Transcript Medical Ethics

• Objective to revise medical ethics.
What did we cover?
Medical Ethics
Questions of morality
that are
raised by medical
situations.
Medical Ethics
Religion and medical ethics
Attitudes to abortion
 Different attitudes towards abortion
 Reasons for different attitudes
Attitudes to fertility
treatment
 Responses to issues raised by fertility
treatment and cloning
Attitudes to euthanasia  Different attitudes towards euthanasia
and suicide
 Different attitudes towards suicide
 Reasons for different attitudes
Using animals in
medical research
 Beliefs about the use of animals in medical
research
Revision note making: use different coloured pens (i.e. Bible teaching,
roman catholic, liberal protestant) create sub titles, use little pictures
and use bullet points.
Ethics 1: MEDICAL ETHICS
examples of question you could
get.
(a) [1 mark]
1.
2.
3.
(b)
1.
2.
What does Abortion mean?
What does euthanasia mean?
What does sanctity of life mean?
[2 marks]
Describe what is meant by ‘cloning’.
Give two reasons which might lead a person to commit suicide.
(c) [3 marks]
1. Give three statements explaining what you understand by
‘euthanasia’.
2. Describe the attitude of some Christians towards sex before
marriage.
3. Describe the attitude of some Christians towards suicide.
Ethics 1: MEDICAL ETHICS
examples of question you could
get.
(d) [6 marks]
1.
2.
3.
4.
Explain Christian views about abortion.
Explain Christian views about fertility treatment.
Explain Christian views about suicide.
Explain the attitude of some Christians to helping a terminally ill person
to die.
e) [12 marks] Discuss this statement. You should include different,
supported points of views and a personal viewpoint. You must refer to
Christianity in your answer.
1. ‘Euthanasia should never be allowed.’
2. ‘Animals can be used in medical research, because humans are more
important than animals.’
3. ‘Only God has the right to take life.’
4. ‘God created all life so only god should take it away’
5. ‘Abortion is always wrong’
Key words
Definitions
Abortion
Deliberate termination of pregnancy by removal and
destruction of the foetus.
AID
Artificial insemination by donor.
AIH
Artificial insemination by husband.
Clone
An individual organism or cell produced asexually
from one ancestor to which they are genetically
identical.
Denomination
A branch of Christianity; different types of
Christians.
Embryo
A foetus before it is 4 months old.
Euthanasia
When someone is helped to die without pain before
they would have died naturally.
Fertility treatment
Medical treatment to help a woman become pregnant.
Genetic engineering
The deliberate modification of the characteristics of
an organism by manipulating its genetic material.
IVF
In vitro fertilisation. The egg and the sperm being
Medical ethics
Questions of morality that are raised by medical
situations.
Sacred
Holy, having something of God or the divine.
Sanctity of life
The belief that all life is given by God and is
therefore sacred.
Suicide
Deliberately ending one’s own life.
brought together in a test tube.
Top Bible Quotations to use in
Medical Ethics!
Bible bits:
‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let
them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of
the air,..’ (Genesis)
‘God made man in his own image’
(Genesis 1:26-27)
‘God gives Adam the ‘breath of life’’.
(Genesis 2:7)
‘Do not murder’.
(Exodus 20:13)
‘God is responsible for the giving and taking of life’
(Job 1:21)
‘the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit’’
(1 Corinthians 3:16=17)
Medical Ethics
1.Sanctity of life
• Christians often say that they believe in the ‘sanctity of
life’. They mean that they believe there is something
special and holy about human life.
• For Christians, human life is different from other kinds
of life, because people share something of the nature of
God.
• The book of Genesis describes how God made Adam, and
then ‘breathed into his nostrils the breath of life’.
Christians regard this as the giving of the soul. Genesis
also says that people are made ‘in the image of God’.
• Christians believe that each person has a ‘soul’, which does not
die when the body and the mind die, but lives on after death. It
is the soul that is judged by God, and which can join God in
heaven for ever.
• The Bible also teaches that God plans each human life.
• Christians believe that they should treat all human life with
respect.
• Because Christians believe that God has given their lives to
them, they think that they have a responsibility to take care of
themselves and of others.
Key words: Sanctity of life: the belief that there is something
special or holy about life.
Soul: the non-physical part of a person which may go to heaven
when the person dies.
Bible bits:
God made man in his own image (Genesis 1:26-27)
God gives Adam the ‘breath of life’. (Genesis 2:7)
‘Do not murder’. (Exodus 20:13)
God is responsible for the giving and taking of life (Job 1:21)
‘the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit’ (1 Corinthians 3:16=17)
2.Attitudes to abortion
• An abortion is when a foetus is expelled from its
mother’s uterus before the pregnancy reaches ‘full
term’ (usually 40 weeks). Sometimes this happens
naturally and is called a ‘miscarriage’, or a
‘spontaneous abortion’. However, ‘abortion’ usually
means ‘procured abortion’ when the foetus is
removed deliberately.
