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Bioethical Issues and Morality

Introduction
Bioethics entails the objective appraisal of how our values, desires,
and actions affect others, including animals and the environment.
Medical bioethics focuses on issues, such as euthanasia, surrogate
parenting, and genetic engineering, involving human health and well-
being. Increasingly, bioethical considerations are part of their
discussions on remedying many social and environmental problems.

Student Learning Objectives (SLO)

 Identify the different bioethical issues
 Give personal views on different bioethical issues
 Discuss the importance of bioethics
 Explain the different aspects of legalities of bioethics.

Content
Bioethics offers a multi-layered, rational appraisal of our place in the world and
how best we can live for the good of the planet’s life community. It mandates equal
and fair consideration for human rights, animal rights, and the environment. It
includes a temporal principle of transgenerational equity–having concern for the
well-being of future generations and a respectful understanding of the wisdom and
folly of our ancestors. We should forget neither our history nor the maxim, “We do
not own the land, we borrow it from our children.”

Its importance is reflected in different parts of our society such as healthcare,

research and our society in general. Bioethics in healthcare brought about
awareness to health workers of the medical practice as well as enriching the ability
of health workers to further understand the patient as a person. Highlighting the
ethical side of bioethics, health workers were now able to follow an ethical code
when working with patients which was once a problem. Ethical problems had a
clear connection to problems in health care, so by the emergence of bioethics, the

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healthcare of the country has been siginificantly improved.

To define the term of bioethics, bio meaning life and ethics meaning a way of
acting we can come to the conclusion that bioethics deals with the combination of
the natural laws of life and the set ethics of how one should live their life. Bioethics
is a study of philosophy as well as a study of biology.

https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/bioethics2100/2012/09/10/the-importance-of-bioethics/
A. Surrogacy

Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a

woman (the surrogate mother) agrees to bear a child for another person or
persons, who will become the child's parent(s) after birth.

People may seek a surrogacy arrangement when pregnancy is medically

impossible, when pregnancy risks are too dangerous for the intended mother, or
when a single man or a male couple wish to have a child. Surrogacy is considered
one of many assisted reproductive technologies.

In surrogacy arrangements, monetary compensation may or may not be involved.

Receiving money for the arrangement is known as commercial surrogacy. The
legality and cost of surrogacy varies widely between jurisdictions, sometimes
resulting in problematic international or interstate surrogacy arrangements.
Couples seeking a surrogacy arrangement in a country where it is banned
sometimes travel to a jurisdiction that permits it. In some countries, surrogacy is
legal only if money does not exchange hands.Where commercial surrogacy is
legal, couples may use the help of third-party agencies to assist in the process of
surrogacy by finding a surrogate and arranging a surrogacy contract with her.
These agencies often screen surrogates' psychological and other medical tests to
ensure the best chance of healthy gestation and delivery. They also usually
facilitate all legal matters concerning the intended parents and the surrogate.

Surrogacy may be either traditional or gestational, which are differentiated by the

genetic origin of the egg. Gestational surrogacy tends to be more common than
traditional surrogacy and is considered less legally complex.

Traditional

A traditional surrogacy (also known as partial, natural, or straight

surrogacy) is one where the surrogate's egg is fertilised in vivo by the
intended father's or a donor's sperm. Insemination of the surrogate can
be either through natural or artificial insemination. Using the sperm of
a donor results in a child who is not genetically related to the intended

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parent(s). If the intended father's sperm is used in the insemination,

the resulting child is genetically related to both the intended father and
the surrogate.[2][3]

In some cases, insemination may be performed privately by the parties

without the intervention of a doctor or physician. In some jurisdictions,
the intended parents using donor sperm need to go through an
adoption process to have legal parental rights of the resulting child.
Many fertility centres that provide for surrogacy assist the parties
through the legal process.

Gestational

Gestational surrogacy (also known as host or full surrogacy [4]) was first
achieved in April 1986. It takes place when an embryo created by in
vitro fertilization (IVF) technology is implanted in a surrogate,
sometimes called a gestational carrier. Gestational surrogacy has
several forms, and in each form, the resulting child is genetically
unrelated to the surrogate:

 The embryo is created using the intended father's sperm and the intended
mother's eggs;
 The embryo is created using the intended father's sperm and a donor egg;
 The embryo is created using the intended mother's egg and donor sperm;
 A donor embryo is transferred to a surrogate. Such an embryo may be
available when others undergoing IVF have embryos left over, which they
donate to others. The resulting child is genetically unrelated to the intended
parent(s).

