Logan's Run

It begins where imagination ends:  HERE.

Same Sex Couple Carries Same Baby

This is a fascinating idea, certainly unimaginable even a short time ago.

Thanks to Maggie for the link:  HERE.

Amputees and Halloween

At first I thought that this was just funny.  Now I'm not sure what to think:  HERE.

Intersex Life

This is so complicated.  But my first impulse is always to wonder what we could do to change the world before resorting to changing the body...  HERE.

Trojan Horse Antibiotic

We probably can't count on too many more of these breakthroughs.  Better practices would solve a lot of problems:  HERE.

Trolley Problem Applications in Real Life Damn It

HERE

Uterine transplants for transgender women

More ruminations on this complex subject.  Thanks to Trystin for the link!  HERE

More on Uteruses and the Right to Gestate

Thanks to Sydney for finding this.  The mind boggles at the scope of the ethical landscape to be explored.  It makes me think even more about the need to ask hard and honest questions about the idea that infertility is a "problem" that needs a technological "fix."

Fascinating:  HERE.

Autonomy Can Go Too Far

HERE.

Most Googled Medical Symptoms By State

Fascinating.  HERE.

On End of Life Choices

Forwarded to me by Pooja.  What do you think?  HERE.

Some Animals in the News

Emus:  HERE. 


Lobsters:  HERE.

Horses

After class I kept thinking about horses, and particularly about the "bit," that metal bar that goes in a horse's mouth, behind its teeth, attached to the bridle lines.  That seems obviously uncomfortable at best, very painful if tugged.  That was just my theory.   Research (Google) revealed that there's a whole movement in the direction of "bitless" bridles.  I think that this must be the result of making decisions which take non-humans into account.  Alternatives are around, if we look for them.  Here's an example:  HERE.

On Killing Kittens

Your tax dollars at work:  HERE.

Jennifer Lawrence is a utilitarian

I don't really know who this is, but if you zoom right to 5:24, you get the truth about her:  HERE.

What if Machines Know Us?

A ton of complicated issues...  HERE.

Encouraging Live Donation

It's not easy.  HERE.

Surge in STDs

Read about it here:  LINK

Claire Wineland, RIP

She had courage:  HERE.

Ways of finding a Kidney

HERE.

Three Parent Babies

Mitochondrial replacement is complicated, ethically:  HERE.

Louise Brown, the first "test tube baby"

Read it HERE.

DIY Meds, Activism, Autonomy

The Four Thieves Vinegar Collective.  HERE.

OU Medical Center

When the ethical issues are simple:  HERE.

Miracle?

Of course I'm glad for him and his family.  But...HERE

Assisted Suicide

Scientist dies by assisted suicide.  Read about it HERE.

Send the bill to the Baby

They can add it to their student loans:  HERE. 

Alfie

Lots of ethical issues here.  Remember, this is in the UK context, and they have single payer health.  HERE .

Brains.

Because scientists are not ethicists:  HERE.

First Penis and Scrotum transplant

You're allowed one giggle, but genital injuries are common for soldiers.  (Also note:  they did not transplant the testicles, "for ethical reasons."  Worth contemplating.)   HERE.

Re-Gifting

Everything is temporary (except the shirt you all mocked...I retired it).  Read THIS.

From the news...

Head Transplant...   No, I insist, you first:  HERE.  

Chinese baby born four years after parents' death...  HERE.  

Woman dies after being given formaldehyde instead of saline...  HERE.  

This Again...:  HERE.

Flash Extra Credit

It's National Poetry Month.  Find the sidewalk chalk near the fountain, chalk a poem, take a picture of your chalked poem, send it to me via email.  Two points.

Illicit Donations

Seems to happen every few years...   HERE.

On Dread

Thanks to Jon.  HERE.

Kevorkian

Looks like I mis-remembered a good deal of this.  But here's the real deal.  Definitely did not know that he was a jazz composer.  Figures...      HERE.

Moral Fictions

Here's what I should have said:

The difference thesis (that killing is different from letting die) is not meant to obscure the _cause_ of death.  It's meant to characterize the nature of the death.  So although TBM argue quite correctly that it is evasive to say that "X was allowed to die" when we removed his ventilator, if saying that is meant to hide the _cause_ of death.  The cause was the removal.  It was also his condition.

The difference thesis is meant to say whether or not the death is an unjust one.  So it isn't about cause, it is about responsibility.

No one should say, "I'm not a murderer--I just removed the ventilator, and his condition ended his life--I didn't cause it."

It is perfectly possible to murder someone by removing their ventilator.  Happens in movies all the time.

My view is that it is clearer to say that this deadly act was, or wasn't unjust.  Either way, we should be clear eyed about the cause.  All causes are equal this way.


Now, the real question is:  which deadly acts are unjust.  And we are not all agreed about that.  That's the real question, not the cause of death (in these contexts).


(Let me just nerd out philosophically for a moment on a relevant issue.  What counts as a cause?  You made it to class today.  What caused that?  Your alarm clock?  Your commitment to class?  The continued existence of the planet?  Your not-getting-hit-by-a-meteor?

See, we're used to thinking in a very science-y way about cause and effect.  But it's not really like that.  An infinite number of things, since the beginning of time, had to happen for you to make it to class.  We don't call them all causes.  "Cause" really picks out some particular moment, when really the moments are endless.  You tell me:  "I missed class because I incorrectly set my alarm for 7:58PM, not AM."   

Why don't I respond:  "No, you missed class because you didn't set alarms on five different devices, eliminating the possibility of error."?   Think about that.)

More on Non-terminal suffering

and autonomy  HERE.

Virtual Reality

I don't mean this in any way to work counter to Chris Hill's experience.  But I do think that it is important to think about what's on the way, technologically speaking.  HERE.

HERE

effects and side-effects

I feel like I didn't say this right today.  So a quick re-do.

I haven't committed to the idea that all euthanasia is wrong.  I just suspect that a lot of decisions to remove or refuse treatment are not _really_ attempts to end life, even if life will end as a result.

(We'll see some exceptions in upcoming readings.)

Now, rehearsing a point that I need to accept, given my view:  A foreseen effect isn't necessarily the same as a planned and intended effect. 

Yeah.  But that might be a sketchy move.  At least:  if you know for sure that the "side-effect" will follow, the burden ought to be on you to explain what you mean when you say that you don't intend it.

"I didn't plan to total your car, I only meant to see how many of its airbags would inflate if I hit a tree at high speed."

At some point, the intended effect and the side effect are so closely related that it is hard to explain how you can be intending one but not the other.

So what about:  "I didn't plan to end his life, I only meant to administer the maximum dosage of pain medication, knowing that that's fatal, in order to get him out of pain."

It's just a question I'm pondering.

Getting Doctors to Listen to Women

Lots to think about in this story, but pay attention also to this theme:  Doctors don't take women seriously.  HERE.

Kidney Theft

So this happened... HERE.