• Roman Catholics believe that life begins from the
moment of conception, on the very first day of
pregnancy. Some other Christians believe that the
foetus cannot really be described as a person until
later in the pregnancy, when it becomes more
recognisably human. Others believe that it becomes
a person when it is capable of surviving on its own,
at about 22 weeks.
• Roman Catholics believe that the killing of an unborn
baby is morally wrong in all circumstances. However,
if abortion is needed to save the mother’s life, such
as in the case of an ectopic pregnancy, they would
accept the doctrine of double effect. This says that
if something morally good has a morally bad sideeffect, it is right to do it providing the bad sideeffect was not intended even though it was known.
• The Church of England also opposes abortion but
recognises that there can be certain conditions when
abortion would be morally acceptable such as the
child would experience a low quality of life due to
severe medical disabilities, or in the case of rape.
• The Methodist Church says that abortion is always an evil
but recognises that there are cases where abortion may be
the lesser of two evils: if the child would be born with an
incurable disease for example.
• Some Christians are more willing to accept early abortions
than those which take place later in a pregnancy.
Bible bits:
‘Do not murder’ (Exodus 20:13)
God creates people in the womb (Psalm 139: 13-16)
3. Christian attitudes to fertility treatment
• Fertility treatment is used when people want to have
children but are unable to conceive naturally. Usually,
this is because of some kind of medical problem.
However, there are different Christian attitudes to
fertility treatment.
• IVF (in vitro fertilisation) involves the egg and the sperm
being brought together in a test tube. If conception
takes place and an embryo is formed, it is placed inside
the woman’s uterus.
• Another method of fertility treatment is artificial
insemination. Sperm is collected and placed in the
woman’s uterus artificially:
– Sometimes, this is the husband’s sperm: AIH
(artificial insemination by husband).
– Sometimes sperm can be used which may come from
an anonymous donor: AID (artificial insemination by
donor). The law now states that anyone donating
sperm or eggs has to provide their details, so that at
the age of eighteen a person conceived in this way can
seek out their biological parents.
•
Roman Catholics believe life begins at conception. This causes a major
problem with fertility treatment (such as IVF) which can produce spare
embryos. Some of these embryos may be thrown away during the
process, stored or used in medical research, which they believe goes
against the sixth commandment.
• The Roman Catholic Church does not believe that having a baby is a
God-given right but rather a divine gift.
• Also the Roman Catholic Church is opposed to AID because they think
that the introduction of a third party is a form of adultery.
Key person: Hannah – Old Testament figure who could not have children
for many years because God had ‘closed her womb’.
Bible Bits:
God made humans in his own image (Genesis 1:26-27)
God will not allow Hannah to have a baby until he decides it is the right
time (1 Samuel 1:5)
• The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990:
– Frozen embryos may be stored for a maximum of ten years.
However, these can only be implanted and used if both partners
agree.
– Scientific experiments may only be carried out on embryos
up until fourteen days after conception; after this time they
may not be kept alive.
• Some Christians believe that fertility treatments should be
encouraged because they bring so much happiness to people
who would otherwise not be able to have children.
• Other Christians believe that fertility treatment is wrong.
They consider that God chooses whether people have babies
or not. This is part of the teaching about sanctity of life.
4.Christian attitudes to cloning
• Cloning creates a genetically identical animal or plant
from another.
• The most famous example of a cloned animal was Dolly
the sheep (1997-2003).
• Plants are often cloned; when someone takes a cutting
and grows another plant from it, they are producing a
clone.
• Human identical twins are also clones of each other.
• Most of the concerns about cloning relate to the
possibility that it might be used to clone humans. Most
Christians feel that the cloning of a human, were it to be
possible, is unacceptable.
• Most countries have banned the use of cloning to
produce human babies (human reproductive cloning).
• In therapeutic cloning (or cell nucleus replacement),
tissues are created. Single cells are taken from a person
and ‘reprogrammed’ to create stem cells, which have the
potential to develop into any type of cell in the body in
order to provide replacement organs or limbs. In 2001
the Human Fertilisation and Embryo Act allowed the use
of human embryos in stem cell research, using leftover
embryos from IVF treatment.
• Many Christians feel that research into therapeutic
cloning is against the will of God as it is unnatural. They
argue that human life should not be tampered with – we
should not ‘play God’.
• Others would say that people have a God-given responsibility
to care for creation and if therapeutic cloning would benefit
humans it is a good thing as long as it is strictly controlled.
