Invitro Fertilization Essays (Examples)

Vitro' Fertilization Is One of the Applications

Vitro' fertilization is one of the applications of advanced technology that provides a solution to infertility among couples. The practice has long been in existence, and many referred to offspring of couples who have undergone this process, 'test tube babies.' In vitro ('in glass') fertilization is only one of the many treatments for infertility. The general term by which in vitro can be identified is through artificial insemination, wherein semen taken from the woman's partner or male donor is "injected" into a woman's uterus. In the technique of in vitro fertilization, however, "eggs are removed from a woman's ovaries and fertilized in a laboratory dish with her partner's sperm" (Dmowski 1991 265).

There are several reasons why infertility happens, and indications that show that a couple needs to undergo an in vitro treatment. Infertility may be due to either the man or the woman's infertility. A man becomes infertile when…… [Read More]

Personhood Debate vs IVF in

Additionally, the utilitarian position presents the advantage of objectively quantifying the interests of everyone affected by the decision, for the sole purpose of promoting common welfare. Thus, harvesting, fertilizing, genetically screening, implanting and researching human embryos at the risk of damaging or destroying them - is entirely justified from this perspective, and any progressive endeavor is encouraged.

Nevertheless, this approach might involuntarily discourage many IVF clients as it appears to be too rigid and provides them with little autonomy in making decisions regarding their own embryos. Interestingly, a utilitarian might not even support IVF treatment, due to the risks involved in the whole process - namely a large financial loss if the process should fail -, an therefore it is uncertain whether or not this infertility treatment would meet the Utilitarian requirements of avoiding pain and creating the most amount of happiness; there might be a lot of future un-happiness…… [Read More]

A R T Assisted Reproductive Technology Has

The majority of women can return to their normal routine the next day ("In Vitro Fertilization"). In most cases total bed rest is not required unless there is some risk associated with the development of OHSS ("In Vitro Fertilization").

The NIH further explains that women who utilize IVF must take the hormone progesterone for at least two months following the embryo transfer ("In Vitro Fertilization"). The hormone is taken through daily shots or pills. Progesterone is a naturaly produced hormone produced that assists in thickenign the lining of the uterus ("In Vitro Fertilization"). This thickening makes it easier for the embryo to implant to the wall of the uterus. If there is ot enough progesterone the woman will miscarry ("In Vitro Fertilization").

In additon to the risks associated with this type of reproductive technology, IVF is very expensive ("In Vitro Fertilization"). The NIH explains that many states require that insurance…… [Read More]

Assisted Reproductive Technologies Science Has

But if you want a baby badly enough, you will do it" (The Women's Health Council). Women are subjected to a wide range of drugs which have harmful side effects. Some drugs induced to facilitate ovulation have also caused infertility in the male child. When women are put through the consumption of such drugs, the chances of multiple births increases, thus the woman gives birth to twins, triplets or even more.

In 2000, 53% of infants born through AT were multiple births, compared to 3% of births in the general population. The twin rate was 22 times higher than the general population; the triplet and higher multiples rate was 50 times higher. Their higher risk for birth defects and low birth weight add to already over-burdened health care costs." (Marie Anderson and John Bruchalski)

Many couples cannot afford to bring up more than one child at a time and hence…… [Read More]

Should Parents Be Allowed to Select the Sex of Their Baby

Parents be Allowed to Choose their aby's Gender?

THE TWO SIDES

Should Parents be Allowed to Choose their aby's Gender?

A revolutionary lab technique, called sperm sorting, can now establish the gender of an offspring (Mail Online, 2013). The sperm carries the sex chromosome of a future child and sorting involves choosing the desired sex chromosome and then inseminating a woman with it. Gender can also be selected by abortion and before the embryonic stage through IVF or in vitro fertilization. Gender selection has been the subject of much debate because of its many consequences (Mail Online).

Artificial insemination consists of inserting concentrated sperm into the uterus to achieve a greater chance of fertilization (Stephens, 2011). Other methods are used to choose the gender of the baby. One is by using a dye on the desired gender from the sperm and then returning the dyed cell into womb. The Ericsson…… [Read More]

Embryos and Fetuses in Research

3. Embryonic stem cells can be used to help human beings who suffer from debilitating diseases for which no other solution offers hope. For this reason alone, the research should be legal, considering that the embryos from which the stem cells are derived cannot be shown to possess any type of noticeable consciousness. There is no moral reason to favor the use of animals in medical research over the use of embryonic stem cells, considering that the former are fully developed creatures who clearly have the potential to feel pain, whereas the latter demonstrate little more than potentiality. Furthermore, most embryonic stem cells are culled from discarded tissues used for in vitro fertilization. If in vitro fertilization is legal then so too should be the proper use of the leftover cell mass.

orks Cited

Human Reproduction and Development. (2004). Retrieved 22 Sept 2005, from the Ipui Department of Biology eb…… [Read More]

Moral Dilemma

Moral and Medical Dilemma

As the progression of medical technology has expanded humanity's ability to heal one another directly -- through the process of organ transplants, blood transfusions, and bone marrow exchanges -- several ethical dilemmas have surfaced which impact physicians, patients, and politicians alike. An individual's voluntary decision to donate his or her organs in the event of an unexpected death, and the government's methods for devising an equitable system of distribution for blood and organ transplants are just a few of the increasingly rancorous debates to become associated with cutting-edge medical techniques. Today, with the concept of stem-cell research offering a vast array of seemingly miraculous medical advances, the moral discussion has shifted to cases like that experienced by the Whitaker family, which has been forced to confront an agonizing choice involving their seriously ill son Charlie. In the end, although the Whitakers were able to develop a…… [Read More]

Childhood Any Less Safe and Enjoyable Now

childhood any less safe and enjoyable now than in the past?

