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PHIL242: MEDICAL ETHICS SUM2014, M-F, 9:40-10:40, SAV 156
INSTRUCTOR: BENJAMIN HOLE OFFICE HOURS: M-F, 10:40-11
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Agenda Questions, concerns about anything in the course (final papers, writing assignments, etc.)? Clicker Quiz Discuss Davis Please set your Turning Technology Clicker to channel 41 Press “Ch”, then “41”, then “Ch” Thursday: Brock Friday: Kass
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Davis attributes “the right to an open future” to which philosopher?
Robert Sparrow John Harris Joel Feinberg Ruth Chadwick William Galston
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Davis examines the case of Wisconsin v
Davis examines the case of Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) in which the United States Supreme Court found that Amish children could not be placed under compulsory education past 8th grade. Does Davis agree with the court’s decision? Yes No She doesn’t say
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Davis argues that deliberately creating a deaf child is a moral harm, regardless of whether deafness is a disability or a culture. True False
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Dena Davis, “Genetic Dilemmas And the Child’s Right to an Open Future”
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Autonomy Or Beneficence
Ruth Macklin’s Cases How to frame the issue? “African immigrant asks her obstetrician to perform genital surgery on her baby girl.” “Loatian immigrant from the lu Mien culture brings her four-month-old baby to the pediatrician for a routine visit and the doctor discovers burns on the baby’s stomach.” Autonomy versus Beneficence Versus Autonomy versus Autonomy Incommensurable values; practical guidance?
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Main argument 1. If it is wrong to violate RTOF, then it is wrong to select for deafness. 2. It is wrong to violate RTOF. 3. Therefore, it is wrong to select for deafness.
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What is the “RTOF”? Feinberg: “rights in trust” *
Twitchell vs. Commonwealth of Massachusetts Violates the child’s RTOF Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) United States Supreme Court found that Amish children could not be placed under compulsory education past 8th grade. Davis: if everyone deserves a HS education past 8th grade (for the liberal idea of preserving a sphere of choice), then it is wrong to deprive Amish children of education past 8th grade.
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Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) Liberalism: diversity and autonomy, two values that are sometimes incompatible Autonomy can limit diversity Diversity can limit autonomy JS Mill: “The human faculties of perception, judgement, discriminative feeling, mental activity, and even moral preference, are exercised only in making a choice. He who does anything because it is custom makes no choice.”
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Liberalism says what? Robert Sparrow:
We don’t know the breadth of choices internal to minority cultures. It would limit the number of choices overall to undermine a minority culture. Davis: “if the goal of a liberal democracy is to actively promote something like the greatest number of choices for the greatest number of individuals, this seems to entail hostility toward narrow choice communities like the Amish.”
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Strongly Agree Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Disagree
Amish children should be placed under compulsory education past 8th grade. (Davis) Strongly Agree Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
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Is creating a Deaf Child a Moral Harm?
Davis
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The non-Identity Problem
“what sense is it ever possible to do harm by giving birth to a child who would otherwise not have been born at all?” “The nonidentity problem focuses on the obligations we think we have in respect of people who, by our own acts, are caused both to exist and to have existences that are, though worth having, unavoidably flawed – existences, that is, that are flawed if those people are ever to have them at all.” (SEP)
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solutions to the problem?
Steinbock and McClamrock: parental responsibility “Brock claims that moral harms can exist in both instances, despite the fact that in same number of choices the moral harm cannot be tied to a specific person.” Davis: “Deliberately creating a child who will be forced irreversibly into the parents’ notion of the ‘good life’ violates the Kantian principle [of humanity]”
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The non-identity problem is solvable.
Strongly Agree Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
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Deafness is a harm, disability or culture
Deafness is either is disability (and/)or a culture. If it is a disability, it is a harm (since it deprives of hearing and so narrows choices) If it is a culture, it is a harm (since it is a narrow culture) Therefore, either way, Deafness is a harm.
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Thought experiment Say that Peter and Nita Artinian wanted a child and had the option, given genetic technology, to choose for their child to be deaf. Would it be morally permissible for physicians to respect Peter and Nita’s autonomous decision to choose for deafness?
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It would be morally permissible for physicians to respect Peter and Nita’s autonomous decision to choose for deafness Strongly Agree Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
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Prenatal testing Huntington’s disease
Davis: protect “the child’s right to an open future by preserving his own choice to decide whether his life is better lived with that knowledge or without.”
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Davis: It is morally wrong to have prenatal testing for Huntington's disease.
Strongly Agree Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree
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