•The Roman Catholic Church teaches that cloning separates
the procreation of children from the sexual act and often
involves the creation and subsequent destruction of a large
number of fertilised eggs. This is against Roman Catholic
teaching on the sanctity of life.
Key words:
Cloning: the making of a replica.
Reproductive cloning: cloning which creates offspring.
Stem cells: single cells which have the potential to be ‘reprogrammed’ to
develop into any type of cell in the body.
Therapeutic cloning: a medical procedure where single cells are taken
from a person or embryo and ‘reprogrammed’ to create stem cells which
can be used in medical treatment.
5.Christian attitudes to suicide
• Most Christians believe that it is wrong for a
person to commit suicide, although they recognise
that these people may have gone beyond the stage
where they are able to make rational decisions.
• Suicide is when a person ends his or her own life.
In the UK less than one in 100 deaths every year
is the result of suicide.
• In the past, suicide was considered a serious
crime, and the Christian Church treated it as a
sin.
•Christians might argue against suicide by saying:
- God chooses when people are born and when they die.
-Suffering can bring people close to God.
-Suicide is a form or murder, even if the murderer and
the victim are the same person: and one of the Ten
Commandments is ‘You shall not murder’.
-Paul said that the body was a temple of the Holy Spirit
and so the body should be treated as a place where God
lives, and should be respected.
-Suicide is sometimes viewed as a mortal sin against the
Holy Spirit which prevents the person entering heaven.
In the past this meant that suicides could not be buried
in consecrated ground.
-Suicide is sometimes regarded as a selfish response
which ignores those people left behind.
• The Samaritans is an organisation that was started in
1953 by the Reverend Chad Varah who was a Church of
England vicar. It provides confidential emotional support to
anyone needing it – including those who may be
contemplating suicide. The Samaritans is available to
anyone, of any religion or none. The volunteers do not give
advice or tell the caller what to do, but listen and help
people to work out their own answers.
Key point: Most Christians believe that the right response
to suicide is to be loving and forgiving. People who attempt
suicide should be helped to overcome the reasons which
made them want to kill themselves. People who do commit
suicide should be regarded with respect and understanding
not condemned.
6. Christian attitudes to euthanasia
• The word ‘euthanasia’ comes from two Greek words: ‘eu’
meaning good, and ‘thanatos’, meaning death. Literally, it
means ‘a good death’.
•There are different types of euthanasia:
•Voluntary euthanasia is when someone asks for the
end of his or her own life but is unable to commit
suicide without help. This is often called ‘assisted
suicide’.
•Involuntary euthanasia is when other people decide
that it would be for the best if someone’s life ends,
because he or she is not able to make that decision
independently, such as someone who is in a persistent
vegetative state.
•Active euthanasia is when action is taken to bring life to
an end; e.g. a lethal dose of drugs might be given. This is
against the law.
•Passive euthanasia is when action is taken to stop giving
further treatment such as antibiotics or invasive, painful
surgery, even though death will be the result.
•The Roman Catholic Church is totally opposed to
euthanasia, and teaches that any act which deliberately
brings about death is the same as murder. It teaches that
ordinary treatments, such as feeding a patient, must
always be continued, but that ‘extraordinary’ treatments,
such as a complicated operation that is unlikely to succeed,
need not be given. They do this by applying the doctrine
of double effect.
•The Anglican Church has a similar view to the RC Church.
It teaches that although the deliberate taking of human
life is forbidden, there are strong arguments that people
should not be kept alive at all costs when they are
suffering intolerable pain. To allow someone to die may be
the most living thing to do and applies the Christian
principle of agape.
•The Quakers do not have a untied view on euthanasia. For
Quakers what is important is that they do the most loving
thing.
•Many Christians support the hospice movement.
Hospices care for the dying. They do everything they can
to make a patient more comfortable, such as keeping
severe pain under control (called palliative care). They
try to give the dying patient a peaceful and happy end to
life and aim to provide an alternative to euthanasia,
believing that a ‘good death’ can be achieved without
killing, if the patient is surrounded by care, love and
support.
•Quality of life versus sanctity of life? Many Christians
and non-believers would wish to consider the quality of
life of the patient. Christians in particular would want to
compare this with teachings about the sanctity of life:
should a patient be forced to live even though they are in
desperate pain which cannot be relieved?
This is the basis for Christian
belief that humans are the
most important part of
creation and that God gave
them control over all other
living things.
Do you think this
means humans can do
whatever they like to
animals?
Explain your reasons.
• Christians do not think it is acceptable to be
cruel to animals but some believe that they
can be used for medical research.
• Treatments for diseases have resulted from
animal research, e.g. dialysis machines to
treat kidney failure and the development of
drugs to prevent rejection in organ
transplants. Animal experimentation was also
central in creating vaccines for tuberculosis,
a disease which kills 3m people each year.