- "Bioethics" just means what?
- What 40-year U.S. study denied information and treatment to its subjects?
- What did Ivan Ilich warn about in Medical Nemesis?
- In what issues has the WHO been very active?
- How has Bioethics broadened its horizons?
- Bioethics has broken free of what mentality?
- With what must the main method of Bioethics be concerned?
- Are there any important bioethical issues you think Campbell has neglected to mention in ch.1?
- Lewis's previous book asked what question?
- What did The Lancet point out about the COVID death rate in the U.S.?
- Bob Glass learned what, that he'd had no idea of, in The Great Influenza? Did you know that, before COVID?
- How did young Charity Dean cheer herself up?
- (More Premonition questions)
PHIL 3345. Supporting the philosophical study of bioethics, bio-medical ethics, biotechnology, and the future of life, at Middle Tennessee State University and beyond... "Keep your health, your splendid health. It is better than all the truths under the firmament." William James
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Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Questions Jan 20
What is Bioethics? (Basics 1); Premonition Intro/prologue/1
3. What did Ivan Illich warn about in Medical Nemesis?
ReplyDeleteIvan Illich argued that “the massive commercial power of the transnational pharmaceutical and medical technology industries could also pose a major threat to health, through the medicalization of all human experience from birth to death.” He basically says that our dependence on the healthcare system makes us feel like we have less control over our own health. It also changes how society views pain and what level, if any, is acceptable in the human experience. It’s interesting because a lot of people I know that do play an active role in being healthy are trying to step away from needing medication and otherwise relying on medicine.
With life comes joy and pain. Do we miss something by trying to take away that suffering? I think that modern medicine could never become a utopia that is pain-free. There will always be something whether emotional or physical. Maybe pain looks different than it did a century ago, but does that make it any less meaningful to the human experience?
12. How did young Charity Dean cheer herself up?
ReplyDeleteBy reading books on the bubonic plague, especially ones with gruesome photos.
At first, I wasn’t sure what to think about Charity. Her interest in communicable diseases was, as the text said, “off putting.” It was like she couldn’t wait for a pandemic causing disease to come around. I suppose you would want health officials to be interested in these topics and prepared though. I also wondered why she didn't become an epidemiologist instead of specializing in internal medicine. However, now I think she’s pretty amazing and gutsy. It sounds like she had to deal with a lot of sexism and lack of knowledge about health officials in her work.
1. "Bioethics" just means what?
ReplyDeleteWhile bioethics quite literally means the "ethics of life," Campbell narrows down the definition to mean the ethics concerning the areas of human life that are impacted by medicine, the sciences, and technology. I liked that the areas of global warming and environmental ethics will also be discussed later in the book because, as Campbell mentions, the actions humans take (or don't take) to address climate change and the issues that come with it will have a big impact on human life.
6. Bioethics has broken free of what mentality?
ReplyDeleteBioethics, as Campbell states, has broken away from the mentality that only a closed professional circle of doctors can discuss and make decisions about it. Now, the field is interdisciplinary with other health professionals, philosophers, theologians, and lawyers taking part in active conversation. This reminds me of the discussion we had in class about the different mindsets of some philosophers.
1. Bioethics means "the ethics of life" in a literal sense. Campbell is able to explain how he will define bioethics in his book as that surrounding human life and its state in a healthcare setting. In his book, he will not explore the rights of animals, beyond their role in benefitting human medical research.
ReplyDelete2. The Tuskegee experiment lasted about 40 years and allowed adult African American males infected with syphilis to go untreated to "see what would happen." These patients continued to remain untreated even when penicillin was being used on syphilis patients elsewhere. This act of atrocity reminds me of the discussion of human experiments in the post-WWII era. The Tuskegee experiment began before this period, before the Geneva Code of Medical Ethics was in place, and ended after. Although the experiment began before this “above-all-else” code, its ignorance of patient autonomy and human rights should’ve still been considered a crime.
13. (More Premonition questions) What was one of the mantras having to do with bravery that Charity hoped to live by?
ReplyDeleteThere is no shortcut to courage. Courage is a muscle memory. The tallest oak in the forest was once just a little nut that held its ground. The Premonition (p. 20) Kindle Edition.
This is a very Aristotelian idea. Virtues like courage must be cultivated into habits. One cannot simply choose to be a courageous person any more than one can choose to become an expert pianist. They must commit themselves to the practice of courageousness until the finding the golden mean between cowardice and foolhardiness is second nature.
DeleteWhat 40-year U.S. study denied information and treatment to its subjects?
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. federally funded Tuskegee Syphilis Study lasted from 1932 to 1972 where African American men were withheld information about diagnosis as well as treatment. This study actually blew my mind. It is hard to believe that things like this actually happened just 40 years ago. It is equally alarming that this study was only shut down once it was found by the media. It made me think.. Are similar studies happening now that have just not been brought to the light? I definitely hope not, and I want to give the fast advancements in medicine more hope than that, but it did make me think. I am taking General Psychology this semester and on the first day of class, my professor mentioned this exact study. I am very interested to see how these two classes intertwine and compliment each other.
How did young Charity Dean cheer herself up?
Charity Dean cheered herself up by reading disturbing books about the bubonic plague. While this does seem odd, I think that it magnifies her interest and passion, and, if anything, better prepared her for what she was to one day see in her career. I like that the author added this detail about her life because it offered that she was not scared of a challenge and also that she was not scared of what the world around her had been taught to fear. Not that things like this cheer me up; however, I have noticed that I enjoy learning about disorders and diseases over just basic functionality of the human body. I think it is interesting to understand why things go wrong when they do, so, in a way, I kind of relate to the young Charity Dean.
1. "Bioethics" just means what?
ReplyDeleteBioethics in literal terms means "the ethics of life". In Campbells book, he explains more about bioethics and the relation it has to human life. I think this topic within bioethics is important because it directly relates to a lot of our health care and medical issues we deal with in society. There are many animal and environmental ethical issues that I'd like to speak about that Campbell does not mention.