B. Drug addiction

1. Therapeutic Drugs
Therapeutic: the branch of medicine that is concerned specifically with the
treatment of disease. The therapeutic dose of a drug is the amount needed
to treat a disease.

Examples of drugs widely analysed for therapeutic drug

 Aminoglycoside antibiotics (gentamicin)

 Antiepileptics (such as carbamazepine, phenytoin and valproic acid)

 Mood stabilisers, especially lithium citrate.

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 Antipsychotics (such as pimozide and clozapine)
 Digoxin.

2. Non therapeutic Drugs

General term for an undesirable and potentially harmful drug effect that was not
due to a mistake in dosage. Two prescribed medications that react to create
symptoms in patients would also be classified as an adverse effect.
Therapeutic trials are ones which enroll patients and provide a specific treatment
to the patients to study its impact on cancer. Non-therapeutic trials are ones which
do not provide a treatment to patients, but instead study important factors which
help advance the understanding of cancer and its impact.

C. Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death.[9] Mental disorders—
including depression, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia,
personality disorders, anxiety disorders, physical disorders such as chronic fatigue
syndrome, and substance abuse—including alcoholism and the use of and
withdrawal from benzodiazepines—are risk factors.[2][3][10][5] Some suicides are
impulsive acts due to stress (such as from financial or academic difficulties),
relationship problems (such as breakups or deaths of close ones), or
harassment/bullying. Those who have previously attempted suicide are at a higher
risk for future attempts Effective suicide prevention efforts include limiting access
to methods of suicide—such as firearms, drugs, and poisons; treating mental
disorders and substance misuse; careful media reporting about suicide; and
improving economic conditions Even though crisis hotlines are common, they have
not been well studied.

The most commonly used method of suicide varies between countries, and is
partly related to the availability of effective means. [16] Common methods of suicide
include hanging, pesticide poisoning, and firearms.[2][17] Suicides resulted in
828,000 global deaths in 2015, an increase from 712,000 deaths in 1990 This
makes suicide the 10th leading cause of death worldwide.

D. Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or

plausible/moral intent, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice
aforethought.[1][2][3] This state of mind may, depending upon the jurisdiction,
distinguish murder from other forms of unlawful homicide, such as manslaughter.
Manslaughter is killing committed in the absence of malice, brought about by
reasonable provocation, or diminished capacity. Involuntary manslaughter, where
it is recognized, is a killing that lacks all but the most attenuated guilty intent,
recklessness.

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Most societies consider murder to be an extremely serious crime, and thus that a
person convicted of murder should receive harsh punishments for the purposes of
retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, or incapacitation. In most countries, a person
convicted of murder generally faces a long-term prison sentence, a life sentence,
and even a death penalty may be imposed.

E Self Defense

Self-defense (self-defence in some varieties of English) is a countermeasure that

involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm.[1] The use of
the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of
danger is available in many jurisdictions.

F. Euthanasia

Euthanasia is the practice of ending the life of a patient to limit the patient’s
suffering.  The patient in question would typically be terminally ill or experiencing
great pain and suffering.

The word “euthanasia” itself comes from the Greek words “eu” (good) and
“thanatos” (death).  The idea is that instead of condemning someone to a slow,
painful, or undignified death, euthanasia would allow the patient to experience a
relatively “good death.”

Types of euthanasia

Different practices fall under the label “euthanasia.”  Here are some distinctions
demarcating different versions.

Active euthanasia: killing a patient by active means, for example, injecting a

patient with a lethal dose of a drug.  Sometimes called “aggressive” euthanasia.

Passive euthanasia: intentionally letting a patient die by withholding artificial life

support such as a ventilator or feeding tube.  Some ethicists distinguish
between withholding life support and withdrawing life support (the patient is on life
support but then removed from it).

Voluntary euthanasia: with the consent of the patient.

Involuntary euthanasia: without the consent of the patient, for example, if the
patient is unconscious and his or her wishes are unknown..  Some ethicists
distinguish between “involuntary” (against the patient’s wishes) and “nonvoluntary”
(without the patient’s consent but wishes are unknown) forms.

