Eugenics in modern medicine: ethics, law, and patient rights

Eugenics refers to the social philosophy that advocates an artificial improvement to the human hereditary traits through various mechanisms of intervention. In the modern, medical sense, eugenics refers to the use of such things as prenatal testing, screening, genetic counseling, birth control, genetic engineering and in vitro fertilization as mechanisms of preventing the passing on of various problematic genetic traits. Eugenics is typically divided between positive and negative eugenics. Positive eugenics are aimed at encouraging reproduction among the genetically advantaged. Common examples of positive eugenics include in vitro fertilization, egg transplants and cloning. Negative eugenics, on the other hand, is aimed at lowering fertility among the genetically disadvantaged. Common examples of negative eugenics include abortions, sterilization and family planning initiatives.

The issue of eugenics is highly controversial as it raises numerous legal and ethical issues. Dating back most notably to the Nazi's use of eugenics to systematically prejudice and eliminate various ethnic groups and peoples, eugenics is seen as a dangerous tool of political control. In a modern sense, the ethical issues center on whether or not one should be able to "play god" with diseases and births. On the other hand, those who support eugenics argue that if one has the ability to prevent a genetic disease, then is it ethical not to prevent the passing on of those defective traits and thus eliminate the pain and suffering caused by such a genetic trait? As is often times the case, when a procedure involves ethical questions, the law gets involved. The law is currently still developing on issues of in vitro fertilizations, abortions and other eugenics methods. Further, there are general human rights/individual constitutional rights involved in terms of right to privacy and write to life, regardless of genetic makeup.

II. Eugenics Today

An individual who is subject to any form of eugenics, either as a parent or as an individual, may suffer from lasting physical and emotional health effects. Because many of eugenics' theories are still being developed, the long-term effect of genetic modifications, for example, are unknown. Further, such birth-orientated eugenic programs as abortions or in vitro fertilization can have lasting emotional effects on the mother, father or carrier of the fetus.

Often times a health care consumer may feel pressured to opt for a eugenic test or procedure. This is because a professional health care provider, such as a doctor, is telling the consumer what is needed. The consumer tends to trust the doctor's specialized knowledge and thus will go along with a doctor's recommendations. However, this is unfair to the patient because nobody with as equal of background as the doctor is advocating for the patient. This is where a nurse can come in. The nurse can better explain to the consumer the doctor's recommendations, the pros, the cons and answer the patient's questions.

Currently, in the health care setting, patients are protected from involuntary acts of eugenics through laws that require doctor's to get the patient's full consent for all procedures done. Further, if a doctor fails to get such consent, they can be held liable under the malpractice laws of torts.

Conclusion

As can be seen, eugenics has, and continues to play, numerous roles in the development of human societies and communities. From the horrors of genocide to its use in medicine as a method of eliminating potentially dangerous genes to its continued role in the immigration debate, eugenics is far from being a theory or practice of the past.

V. Bibliography:

Downes, Lawrence. "What Part of Illegal Don't You Understand?" New York Times.

Engs, Ruth C. (2005): The Eugenics Movement: An Encyclopedia. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Glad, John. (2007): Future Human Evolution: Eugenics in the Twenty-First Century. Hermitage Publishers.

Kevles, Daniel. (1985): In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity. New York: Knopf.