Childhood is a period that initiates a change in the perspective of the family or the parents involved. It entails the aspect of responsibilities and commitments for the parent to ensure safe and secure parenting for the child. However, concerns continue to arise due to the dynamic nature of the society. The society keeps on evolving, changing various aspects and practices within the community. Through these developments, the child does not escape the eventual outcomes from these changes. Social construction consists of incorporation of new practices, which develop into the norm of the society while the old are replaced through these procedures and changes. The child faces challenges in their adaptive mechanisms as these changes come with risks, anxieties, worries and fear from the eminent social changes.

The social changes led to the evolution of a generalized world, in…… [Read More]

My Sister's Keeper

Sister's Keeper

Edward and Susan: My Sister's Keeper ethical dilemma

The film My Sister's Keeper is an emotionally wrought dramatization of what is a very real medical conundrum for some parents today, given advances in medical technology. The drama revolves around the question of the creation of a 'savior sibling,' genetically designed from birth to help her existing sibling survive (My Sister's Keeper: Science Background Talk, n.d., SCU). In the parallel case of Edward and Susan, a couple with a daughter with Acute Childhood Lymphoid Leukemia, many of the objections that people have raised to IV will not likely be persuasive to them: they have already used the technology to have their first child. Additionally, the sibling would be a wanted child, given the couple had always wanted a bigger family, but had held off because of fears of passing on a genetic disorder. The main ethical question for the…… [Read More]

Reproductive Counseling

eproductive Counseling

Studies have shown that the mean maternal age of motherhood has been increasing since 1980, which although may suit many modern careers and life styles, it puts women at a greater risk of declining fertility. The fundamental manifestation of ovarian aging is not just because of a decrease in the number of oocytes, but also because of a decline in its quality. Moreover, women of advanced maternal age are at a greater risk of developing aneuploidy in embryos. This contributes to their inability to bear a child by increasing both implantation loss and pregnancy failure. (Judy et al., 2012)

In Vitro Fertilization, IVF is one of the forms of assisted reproductive technology that enhances the chances of conception. In IVF, ovaries are stimulated to produce mature oocytes which are retrieved transvaginally under sonographic guidance. Oocyte retrieval is normally an outpatient procedure, performed with adequate analgesia. The sperm and…… [Read More]

Cloned Livestock Produce in EU

In his aticle, Deek Buke posits that "consumes' biggest concen is about isk, especially in light of the bovine spongifom encephalopathy epidemic: scientists, and the egulatoy pocesses, ae no longe tusted" (1998). This distust in the system, both on a scientific and govenmental level, is deep-ooted, in that food is pat of the human expeience which is pesonal and even intimate. People want to be able to tust thei food povides. Theefoe thee is fea that just because cloned beef appeas as edible as non-cloned beef does not guaantee that an animal with defects hamful fo human consumption might be cloned (and that clone cloned, and so on), unleashing geate ham ove a wide aay of people than even the BSE o Foot and Mouth epidemics impacted.

The aguments against cloning have a lot to do with ou collective fea not of the meat itself, but also the implications of…… [Read More]

Ethics Couples Should Not Be

omen over 38 face both greater risk of chromosomal abnormalities and they have higher pregnancy risk in general, so they are the most likely candidate group for PGD testing (Sherbahn, 2013).

There are some drawbacks to PGD as well that need to be taken into consideration. hile a common argument against the technique relates to moral hazard, that hazard originates from subsequent decisions and is not directly related to the PGD testing decision. However, Sherbahn (2013) notes that there are legitimate concerns about the use of this technique. In particular, the 3-day embryo biopsy technique is believed to traumatize the embryo, while there is evidence to suggest that other types of PGD testing do not place the embryo at additional risk.

Another negative aspect of PGD that must be taken into consideration is the risk of a false positive. It is known that mosaic embryos can self-repair, and this aspect…… [Read More]

Family Law

Child Support

The complex dynamics of any individual family creates certain problems for legislative processes and all-encompassing rules. The relative factors that determine any single individual's family status is often outside of that individual's control and presents multiple avenues of responsibility, and at the same time creating multiple avenues of means of success. Unfortunately, marriage in today's society is consistently threatened by the complex and varying forces that influence relationships. In some instances where marriages produce children, outside powers step in to ensure that equal protection is guaranteed for all involved in this problem. The purpose of this essay is to examine certain situations where child support obligations are in question. I'll examine the biological, legal and socioeconomic relationships that help contribute to determining what fairness is in terms of child support payments.

According to the U.S. Census ureau, "in the spring of 2000, an estimated 13.5 million parents had…… [Read More]

Bright Lights Lit Up the

However, with the same aforementioned idea in mind, in Vitro Fertilization technology also has it's benefits. Being able to remove all disease from human kind would be an unimaginable thing to do. ith in Vitro Fertilization technology the possibilities are endless (Russell 2010). A new generation could be produced where life-debilitating illnesses would be free from them. They would not have to worry about passing certain genetic diseases on because they would be completely erased from their DNA. It makes the possibilities of medicine and health care seem endless.

The ethical issues involved in Vitro Fertilization lay hand in hand with the ethical dilemmas that Shelley was attempting to address in "Frankenstein." The very idea of creating an individual without fully knowing the consequences may not be the best way to go. It carries with it consequences that will affect an entire society, the parties involved, and most importantly, the…… [Read More]

Ethics Capato

Astrue v. Capato, the Supreme Court ruled that children conceived posthumously -- that is, through in vitro fertilization after the biological parent is deceased -- are not entitled to the same rights and privileges as children born while that parent is alive. The case refers specifically to the Social Security Act, which provides for the common welfare by establishing a system whereby children may be listed as dependents on their parents. Children who are born to parents during the course of the parent's lifetime, even if conceived via in vitro fertilization, are entitled to the parent's Social Security Benefits as well as to inheritance. However, in Astrue v. Capato, the court ruled that children conceived via in vitro fertilization after the biological parent has died are not classified as "dependents" or as heirs under the law. The decision has serious ramifications for health care workers who deal with cases that…… [Read More]

Health Care and Ethics

oman Clings to Hope of Having Dead Fiancee's Baby

Today medical science is capable of things only imagined in the past. One of these possibilities stems from the technique of Invitro fertilization and cryobiology. It is now possible to freeze a man's sperm and impregnate a woman with it at some future time. This practice raises many ethical issues as far as the legal professions are concerned, primarily informed consent, ownership of the sperm and many other issues. However, it also raises issues for the medical profession as well. Now it is possible, but the primary question remains, should we? This research will examine the role of the nurse in relation to her ethical obligations and the moral issues imposed upon her concerning this tricky moral issue.

