financial hardship." (Smith 153)

Many doctors today are willing to violate the Hippocratic Oath that all doctors are supposed to adhere to because they are in agreement with the utilitarian bioethicists. I must be in the minority because I refuse to "jump on the bandwagon" of that inhumane type of bioethics. I believe that this kind of ethics is dangerous, dehumanizing, and very unethical. Nobody has the right to decide whose life is more important than others or whose life contributes more to society. Many people with disabilities are able to function very well and greatly contribute to society. There are many famous athletes, actors, and even politicians who have disabilities and yet play an important role in the world.

There is an understated, subversive theme in the utilitarian bioethicists way of thinking: our love for each other as humans should be conditional.

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