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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Superdoctors: A Consideration Of Virtue Ethics And Human Enhancement, Rosa Dale-Moore Dec 2016

Superdoctors: A Consideration Of Virtue Ethics And Human Enhancement, Rosa Dale-Moore

Sound Decisions: An Undergraduate Bioethics Journal

Much of the technology used in today’s society could be considered enhancements under some framework. Human uses of substances and practices such as caffeine, meditation, brain training apps and creativity courses, plus countless other extracurricular activities and products all force the human body to be its best, or even past its best. The need for ethical consideration arises when deciding the uses for technology and enhancements. This paper will consider the ethics of human enhancement with regards to the specific profession of physician under the framework of virtue ethics.


Reconciling Eugenics For The Sake Of Human Survival, Conor O'Keefe Dec 2016

Reconciling Eugenics For The Sake Of Human Survival, Conor O'Keefe

Sound Decisions: An Undergraduate Bioethics Journal

This paper will attempt to argue for the moral permissibility of genetic enhancement through the ethical lens of principlism, which necessitates the consolidation of positive and negative eugenics as therefore equally permissible. I will argue that through modern medicine and technology we have a moral obligation to establish a more fair baseline of human functioning, and that giving consent to such enhancement is morally justifiable.


Longevity Extension From A Socioeconomic Perspective: Plausibility, Misconceptions, And Potential Outcomes, Eric Ralph Dec 2016

Longevity Extension From A Socioeconomic Perspective: Plausibility, Misconceptions, And Potential Outcomes, Eric Ralph

Sound Decisions: An Undergraduate Bioethics Journal

In the last several decades, a significant amount of progress has been made in pursuits to better understand the process of aging and subsequently gain some level of control over it. Wide-ranging successes with gene therapy and increased comprehension of the genetic components of aging have also recently culminated in numerous successes in extending the longevity of animals and the first human trial of a gene therapy to extend life through telomerase manipulation is already underway, albeit on a small scale (Mendell et al. 2015; Bernardes de Jesus et al. 2012; Konovalenko 2014). In light of these recent accomplishments, bioethicists, …


Advocation For The Universal Legalization Of Physician-Assisted Suicide As A Last Resort Measure, Mckinley Nevins Dec 2016

Advocation For The Universal Legalization Of Physician-Assisted Suicide As A Last Resort Measure, Mckinley Nevins

Sound Decisions: An Undergraduate Bioethics Journal

Considerations of physician-assisted suicide are pressing, emotionally charged, and urgently needed. Current safeguards that exist to protect the patients from coercion and abuses of power are crucial, but incomplete. Additional safeguards must be implemented to protect the role of physicians in cases of PAS as well. Also, improved palliative care measures should be advocated for and considered as the best option in cases of individuals suffering horrendously in the last month of a terminal illness. The universal legalization of physician-assisted suicide in all 50 states should be advocated for, so that once all palliative care measures available have been exhaustively …


The Ethics Of Using Animal Stem Cells, Katelyn Rosen Dec 2016

The Ethics Of Using Animal Stem Cells, Katelyn Rosen

Sound Decisions: An Undergraduate Bioethics Journal

Stem cell research is highly debated in fields of bioethics. This project examines the often-overlooked issue of using animal versus human stem cells. Stem cells can either be cultivated from embryonic cells, which are undifferentiated and pluripotent, or they are cultivated from adult stem cells, which normally replace worn out or damaged cells. Regenerative medicine uses stem cells to create new therapies to produce new cells, organs, and tissues with the intention to improve someone’s functioning, being healthier. Most research on stem cells aims to use embryonic stem cells to help create therapies to treat diseases and injuries or use …


Healing Powers; An Examination Of Medical Ethics, Benevolent Lies, And The Doctor-Patient Relationship In Late Eighteenth-Century Britain, Rosa Dale-Moore May 2016

Healing Powers; An Examination Of Medical Ethics, Benevolent Lies, And The Doctor-Patient Relationship In Late Eighteenth-Century Britain, Rosa Dale-Moore

Honors Program Theses

This paper will discuss foundational thought for the practice of medical ethics in the context of Dr. Thomas Percival, a physician in late eighteenth century Britain, and his work in which he introduced a code of medical ethics in an attempt to correct the imbalance of values used by physicians in their medical practices and to codify medical ethics as a practice in the Manchester Infirmary.