Recently a court case surface where a woman wants to have he fiancee's sperm inseminated into her in order to get pregnant with…… [Read More]

Morality of Cloning in Her Book Discovering

Morality of Cloning

In her book "Discovering Right and Wrong," Louis Pojman consistently makes the same point throughout her chapters: beyond all the debate and lack of consensus, and beyond all the confusion of relative morality, there should exist a true objective standard which a rational being can discover. In all her writing she seems to challenge the readers to look for objective evidence of truth, a plea which often has much in common with a more conservative position on politics and morality. When it comes to the issue of cloning, however, it seems that the search for rational objective evidence is frequently put aside in favor of often illogical "gut reactions." It is high time that a truly reasonable approach to cloning was attempted. In order to best approach this from an objectivist standpoint, it seems reasonable to backtrack to one of the founding fathers of modern objectivism, Immanual…… [Read More]

Embryo Ovum Donation Embryo and

A range of side effects has been reported in donors undergoing all of the above. Donation also makes demands on a donor's time, energy, and emotions. (Burfoot, 1999, p. 269)

For women who are receiving IVF, with their own Ova these side effects and ensuing risks are likely to be palatable, as the lasting effect if all goes well is a full term healthy child. For Ova donors the incentive of a pure, altruistic act might not be enough to allow her to make a discernible decision of sacrifice vs. reward, and this would likely be particularly true in the case of young women, who are less likely to have experience with infertility and who relatively recently experienced the hormonal turmoil of puberty, which is comparatively minor, as noted by some, to the artificial hormonal syncing and stimulating that occurs prior to Ovum retrieval. Ehrensaft stresses throughout her work that…… [Read More]

Healthcare Strategic Management

Healthcare management (Strategic operations plan)

Several studies, including Kelly arnes, show that healthcare generally moves from "costly settings" such as hospitals into cheaper and more flexible options, such as retail clinics and mobile health

What this actually shows as a future trend is that the global recession has played an important role in defining the customer profile. Clients are no longer interested solely in the best available services, but in low-cost services. For this, they look at flexible options and, in the same context of flexibility, they look more and more towards customization. Customization includes customized treatments and customized location (home, hospital, clinics, mobile)

At the same time, the demand for innovation remains key. The Harvard usiness Review points to the demand for innovation in emerging markets, such as China and India, but this is also true, to a different degree, for the U.S. market

. Innovation can take different…… [Read More]

Ethical Eugenics Unethical Pgd There

There are too many factors that cannot be controlled. Children may develop inferiority feelings regarding their own specialness due to the choices of their parents. Many people who may be able to make contributions to society will more than likely be aborted. There is also the possibility that just because someone has a genetic trait for a malady, they may not even manifest such a condition. Additionally, the lack of clear boundaries in this field leaves the potential for catastrophes, such as that which happened during orld ar II.

orks Cited

Abraham, Carolyn. "Unnatural Selection: Is Evolving Reproductive Technology Ushering in a New Age of Eugenics?" The Globe and Mail, 7 January 2012.

Appel, Jacob M. "Toward an Ethical Eugenics: The Case for Mandatory Preimplantation Genetic Selection." JONA's Healthcare Law, Ethics, and Regulation 14:1, 2012, 7-14.

Gattaca. Dir. Andre Niccol. Perf. Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law. Columbia, 1997. Film.…… [Read More]

Stem Cell Genome Reparations

Human Genome, Stem Cells, & Reparations

Stems Cells are the source of all body tissues. Growth and development of the human body arises from the stem cell and is maintained by it. Although all cells can divide or copy themselves, stem cells are unique because they can replicate and create all other types of cells. This ability of the stem cell to develop into any of the 220 cell types that make up the human body makes it a powerful tool for biological research and medicine. Scientists believe that stem cell research has the potential of leading to previously incurable diseases.

How are Stem Cells Formed?

When a sperm cell fertilizes an egg, a zygote (fertilized egg) is formed. The zygote divides itself almost immediately to form stem cells. These unspecialized stem cells have the ability to replicate (to form other stem cells) and to make all other specialized cells…… [Read More]

Stem Cells the Ethical Controversy

Analysis of the Issues: The ethical concern for the rights and welfare of viable infants is certainly a legitimate concern, but the central ethical analysis that pertains to stem cell research revolves around the issue of defining human life appropriately. Objective criteria like anatomical development, cognitive awareness, and above all, sentience of any degree and in any form are all legitimate bases for the definition of life and for identifying the period of gestation corresponding to the earliest conceivable safeguards necessary to prevent suffering.

On the other hand, purely subjective doctrinal claims without objective criteria of any kind are wholly inappropriate bases for defining scientific concepts like when life begins. The fact that human development varies among individuals and that it may be impossible to know exactly where sentience and other elements of "humanness" first begin in the fetus does not mean that it is impossible to identify periods of…… [Read More]

Foundationally Promising Research Discoveries of

For some the issue then arises when the pluripotent cells are removed from the blastocyst, as this very act negates the ability for the cell group to develop into a human being. "Note that the process of changing from totipotent to pluripotent to multipotent cells is not reversible -- that is, pluripotent stem cells do not produce totipotent stem cells, and multipotent stem cells do not produce pluripotent stem cells."

