Human Dignity : Thinking about the Medical Side

I feel like it has been forever since my last blog so hopefully this is a smooth transition back into my weekly routine!

This week in class we will be discussing medical issues and their impact on human dignity. Whether it be about donating a kidney, extending one's life due to machines and medication, or using people's cells without them knowing it, there are tons and tons of issues that arise in the medical field. The hardest part about it for me is that when all of these new medications are founded, or new ways of reproducing cells and creating different things out of cells is created "they" make it sound like it is the best thing in the world! Everyone gets excited about it, but to me the biggest question is, it is improving the length of a life, or the quality of life.

After reading these articles its clear the main goal is to extend one's life. It doesn't matter to doctors if the patients spend their final days under the lights in an ICU or being so dependent on medication that they are not even conscious to remember them. It is just my opinion, but if I am alive, I want to feel alive. I want to be able to hold conversations, and have emotions, recognize my loved ones that will come visit, and be able to make lasting memories in my final days.

One of the articles that we read was "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". This article just really stands out to me because of how unbelievable it is. To fully comprehend that this woman's cells reproduced so quickly and that there are now so many they could wrap around the world 3 times when lined up end to end is just a little too much for me to wrap my mind around!

One of the issues this specific article addresses was when someone willingly gives up their cells, maybe by having a mole removed, this mole is no longer theirs. The doctors are then able to sell it for medical research and patients are getting upset that doctors are making money off of their cells.

This is a tough idea to struggle over since money is involved in everything, even when it is not the central focus. The idea that money is being made off of these types of business exchanges isn't exactly right or fair. However I don't believe that patients should be getting paid for having moles removed because that is just silly. I think patient's should go about their lives and have moles removed only when necessary and have cells extracted in other ways just as they would on a normal basis. After the cells are gone, they shouldn't be concerned about them because they are not a part of him/her anymore. If they cells are donated to research wonderful, hopefully something great will come from that, if they are simply thrown away, well thats ok too. The medical field is too complex and has to many if's in it for me to completely understand, so everything thats going on beyond the doctors office is too much for me to know. From the prespective of a doctor, they should not be making profits from selling cells to one another. I feel that it is inappropriate for Doctors to be making money off of something they didn't create or didn't have a large part in, they are simply the person the indivdual came to, to have it removed/extracted.

One of my favorite theorist we've read is Peter Singer, so I've decided to tie in his ideas with the view's I've formed from this weeks reading. In his book, "Rethinking Life & Death", he states, "...modern medical practice has become incompatible with belif in the equal value of all human life" (189).  This gave me the thought of how do the doctors decide how much one's cells are worth. In the case where the doctor is selling a patients cells, who are they to decide how much they are worth, and in addition if someone is worth more than someone elses how can that be determined.

My thought is automatically, the price varies on the characeristics the cell has and the characterists of the human from which the cell came from. Maybe it is their hair color and body type, or maybe it is more of their genetic traits that allow them to ask for a higher price. Either way the idea of putting a price on human cells is ridiculous. Singer would agree that " the worth of human life varies" Whats interesting is that he would say someone who is not possible of mental, social, or physical interacion with other human beings is not worth much. But in the medical field, this would be the type of cells that would probably be worth the most. Research is constantly being done to control diseases and improve conditions so these are the cells that researches want, just like in Henrietta's case because her's were cancerous.

I understand that modern medicine is all about new findings and that is how we got to where we are today, but there is a certain level of ethics that should be maintained throughout this process.  I am looking forward to hearing other people's thoughts in the class and seeing the conclusions we've pulled from reading this week's articles!