ABSTRACT

New methods of research and new technologies have resulted in dramatic developments in health care during the past fifty years. One consequence has been a shift of responsibility for decision making from the physician to the patient. We would like to be able to say to the physician, “You’re the doctor. Do what you think best. I just want to get well.” But increasingly patients are faced with such issues as choosing between two undesirable courses of action, choosing between two possible treatments, or deciding whether a treatment that can be done should be done. Should a pregnant woman who does not want to give birth to a child have her pregnancy terminated? Should a couple who want a child but cannot have one without following some extraordinary procedures resort to such measures? Should a person risk an organ transplant that offers the hope of prolonging life for only two or three years? What steps should be taken to prolong the life of a family member who is dying? Should we ask a physician to follow procedures that ease the pain but shorten the life of a terminally ill patient? Scientific and medical research have opened up a wide array of possibilities. Any one of us may be compelled to make agonizing decisions about medical treatment for ourselves or members of our family. In this chapter we shall consider seven issues in biomedical ethics: abortion, biomedical parenting, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, responsible parenthood, organ transplants, and euthanasia.