Borror, O'Rourke and Skirboll 54) Additionally, the proponents of stem cell work cite the pluripotent as incapable of producing a human being therefore not a destruction of life, hence leading to the Bush decision to ban the creation of new lines of stem cells, as it would require the destruction of further human totipotent cells.

Multipotent. The pluripotent stem cells undergo further specialization into multipotent stem cells, which are committed to giving rise to cells that have a particular function.…… [Read More]

Tenet of the American Nurses Association Code

tenet of the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics states, "the nurse provides services with respect for human dignity and the uniqueness of the client, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health problems." (Howard University) That seemingly simple statement puts nurses as well as other medical professionals in an ethical quandary when they consider the issue of in-vitro fertilization that results in a pregnancy with multiple fetuses. Even the presence of twins instead of a singleton presents extra risks for both mother and babies, and those risks rise dramatically as the numbers of babies increase. However, in the recent past, fertility experts have felt it necessary to implant multiple fertilized eggs because of a low success rate (Johnson, 1999).

One option when a multiple pregnancy presents clear risks, especially to the likely viability of all babies, is selective reduction. In selective reduction,…… [Read More]

Ethics of Human Cloning in 1971 Nobel

Ethics of Human Cloning

In 1971, Nobel Prize winning-scientist James atson wrote an article warning about the growing possibility of a "clonal man." Because of both the moral and social dangers cloning posed to humankind, atson called for a worldwide ban on any research leading to cloning technology (atson 8).

Until then, cloning had been largely relegated to the realm of science fiction. Scientific research concerning cloning and in vitro fertilization was obtuse and technical, and hardly written about in the news. atson, however, was a highly-respected scientist, a Harvard professor famous for his discovery of the double helix structure of the DNA. The article he wrote sparked an intense debate over cloning, a debate that was renewed with the 1996 birth of Dolly the lamb, the first cloned mammal.

The argument no longer centers on whether cloning is possible, but on whether cloning is ethical. This paper examines the…… [Read More]

Gestational Surrogacy Even Though it

A also consider that a proper legislation should protect the surrogate mother, in order to avoid situations in which her rights would not be respected. Therefore, she should be paid her medical expenses and, as a sort of benefit for her act, she should be granted a free medical insurance and the right to free medical analyses. Moreover, the legislation should stipulate that the surrogate mother should be of the same nationality - American in this case - as the future parents, in order to avoid situations as those which occurred in the Indian women case, who have thought to have been abused, a thing they have accepted because of their poor material status.

All in all, it seems that gestational surrogacy is not among the best surrogacy practice, and this is because of the ethnic, legal and cultural misunderstandings it might generate. In addition, I consider it should be…… [Read More]

Controversial Bioethical Issues of the

Chimpanzees and gorillas can be taught human sign language, and sign with one another even without humans present. (MMMC, 2002) They argue that to use intelligence and compassion as a sliding scale of the right to life would cause many humans to be justified out of existence.

However, even if one accepts that too many animals are experimented upon, and researchers should use other means, it is similarly hard to justify the elimination of all animal experimentation, altogether, as this would have meant the end of such recent drug developments in AIDS research, as well as more questionable animal tests, as for instance, the use of rabbits in cosmetic testing, for which there are acceptable substitutes that do not require animals.

orks Cited

Bayliss, Francoise. (2004) "Our Cells/Ourselves: The Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research." Stem Cell Network. Retrieved 12 Jan 2004 at http://www.stemcellnetwork.ca/research/projects/project04.php

BBC News. (Feb 12, 2004)"Q &…… [Read More]

Healthcare Ethics -- Stem Cells

While freedom of religion absolutely guarantees the right to refrain from choosing to submit to stem cell-based treatment, the same freedoms and the concept of separation of church and state absolutely preclude religious beliefs about when life "begins" (or about anything else) from dictating laws that affect other people who may not share those particular beliefs (Dershowitz, 2002).

Beneficence and Non-malfeasance

Certainly, both the concept of beneficence and non-malfeasance absolutely prohibit the use of fetal stem cells from any fetus that is sufficiently developed to be considered a "person" as well as from any fetus that is sufficiently developed to sense pain. Medical authorities may debate where the exact point is where "personhood" first becomes an issue, but in principle, that characterization must be a function of objective criteria and never subjective beliefs of laypeople, especially based in religion (Dershowitz, 2002).

Both beneficence and the duty to avoid malfeasance prohibit…… [Read More]

English Legal System the Law

For example, the Parliament passed the "Year and a Day ule" Act in 1996 that changed the previous murder and manslaughter law that specified that a person could be charged with murder or manslaughter if the victim died within a year and a day of receiving his injuries. The change was made to reflect modern development in medical science, which enabled injured people to remain alive for longer periods.

Changes in the UK laws have also reflected the growing strength of the egalitarian ideal over the last two centuries. It has led to changes in laws that have encouraged the gradual emancipation of married women and the prohibition of discrimination based on race or sex. For instance, an old law applicable until recently did not allow married women to refuse sex with her husband. However, in . v (1991), the House of Lords decided that if a wife did not…… [Read More]

Stem Cell Stems Cells Are

eferences

Condic, M.L. (2007, January). What We Know about Embryonic Stem Cells. First Things: A Monthly Journal of eligion and Public Life 25+.

Patel, K., & ushefsky, M. (2005). President Bush and Stem Cell Policy: The Politics of Policy Making. White House Studies, 5(1), 37+.

Pickrell, J. (2006, September). "Instant Expert: Stem Cells." NewScientist.com news service. etrieved on March 4, 2007 at http://www.newscientist.com/channel/sex/stem-cells/dn9982

Shapiro, .S. (2006). Bioethics and the Stem Cell esearch Debate. Social Education, 70(4), 203+.

