How Technology Changes the Bioethics of Life and Death
Introduction:
Mankind’s recent advances in medicine and technology now allow us to treat more conditions and medical problems than ever before. Infertile individuals may conceive a child, amputees can obtain functional replacement limbs and drastic injuries can be healed. However, using these procedures is far from straightforward; many have posed new moral questions that we must now confront. We are forced to shift our answer to the age-old question of what it means to be alive from an answer of science to one of ethics.
Is life worth living without a face?
Is life worth living without limbs?
Should a tiny embryo be given the same rights as a full-grown human?
Is it ethical to destroy one life in order to save others?
How should doctors regulate the use of organ replacement therapy and artificial organs?
Is an individual with no brain function still alive?
Do humans even have the right to answer any of these questions to begin with?
There is no straightforward answer. We chose to address the issue of how to differentiate life and death by researching six topics; Face Transplants, Thought-Controlled Artificial Limbs, the Bio-Artificial Womb, Embryonic Stem Cells, Pacemakers and Brain Death. Each topic is explained in detail and placed in the context of the current bioethical debate surrounding it. We may never reach a consensus about any of these issues. However, with this project, we hope to shed some light on some of the bioethical controversies that have arisen thanks to new technology.
Page created by Libby Boghossian, Hannah Garrett, Mike Hnojewyj, Sarah Huebscher, Deb Mahato & Tien Nguyen of Brown University, copyright 2008