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Self-administered euthanasia: the patient administers the means of death.

Other-administered euthanasia: a person other than the patient administers the

means of death.

Assisted: the patient administers the means of death but with the assistance of
another person, such as a physician.

There are many possible combinations of the above types, and many types of
euthanasia are morally controversial.  Some types of euthanasia, such as assisted
voluntary forms, are legal in some countries.

Mercy-killing: The term “mercy-killing” usually refers to active, involuntary or

nonvoluntary, other-administered euthanasia.  In other words, someone kills a
patient without their explicit consent to end the patient’s suffering.  Some ethicists
think that

Physician-assisted suicide: The phrase “physician-assisted suicide” refers to

active, voluntary, assisted euthanasia where a physician assists the patient.  A
physician provides the patient with a means, such as sufficient medication, for the
patient to kill him or herself.

Some instances of euthanasia are relatively uncontroversial.  Killing a patient

against their will (involuntary, aggressive/active, other-administered), for instance,
is almost universally condemned.  During the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, in
Germany, Adolf Hitler carried out a program to exterminate children with
disabilities (with or without their parent’s permission) under the guise of improving
the Aryan “race” and reducing costs to society.  Everyone now thinks this kind of
euthanasia in the service of a eugenics program was clearly morally wrong.

G Capital Punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a state-sanctioned
practice of killing someone as a punishment for a crime. The sentence ordering
that someone is punished with the death penalty is called a death sentence, and
the act of carrying out such a sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who
has been sentenced to death and is awaiting execution is referred to as
condemned and is on "death row". Crimes that are punishable by death are
known as capital crimes, capital offences or capital felonies, and vary
depending on the jurisdiction, but commonly include serious offences against
individuals such as murder, mass murder, aggravated cases of rape, child rape,
child sexual abuse, terrorism, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide
and offences against the state including attempting to overthrow government,
treason, espionage, sedition, piracy, aircraft hijacking, drug trafficking, drug
dealing and drug possession and in some cases acts of recidivism, aggravated

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robbery, and kidnapping.

H. Abortion

Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or

fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or
"spontaneous abortion" and occurs in approximately 30% to 40% of pregnancies.
When deliberate steps are taken to end a pregnancy, it is called an induced
abortion, or less frequently "induced miscarriage". The unmodified word abortion
generally refers to an induced abortion.

1.Spontaneous Abortion

Spontaneous abortion is noninduced embryonic or fetal death or passage of

products of conception before 20 weeks gestation. Threatened abortion is
vaginal bleeding without cervical dilation occurring during this time frame and
indicating that spontaneous abortion may occur in a woman with a confirmed
viable intrauterine pregnancy. Diagnosis is by clinical criteria and ultrasonography.
Treatment is usually expectant observation for threatened abortion and, if
spontaneous abortion has occurred or appears unavoidable, observation or
uterine evacuation

2. Indirect Abortion

IN DIRECT abortion a living and nonviable fetus is removed from the uterus. The
reason for the removal is that the pregnancy, added to some pathological
condition from which the mother is suffering, increases her difficulties or even
lessens her chances of survival. No condition exists, however, which makes the
removal of the uterus itself necessary as a means of saving the mother's life.

The abortion is termed indirect when the pregnant uterus itself is excised because
its condition is such that its removal is medically necessary. If the uterus contains
a living and nonviable fetus, the fetus will of course inevitably die. There is no
direct attack upon the fetus, however, and its death is merely permitted as a
secondary effect of an act which needs to be performed and which, as we shall
see immediately, it is permissible to perform.

3. Induced Abortion
Induced abortion, the intentional termination of pregnancy, is among the most
common of gynecological procedures.
Induced abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by artificial means.
Governments can be permissive or restrictive in their legislation regulating
abortion. Induced abortion is legal in the United States today, where more than
one in five pregnancies end in induced abortion.

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I. Mutilation
1. Surgery
2. Organ Transplantation
3. Sterilization
4. Plastic Surgery

Assessment and Evaluation

References
https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/gynecology-and-
obstetrics/abnormalities-of-pregnancy/spontaneous-abortion

Prepared:
Checked: Approved:
Mr. Pormison
Mrs. Reyes
Ms. Siglos __________________ ______________
Mr. Giman Department Head Dean
Instructor

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