Stem Cell Basics." (2006). Stem Cell Information from the National Institute of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. etrieved on March 4, 2007 at http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/

Wagner, C.G. (2007, January/February). Values Conflicts in Stem-Cell esearch: Governments Struggle with Bioethical Issues. The Futurist, 41, 8+.

Precursor cells are also known as pluripotent cells, i.e., having the ability to replicate (to form other stem cells) and to make all other specialized cells that make…… [Read More]

Commercial Surrogacy the Issue of

For example, the 1984 British government committee report suggested that "it is inconsistent with human dignity that a woman should use her uterus for financial profit and treat it as an incubator for someone else's child," in part because this threatens to undermine the traditional belief in an inviolable mother-child bond.

Opponents who criticize commercial surrogacy from this perspective frequently attempt to differentiate between commercial surrogacy and "altruistic" surrogacy, in which a surrogate carries a child without a fee, but this distinction is merely nominal, because the lack of an explicit payment structure does not make the decision to become a surrogate any less transactional, and furthermore, the potential for exploitation exists in either case.

Before considering how the law actually treats surrogacy, then, it is becoming clear that a general prohibition on commercial surrogacy represents a kind of undue restriction on the personal and financial autonomy of women, because…… [Read More]

Buck vs Bell Lee M Silver's Remaking

Buck vs. Bell

Lee M. Silver's Remaking Eden and Dr. Leon R. Kass' Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity provide differing perspectives on the applicability of the issue of the case of Buck vs. Bell to today's society. In Buck vs. Bell, eugenics and Social Darwinism spurred a Supreme Court decision that allowed forced sterilization. In Remaking Eden, the perspective of Silver effectively argues that the case of Buck vs. Bell is not at all applicable to genetic issues today. Silver's optimistic stance on genetic engineering seems to indicate that human innovativeness and ingenuity will allow humans to successfully use genetic technologies to improve the world. In contrast, Kass' perspective suggests that the case of Buck vs. Bell is highly applicable to genetic issues today. Kass notes that even well-meaning and benevolent applications of technology can have devastating impacts on human dignity, echoing a theme found in the violation…… [Read More]

Political Influence Over Stem Cell

Going back further, the same religious principals also inspired opposition to organ transplants and blood transfusions; before that, the Catholic Church strictly forbade any forensic scientific research, necessitating the need to dissect cadavers for medical education entirely in secret (Levine, 2008).

Just as the news media are partially at fault today for their failure to distinguish legitimate concerns from ludicrous fears in connection with the ongoing political debate over American healthcare, they are equally responsible for allowing unfounded fears of "human cloning" in connection with the beneficial uses of stem cell science. Specifically, the main source of secular opposition to stem cell research is attributable to unnecessary fears of rampant misuse of human cloning technology to clone human beings. While human cloning is hypothetically possible, no responsible scientific researcher would ever misuse current biomedical technology in that fashion. The complexities of cloning entire organisms have been well documented in animal…… [Read More]

Choosing the Sex of an Offspring

Gender of a Baby:

The issue on whether parents should be allowed to choose the sex of their baby has been a major controversial issue in the recent past that has attracted huge debates between proponents and opponents of such practice. This issue has received huge attention because of long-term use of Assisted eproductive Technology (AT) to help pregnant women in the United States and across the globe. This technology basically involves the transfer of fertilized human embryos into a woman's uterus through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Advances in Assisted eproductive Technology have contributed to various innovations such as Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, which enables parents to choose prenatally the sex of their offspring (Bumgarner, 2007, p.1289). This technology enables parents to select the sex of their babies through the use of medical techniques. While it is considered as a major breakthrough in reproductive health, Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis has been surrounded…… [Read More]

Bioethical Dilemma Research With Embryonic

2). Stem cells "can theoretically differentiate into virtually any type of human cell, from blood cells to skin cells" (AAAS, 2009). Besides, "in the natural reproductive process, human eggs are often fertilized but fail to implant in the uterus" (AAAS, 2009).

From an ethical standpoint, proponents of stem cell research also argue that embryos are going to 'waste.' "Fertilization clinics routinely create more human embryos than are needed over the course of a fertility treatment, and are therefore left with excess embryos that are often simply discarded" (AAAS, 2009). Some individuals who are philosophically opposed to both abortion and artificial reproductive technology believe so long as such practices are legal the remaining embryos should be used to have at least some impact upon the improvement of human life. Other "opponents object to this argument, however, saying that such research would still condone the destruction of embryos" and encourage more 'waste,'…… [Read More]

Infertility the Inability to Naturally

However, proper treatment may restore fertility. During pregnancy, existing fibroids may grow at a greater pace due to the increased blood flow and estrogen levels but they usually return to their original size after delivery.

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

Definition & Cause: Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a general term for infection of the lining of the uterus, the fallopian tubes. It is a very common disease and in the United States alone, nearly 1 million women develop PID each year and more than 100,000 women become infertile as a result of PID (NAID Fact sheet, 2005). It is caused in a majority of cases through sexually transmitted diseases such as Chlamydia and gonorrhea but PID-causing bacteria may also cause infection through other means such as during childbirth, abortion, or IUD insertion.

Complications: PID can damage the fallopian tubes, ovaries, uterus, and cervix, leading to chronic pelvic pain and serious damage…… [Read More]

Does a Person's Gender Affect Their Views on Cloning

Cloning has been a hot issue in the news media in recent years. Many feel that it is a good idea and that there could be many benefits to mankind. However, there are those who feel that the issue is beyond our human capabilities and that we are playing with fire. There have been many surveys conducted on public opinion concerning the issue. Some of the studies have been formal, conducted by the research community, and others are informal, conducted by parties such as the news media. Many of these studies failed to separate answers according to gender, age and other demographic issues. Not knowing the demographics of the sample population and taking into account the number of members in each demographic group could essentially add sample bias to the answers.

