Ethics
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Explain the stories of Baby Theresa, Jodie and Mary, and Tracy Latimer. Reflect the idea of moral reasoning and list two other examples in society today.
-The lives of Baby Theresa, Jody and Mary, and Tracy Latimer reflected the idea of moral reasoning by being influenced by individual reasoning and the children did not have control of their lives, yet, their parents decided their fate. Moral reasoning in my interpretation is individual or collective practical reasoning about what morally we ought to do. In these three cases the parents of the children did what they morally thought would be best for their children, even though many will look at each circumstance differently. In the aspect of morality, the parents of these children used their own judgment and looked at the interest of the individual and how they would be affected. In the aspect of the Conscientious Moral Agent, each parent looked at their children and the suffering or feelings that were going through the child and they believed they were doing what was best for their child. They used their judgment and decided what was both best for them and their child, but may not have looked at what potentially others from the community or family members would feel about their actions. They may have believed they were acting in the best interest of their child in “their own mind” but onlookers may think respectfully different. In the case of Baby Theresa, an an encephalic infantÐ-she was refereed to as a “baby without brains”.
Baby Theresas parents volunteered her organs for transplant. The physicians agreed that this was a good idea. In my opinion I think the parents were trying to salvage what they could from an awful situation. In quite a few states, brain death (which I assume would parallel anencephaly quite closely) is sufficient for removal from life support, at which point the patient dies and organs can be removed. When you think about it, if the baby truly did not have a functioning brain, the infant was in a persistent vegetative state and not truly alive. Its terribly tragic, but not horrendous.
In the case of Jodie and Mary,they were two girls were born connected at the lower abdomen. The parents, from the island of Gozo in the Mediterranean, travelled to Britain so that their daughters could receive specialist medical treatment. British doctours found that one of the two girls – Mary – had only a rudimentary brain. She also depended on her blood supply on the heart and lungs of Jodie, her twin sister, who, according to evidence given in court, was a bright and alert baby, sparkling and sicking on her dummy. The prognosis was bad. Leave the girls attached and both would die within months. Separate them and Jodie had a good chance of surviving, if with some physical handicaps. The immediate result of such an operation, however, would be the death of Mary. The doctors wanted to operate. The parents, devout Catholics, objected, insisting that, as it is wrong to kill, and as the operation would clearly result in the killing of Mary, Gods will must be that the doctors allow both girls to die. The parents took the case to court. The doctors won the case, and the operation went ahead. Mary died. But Jodie has survived. The parents religion played a huge part in the case, but in the good nature of saving one of the babies the doctors won the case and one baby had the right to life.
In the case of Tracy Latimer, she was a twelve year old girl who suffered from cerebral palsy, so her father decided to end her suffering,
by killing her with exhaust gas. Was this a mercy killing or murder? Transcripts from the trial verify that Tracy Lynn Latimer was not in a “terminal” condition and that she was denied her right to have surgery and proper pain relieving medication by her own father. A permanent replacement home was available for Tracy, but her father denied her that option as well. Tracy was put out of her “misery” by her own father who was thinking he was doing what was best for her, others think different and feelings may change but I look at this as a sad excuse for taking an innocent girls life.
An example of a similar ethical