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Spring 2002
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Beginning
of Life
A
Brain-Dead Mother Gives Birth [6,8]
Rosa J suffered a fatal seizure while she was 23 weeks pregnant. After
the seizure, Rosa J was placed on life-support systems but was declared
brain-dead the next day. She was kept on life-support systems for 9
weeks, however, until she gave birth to a healthy baby girl by cesarean
section. During this time the physician used steroids to help the lungs
of the fetus to mature and monitored fetal growth with ultrasound
examinations. Rosa J was fed intravenously and given antibiotics for
infections when necessary. After the birth, the life-support systems
were disconnected. The baby was given an excellent chance to survive,
although she weighed only three pounds. From the time of the seizure,
all decisions about Rosa J and the fetus she was carrying were made by
physicians in consultation with Rosa J’s family.
Should Rosa J have been kept on
life-support systems for nine weeks after being declared brain-dead
simply in order to give the child she was carrying a better chance to
survive?
- Was Rosa J being used merely as a
means to others’ ends?
- Is someone who is brain-dead a
“person” and, therefore, on a Kantian account an individual who
cannot be used merely as a means to others’ ends?
- Who can be considered the
"best" person(s), (ethically speaking) to give consent for
this procedure?
CASE 38
A
Feminist Sperm Bank [9]
The Oakland (California) Feminist Women’s Health Center is a sperm
bank that was founded in order to make AID (artificial insemination by
donor) available in a manner that is consistent with feminist ideals.
Although genetic and medical screening is provided, the keynote of the
center’s operation is the fact that no social screening of
applicants is done. Lesbians and unmarried women are expressly invited,
along with more traditional candidate for AID, to make use of the
center’s services. In addition, neither standards of economics nor
standards of intelligence are employed to exclude applicants, and racial
matching is not done.
Is the operational philosophy
of this sperm bank morally sound?
- Should a sperm bank be held
accountable to society for social screening of its applicants for
AID? If so, what factors would be sufficient to disqualify an
applicant?
- Should selection of donors be partly
based on social status and screening for behavioral traits?
CASE 39
IVF and a Postmenopausal Woman
Emily L is a 59-year-old woman who plans to retire at the age of 60 from
her job as a financial executive. She has been married for ten years to
a man who also plans to retire within the next year. He is presently 64
years of age. Both Emily L and her husband are in good health and look
forward to craving out a new life in retirement. In fact, they have
decided that this would be a good time for them to raise a child, so
they want to arrange for Emily L to become pregnant. They are aware that
it is now possible for postmenopausal women to bear children by
employing egg donation, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and embryo
transplantation to the womb of the postmenopausal woman, who would
receive hormonal treatments.
The idea is that Emily L’s husband would provide the sperm for IVF,
making him the biological father of the child. When Emily L and her
husband explain their plan to Dr. T at the Metropolitan Fertility
Clinic, Dr. T is uncertain whether the clinic should support Emily’s
attempt to become pregnant since the usual age limit for these
procedures is 55 years of age. Dr. T has successfully produced
pregnancies in younger women who have experienced early menopause, but
she is not comfortable with the age of the prospective parents in this
particular case.
Questions:
(1) Can the plan
formulated by Emily L and her husband be morally and ethically
justified? If not, what are the ethical objections?
(2) Should Dr. T and
the clinic support Emily L’s attempt to become pregnant, assuming
she can pay for the procedures?
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Course
Overview