PHIL 223 Week 9 Assignment
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Eastern Michigan University *
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223
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Philosophy
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Apr 3, 2024
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PHIL 223 Week # 9 Assignment
This assignment is due on Friday, March 10, at 11:59 pm. Please submit it via Canvas. Read Atul Gawande’s piece titled “Why Physicians Participate in Executions”, pp. 126-133 and Ken Baum’s piece titled “To Comfort Always: Physicians Participation in Executions”, pp. 134-142 then answer the following questions. PowerPoint notes and lecture videos have also been posted under Week # 9 contents. Part A: Indicate true or false for each of the following statements (each worth 0.5 points). 1.
The American Medical Association considers pronouncing of death of an inmate by a physician acceptable. -False
2.
According to Atul Gawande, a condemned inmate is no different from a patient dying from cancer except that the inmate’s cancer is court-ordered. -True
3.
According to Ken Baum’s report, majority of physicians disapprove of participation in executions. -
False
4.
According to Ken Baum, condemned inmates are for all practical purposes terminally ill patients. -
True
Part B 1.
Why is the American Medical Association opposed to a physician participation in a legally authorized execution? (Worth 2 points). The American Medical Association opposed to a physician participation in a legally authorized execution because they see physician participation as clear violation of medical ethics code since “Physicians are healers not executioners”.
2.
In Ken Baum’s piece, which one do you think is the strongest policy argument against physician participation in a legally authorized execution? Support your answer. Briefly explain any weakness of that policy argument. (Worth 2 points). The strongest policy against physician participation in a legally authorized execution is the Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath states that Physicians are healers meant only to heal not harm. Medicine is mainly seen as a source of life not the means to end it. So, by physicians
participating in executions goes against everything they stand for and have been thought in their field. The main goal of a physician or anyone in the healthcare facility is to save and protect a life from harm to the body. Medicine does not stand for favoring/discriminating towards race, wealth, good, bad, exceptional, or ordinary. It does not choose to provide care to who it wants to but to everyone who needs it, regardless of if that person is good or bad. Standing by, while an individual is intentionally put to death/harm: the very concept that they
are told not to do is not just appalling but goes against everything they set out to accomplish in the world when they began learning the art of medicine. One weakness of this argument would be that by providing a physician to the inmate, provides comfort to the inmate that if something went in disarray the physician would step in to help him/her. Another weak point could also be that a physician involved in an execution is a humane act towards the inmate.
Read the Case Study: Please Don’t Tell! pp. 107; Commentary by Leonard Fleck, pp. 107-108; Commentary by Marcia Angell, pp. 108-110 then answer the following questions. PowerPoint notes and lecture video for these readings have been posted to Canvas (under week nine.).
3.
In no more than two double-spaced pages, state and support your position on whether to tell or
not to tell Consuela the HIV status of Carlos. Be sure to highlight and respond to at least four objection/s to your position. (Worth 4 points)
In my opinion, the physician should respect Carlos’s confidentiality and not inform Consuela of Carlos’s HIV status. Consuela is not in imminent threat/harm since HIV is contracted through the exchange of bodily fluids such as by having intercourse on a repeated basis. Consuela will only be helping Carlos recover from the gunshot wound. Besides, telling Consuela about his HIV status of Carlos will only cause more problems in Carlos’s life and health. Medicaid will not pay for a caregiver since Consuela is home and Carlos could be ostracized if his father is informed about his HIV. She is not bound by confidentiality to her brother and could tell other people including her father. In telling Consuela, Carlos’s health may be in more danger than before. Consuela might not
be willing to be a caregiver for fear of being infected by HIV and since Medicaid will not provide a caregiver to Carlos, he will be in a vulnerable place with no one to help. So, Carlos’s right to confidentiality should be maintained. However, there are four objections to not telling Consuela about her brother’s HIV status. Firstly, Consuela still is put in harm’s way even though the chances
of Consuela contracting the virus are very low. By not telling Consuela, the doctor is potentially responsible for her harm if (through a small chance) she contracts the infection. However, as stated above, the chances of Consuela contracting the disease are extremely low and if she were told Carlos could potentially not have a caregiver and his health will decline. Secondly, the family will eventually learn that Carlos has HIV and is homosexual. However, as of the present, The HIV information if told now when Carlos needs medical attention by a caregiver could be interrupted and put his life in danger. Thirdly, since Consuela is taking care of Carlos and must be the caregiver, she needs to know the precautions she must take and why she must take them.
However, Consuela can still follow precautions and safety protocols without knowing every single detail of why she needs to take such safety measures. Fourthly, Consuela has already sacrificed a lot for her brother and thus it would be considerate to let her know about her brother’s diagnosis.
Even though her sacrifice is admirable, telling her about her brother’s HIV could risk Carlo's life and so by not telling her they are ensuring Carlos’s health.
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