|
|
Dr Tom Kerns
North Seattle Community College
Discussion
Questions
for Lisa Belkin's
First Do No Harm
(Ballantine, 1993)
In answering these questions, note the questions that have subparts a), b),
etc. If the question is phrased in subparts, your answer should come
in the same subparts.
Please
post your answer to each of these questions in a separate message
in the Class Discussions folder in the classroom. That should make
it easier for people to read and
respond to them.
- On p114, about half way through a chapter titled "Patrick," a paragraph begins "Patrick's emotional addiction to Hermann...." Would you
say that Patrick was actually “addicted to” being
in the hospital, as is implied throughout the next 2-3 pages? Please explain your answer.
- In the chapters titled "The Cost of Care" (pp 160-81 and 224-28). Do
you think that the hospital ethics committee should allow financial considerations
to be brought to bear on questions
about whether
to continue or terminate treatment? Please explain your answer.
- Cf. the chapter titled "Taylor" (pp 189-211).
Do you think that Taylor’s ventilator should be disconnected
or not? Please explain your answer.
- See the paragraph that
begins at the bottom of p 226 and goes over onto p 227 (about half way through the second chapter titled "The Cost of Care"). “Hermann
could not make moral judgments about who deserved treatment.” Do
you think the hospital ethics committee should make judgments about who
deserves
treatment?
- cf. pp 259-61, about 1/3 of the way into a chapter titled "The Committee." Do you think that Lin should have signed the ethics
committee form requiring the surgical placement of a jejunostomy? Please
explain your
answer.
- In the chapters about Landon (273-79, 285-97, 304-20) we see that
Claire and Kenny had trouble getting pregnant, that when she did get
pregnant the placenta
ruptured in the sixth month, that the birth was premature, and that
Landon was born with severe spina bifida and potential brain damage.
Notice
whether, in those chapters, there is any history of Kenny and Claire
(and therefore
Landon) being exposed to environmental toxics. a) From what sources?
b) Did any physicians take note of or report such exposures (NB the case
history
given on pp 305-6, 1-2 pages into a chapter titled "The Committee")?
|
|
2010-2013 Dr Tom Kerns
This Introduction to Bioethics course is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available here. Open educational resources produced by other individuals or organizations that are embedded in these course materials
may be licensed under a different open license. Please confirm the license status of these third-party resources before reusing them.
Site
by Gray’s
Web Design |