It is a commonly accepted idea in the academic community that there are significant differences in opinions expressed by…… [Read More]

Being Pregnant and Having a Baby

Gen was 25 when she became pregnant, and it was her first pregnancy. She was in a committed relationship but not married, and felt a jumble of emotions including fear. Gen knew that she would want children one day, and longed for the "boundless happiness" that she believed would accompany parenthood (edrappa, 2015). At the same time, Gen was still in graduate school. Her debts were piling up and she and her boyfriend occasionally argued about finances. At first, Gen refrained from telling ob the news. She was worried that the pregnancy would create conflict in their relationship, and then Gen realized that it was only a matter of time before she had to tell him. She was utterly unwilling to have an abortion, partly because she knew that eventually she did want to be a mother but also because she felt the "spark of life," as she put it,…… [Read More]

Immortal Life The Body and Science

Anti-Aging, Stem Cells, Immortal Life and God

Anti-aging research has given us a new hope for a longer life. Thanks to the stem cell studies by scientists like Dr. Doris Taylor, our knowledge of how a heart works and how stem cells help bodies to regenerate and take part in "endogenous healing" (Tippett, 2010) have advanced the way we think about human life on this planet.

As Krista Tippett, Host of On Being, describes in her interview with Dr. Taylor, "a new and dramatic discovery about the human body" is now in our midst, though that discovery has been "politicized" in a way that throws a moral question over the research (Tippett, 2010). Dr. Taylor explains that a lot of fear in the public about the use of stem cells comes from the fact that most people think of aborted fetuses when they hear the word "stem cell". They imagine…… [Read More]

Genome Human Cloning Human Cloning

(iii) in the United States, Brazil, Germany and France, humans have been receiving their own stem cells to re-grow heart muscle in the unforeseen incident of heart attack or injury. This was found to be successful in majority of the cases. (iv) in one more incident, the vision of 23 patients was restored after limbal adult stem cell transplants. This line of therapeutic care has assisted a lot of people who have been suffering from blindness for years together that includes the sufferers of mustard gas attacks in Iraqi. (Life Issues Institute, 2006) v) Crohn's disease patients have in fact been treated with stem cells evolved from their own blood. (vi) Among the 90% of the 19 patients having several autoimmune disorders like systemic lupus has been on the path to recovery following treatment with their own blood stem cells. (vii) a research of Parkinson's disease displayed an average improvement…… [Read More]

Stem Cell Cience Must Be

Unfortunately, a tremendous amount of valuable research has been put on hold ever since the ban of federal funding for stem cell research. In the United States, the vast majority of medical research of all types that eventually lead to cures for disease are funded by the federal government. The federal ban on stem cell research does not completely prohibit it, but the effect is nearly the same, just as it would be if the federal government withdrew funding for cancer or diabetes research.

The main opposition to stem cell research comes from the Religious Right who believe that any form of research using fetal stem cells is wrong, because according to their religious views, every fertilized human egg should be considered as much a human being as any living person, even a microscopic zygote consisting of nothing more than four cells of human tissue. Certainly, the concept of religious…… [Read More]

Life Science Current Event Report Current Events

Life Science Current Event eport

Current Events on Cloning and Evolution

Topic and Date: The Ethics of Egg Manipulation (Evolution), August 27, 2009

Nature

The article "The Ethics of Egg Manipulation" published in Nature investigates the research challenges in reducing diseases that can be identified prior to egg fertilization. Scientists have questioned if it is necessary for humans to give birth to offspring that are at high risk for genetic diseases. Their hypothesis is: If we remove the bad parts of the DNA from one egg and replace it with good DNA from another egg and use the new egg for in vitro fertilization, can we reduce the number of babies born with disease (Anonymous, 2009)?

Current experiments have been performed on monkeys. The experiments have been successful and scientists believe the research is ready to move to humans, but many laws are in place to deter this type of…… [Read More]

Unethical Experimentation Issues and Concerns

(Freyhofer 104)

Globalizing clinical research has reportedly proven to be one solution for America's pharmaceutical paradox. Doctors prescribe more than 10 prescriptions for the average American each year. Only one person in 350, however, will submit themselves to be a participant in experimental drug testing. On the other side of the globe, however a profusion of under-treated, poor, physician-trusting patients who live in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia provide the rapid, positive results needed for new drugs to receive quick approval. One review noted that 99% of controlled trials published in China netted positive results upon the drug/treatment being investigated. (Shah 23) In Nigeria during 2002, thirty Nigerian families filed a class-action suit against Pfizer, who allegedly violated the Nuremberg Code in 1996 as they presided over an experiment on Nigerian children suffering with meningitis. esearchers reportedly forced a risky, unapproved, experiment on unsuspecting subjects who, as a…… [Read More]

Albert Schweitzer Once Stated A Man Is

Albert Schweitzer once stated, "A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives" (n.d.). A pronouncement that in 1952 - when he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life" -- may have had a different meaning than it does today. Nowadays, one lives in a world where artificial insemination is a normal practice, where in vitro fertilization is a common practice, where life has the potential to begin outside the womb in a test tube, where the very definition of "life" has become increasingly complex. Consequently, the issue of what is considered "ethical" and what is considered "unethical" with regards to human reproduction methods has also become more complicated. To understand the ethical minefield that is modern human reproduction, one should consider the situation of Nadya…… [Read More]

Genetics Case Study

Genetics Case Study

Genetic Case Study: The Rita and Peter Trosack and Tay-Sachs Disease

Genetic testing is becoming a much more common practice in medicine today. This presents a unique set of challenges for medical professionals in virtually all specialties. The practical aspects of determining which test to order, and in interpreting the result accurately in the context of the family history, can be difficult.

Additionally, the ethical conundrums that frequently present themselves when genetic risk assessment and/or genetic testing is being considered can be daunting. These challenges present real concerns for medical professionals and patients alike.

Included in this paper is a review of some of the practical and ethical complexities associated with genetic testing. Pretest and posttest genetic counseling is also emphasized as an important and essential process in today's medical practice.

The Interdisciplinary Team

The interdisciplinary team members should include an obstetrician, a genetic counselor, a psychologist/psychiatrist,…… [Read More]

Savior Baby Lit Review

Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis: State of the Art

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is used to analyze embryos genetically before their transfer into the uterus and offers couples at risk the chance to have an unaffected child, without facing termination of pregnancy. Embryos are obtained by in vitro fertilization with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and are biopsied mostly on day 3; blastocyst biopsy is mentioned as a possible alternative; the genetic analysis is performed on one or two blastomeres, by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) for cytogenetic diagnosis, or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for moleculardiagnosis (Basille, et al., 2009). PGD requires a close collaboration between obstetricians, fertility specialists, IVF laboratory and human geneticists. It needs intensive effort, expensive techniques and is demanding for the patients, but it offers tremendous opportunity for couples whose previous child has exhibited genetic abnormalities.

Children as Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donors

This article isn't directly related to PGD…… [Read More]

Knowledge Since the Colonial College

" (Downey, 2000, p.307) This aspect of the university, or that of the community is characterized by having less structure that the corporation or collegium of the university and is such that includes everyone as a member as everyone "belongs to and has equity in the university as a community." (Downey, 2000, p.307) This is a community characterized by disorder, ambiguity, and little in the way of definition. The university community is ever-growing and continuously changing and adapting to changes.

V. Synthesis and Evaluation of Three Critical Tensions by the Academic Leader

One critical aspect of the university is that of funding resources. As government funding either increases or decreases for the university so too does the requirements of how that funding will be allocated increase or decrease. As well, the university is forced in times of decreased funding to decrease such as:

(1) the number of employees;

(2) wage…… [Read More]

Nationalism Gender and the Nation

ut help is on the way. A elgian theologian is cited as saying: 'It is important and healthy for women, for families, for societies, that we are dealing with the return of the human male, almost from the dead'." (2007) It is interesting to note that there appears to be great fear among the Polish majority mindset that the strong role of men in their society will somehow be diminished by women also entering into a role that is modified from the present role attributed to Polish womanhood and strengthened. The media in Poland has actively and imaginatively played with the Polish nationalist party and served to drive the country back into pre-E.U. accession mindset.

The cover of Wprost in May 2004 is stated to feature a man "placed well above the woman" who is looking "proudly and sternly ahead, into the future; the woman teeth bared in a submissive…… [Read More]

Photograph Hurricane Katrina 2005

questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5019431816

Garrett, Brandon L., and Tania Tetlow. "Criminal Justice Collapse: The Constitution after Hurricane Katrina." Duke Law Journal 56.1 (2006): 127+. Questia. 1 Mar. 2009 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5019431816.

Images of Hurricane Katrina, found online at http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=looting%20hurricane%20katrina&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi,2005,retrieved 1 March 2009.

Images of Brittany Spears, found online at http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://judicial-inc.biz/81b.ri1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://thisiszionism.blogspot.com/2008/01/brittany-spears-rushed-to-hospital.html&usg=__uoZgO_FKCKQSYT3FQzen5-UUDYU=&h=317&w=405&sz=27&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=HnAV16M6q9DM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbrittany%2Bspears%2Bhome%2Bchildren%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG,retrieved1 March 2009.

Bloggerhead.com, found online at, retrieved 1 March 2009.… [Read More]

Rebecca Dresser and John Robertson

I do not believe that wearing glasses or make-up is wrong, even though this is an enhancement of the human body by improving one's life by being able to see, or covering blemishes and unsightly birthmarks that might make an individual self-conscious. Is selecting the best sperm donor really so much different than a man or a woman basing his or her choice of a mate upon that individual's appearance, intelligence, and lack of unpleasant 'skeletons' in the genetic closet? Svaulescu's idea that one has a moral obligation to screen for genetic defects or to personally improve the human race through reproduction makes one queasy, but the idea of leaving everything up to nature, in theory, would mean an end of folic acid for pregnant women or even birth control.

But really, the ultimate argument for allowing patients to attempt to engineer their offspring by selecting 'better sperm' may be…… [Read More]

Baby Ebay the Need to

The proclaimers of baby selling argue that the moral implications are not as negative as generally perceived by the society, but that trade with babies exists in numerous markets and in numerous forms and the legalization and embracement of such procedures would only be natural. "These markets are centered around the production and acquisition of babie - babies in the form of component sperm and eggs, babies in the form of fresh or frozen embryos, babies in the form of tissues and organs, and babies as full-term living infants" (Hirschman, 1991). As such, from the technological stand point, the selling of life babies would only be an extension of the modern procedures implemented to help conceive babies.

Then, there is the legal aspect of it. However the current legislature prohibits the trade of babies, the process should be best perceived as a contract between parties and it should be respected…… [Read More]

Hospital Ethics to Do or

The clinical trial team includes doctors, nurses, social workers, data entry technicians and other health care professionals (NWHRC 2005). They review a participant's health history and current medical intakes before the trial begins. They impart adequate information and instructions about the clinical trial, monitor each participant in the conduct of the trial and may contact the participant after the conduct of the trial.

Clinical trials or researches may also be open-label, placebo-controlled, double-blinded or randomized. They consist of four phases. Phase I establishes the maximum safe dosage; Phase II, its effectiveness; Phase III, its use on a broad population; and Phase IV, post-FDA insights on the effects of its long-term use (NWHRC).

From 1999 to 2000 alone, the Food and Drug Administration approved 73 new medications (NWHRC 2005). These included drugs for HIV, cancer, heart attack and Alzheimer's disease. As of 2000, Medicare covers many of the costs involved in…… [Read More]

Speech on the Benefits of

Since the war in Iraq, thousands of American soldiers have been injured, and some of them paralyzed by explosions that shattered their spinal columns.

Traumatic paralysis is often irreversible because the network of nerves in the human spinal cord cannot repair themselves when they are badly damaged.

Applications of cloning technology will allow us to grow new nerve tissue for implantation into damaged spinal cords to restore their functions (Sagan, 1997).

Seventh Point - Cloned Human Organs Can Save Thousands of Lives Every Year:

Medical applications of cloning technology already allows doctors to grow human skin for burn victims.

The exact same technology will allow us to make human organs by actually cloning the cells from the same person to make replacement organs (Soares, 2002).

This means an end to long waiting lists for donor organs and will make the difference between life and death for thousands of people every…… [Read More]

1950s to Scientific Technology of

Study Limitations. There is no doubt that the issue of stem cell research and cloning carries with it scientific obligations, moral concerns, and future possibilities (obertson, 2000). However, authors such as osenthal and Lanza have managed to put the issue squarely where it belong at this juncture, namely, controlled empirical investigative research. The authors, although, thorough in their presentation, did little to encourage the on-going process of stem cell research for regenerative medicine. The limitations of their research presentation include the following:

No direct relationship was established between animal stem cell research and human stem cell research.

Mention was not made with respect to the costs of current stem cell research efforts and possible future costs.

Emphasis was not place on the overall need for advanced biotechnology.

Documentation between government regulations and current stem cell research efforts was not addressed.

The authors did little to address the potential stem cell…… [Read More]

Start Off With an Introductory

Ian Wimut and Keith Campell could effectively clone two sheeps named Megan and Morag in July 1995 from the differentiated emryo cells. (History of Cloning)

Dolly originated on July 5, 1996 as the first organism ever to e cloned from adult cells. Following the announcements for creation of Dolly y Ian Wilmut, an extensive deate on human cloning ethics emerged and that led President Clinton to propose for a five-year moratorium on federal as well as privately invested human cloning research on March 4, 1997. Richard Seed, a Havard graduate could announce on Decemer 5, 1997 aout his ojective of cloning a human eing prior to an of the process y enactment of the federal laws. Following the successful cloning of Dolly, Ian Wilmut and Keith Campell generated Polly, after cloning of a Poll Dorset lam from skill cells grown on a la and with its alteration genetically to incorporate…… [Read More]

Women With HIV Have Reproductive

" (International Conference on Population and Development ICPD) (ibid)

However the meaning of reproductive right extends into other areas. For example, this includes the right to non-discrimination based on sex/gender and the right to privacy as well as the right to information. The issue of the reproductive rights for women becomes problematic and often fraught with controversy when it is applied to those infected with the HIV virus. This dilemma has far-reaching implications for the millions of women with HIV throughout the world.

3.2. Different perspectives

The different views on the subject of reproductive rights range from the more conservative view that all reproductive rights should be denied in Women with HIV to more perceptive views that links the denial of reproductive rights to other human rights issues. For example, one view from a survey conducted by the International Community of Women Living with HIV / AIDS (ICW) states that,…… [Read More]

Providing Nationalized Health Care

Nationalized health care is the responsibility of a modern nation to its citizens as many of them are not able to afford the costs of healthcare in United States. The direct effects of the lack of provisions of healthcare by the government has led to a situation where more than 40 million Americans do not have health insurance and the expenditure by private citizens of health expenses is as high as 15% while in the other industrialized countries, it is only 10%. These clear situations make it essential that there must be a provision of nationalized health care. (Bailey, 2005)

Explanation

There are relationships of health problems in relation to many social conditions which are present and their solution being provided. One of the problems we are witnessing in the cities today is in relation to people living in open places and the result is that they generally end up…… [Read More]

Fear Is an Emotion That Often Paralyzes

Fear is an emotion that often paralyzes people and fear of the unknown often precipitates irrational thoughts and behavior. One hot topic that illustrates this point is cloning. Many opponents to the subject of cloning are basing their arguments on fear. This fear is irrational and totally unfounded and extremely damaging to the cause of science. As a society, we are on a path that is leading us to embark on nothing short of fantastic discoveries and allowing fear to hinder this growth would be a dreadful mistake. Cloning is not bad or wrong -- the fear that accompanies it is.

Alun Anderson brings to mind several reasons why human cloning could be beneficial. One example can be seen in the couple who carries a recessive gene for disease. In this scenario, one of the parents cloning him or herself would remove the risk of their child being born diseased.…… [Read More]

Against Same Sex Marriages This

What right do these people have to take away these rights of a child? Children without a fatherly figure are more likely to end up breaking the law.

Same sex marriage denies them the right to have the normal environment for socio-emotional development or a normal family and it is their right to start their life with a father and a mother. The children are being raised by parents who are not their biological parents. There can never be a substitute for being raised by the mother and father who brought you into the world and are your biological parents. Most human societies have honored the norm that special responsibility for children lies with the biological parents. Same sex marriage is going against this norm, and the society's values attached with this norm. Whatever else it may accomplish, marriage acknowledges and secures the relationship between a child and his or…… [Read More]

Health Care Ethics the Ethical

Many of the chapters relate to medical research as well as medical procedures, with the informed consent issue in particular affecting both human beings involved in medical research and those facing a medical crisis and wanting to now what their treatment will entail.

Throughout, the authors present ways of thinking about these ethical issues and also encourage medical personnel to consider these matters and to have a means for making decisions in mind at all times and to follow certain procedures in analyzing a situation and making a determination as to what behavior is acceptable and what is not. Some of the issues discussed are more controversial than others, with abortion being perhaps the most controversial and so the most in need of an ethical structure to decide between competing interests. The death and dying issue is another with two clear positions polarizing the argument and with a range of…… [Read More]