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Thitirat Pongprajuc

This I believe...at the end of the semester

1. Patient autonomy should stop when the patients do not have the ability to make rational
decisions because patients are not able to speak for themselves and are not mentally competent to
make decisions. When they are incompetent, they are no longer able to give informed consent
which is important for physicians and medical team to decide which treatment they will provide
to the patients. They may know the best treatment that can cure the symptoms, but they may not
know what the patients want.

2. Medical research should be done ethically because most of the time the research participants
are taken advantage by not knowing the risks of medications that are given or not given to them.
Giving placebos also raises ethical concerns is that the participants are expecting to receive some
new treatment that can cure the symptoms and diseases. However, taking placebos instead of an
actual medicine could lead to worsening of their health conditions.

3. Genetic testing for the future should be used to gain more knowledge about diseases relating
genes. Genetic testing and study should be done in manner of finding ways to protect humans. It
should benefit us in preventing and eliminating some disorders such as autism, sickle cell
disease, and Huntington's disease. Moreover, the finding of the genetic diseases during
pregnancy will allow the parents and medical team to prepare for the situation after the defected
children are born.

4. Egg and sperm donation should be used as a method for couples who have difficult time to
have the own child. The egg and sperm donation will allow infertile parents to have their fifty
percent biologically child. However, egg and sperm donation should not be a money source for
people who want to just make money by selling their reproductive cells. Selling egg and sperm is
more controversial than being pregnant by a using other people egg or sperm. The price of
selling egg reaches six figures which is very expensive, and it makes the society think that egg
donation nowadays no longer creates the value of donating as it should do.

5. Abortion should not be legal in general cases when couple do not want to care for the baby.
People generally know the consequences of sexual intercourse when they not use any method of
contraception. If the woman becomes pregnant, abortion should not be allowed even though she
does not want that baby because it is her and her partner responsibility to take care of a new life.
However, abortion should be allowed, there is a sign of the fetus impairments, fetal toxicity and
the risks to the mother life. Moreover, if a woman is raped, abortion should be allowed as well
because conceiving the baby could create emotional and psychological suffer to the woman.
6. Treating or terminating impaired infants should be decided by both mother and father
because they are responsible for the welfare and well-being of that child. Although only the
mother is conceiving the infant, they should have an equal responsibility to take care of the
infant. Unless the couple is divorced, the mother will be the person who is in charge of deciding
whether or not the impaired infant should be terminated. Above all, before deciding to terminate
the impaired infant both mother and father should consult with the physician to see if there are
possible treatments that can help the infants quality of life it is born.

7. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide should be decided carefully because either


allowing patients to die painlessly or denying giving patients assistance will raise ethical
concerns. Some may support euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide because it enables
patients to use their autonomy one last time, help patients escape from the suffering they
currently face, and saves money from the medical treatments. Some may think giving patients
medication to help them die may considered as killing. The other side may argue that not letting
them die as they wish also unethical because the patients continually suffer from the diseases and
symptoms. Why would the physician not prevent the harm when they could?

8. Payment to organ donors or their families should be prohibited because many ethical
issues arise from doing so. Paying money to donors or their families destroy the value of
donation because it leads people to sell organs for money without appreciating that they can save
someones life. It also leads to human trafficking in some areas where people are poor and
uneducated. They could do anything that they can make money to survive.

9. Allocation of health care should be considered based on a person's age/quality of


life/ability to pay because everybody should have access to health care regarding their age,
quality of life, ability to pay. Basic health care should be equally allocated for all who need it.
Discrimination should not exist on health care because it will create a huge ethical dilemma. So,
everyone should be treated equally when they need basic health care. However, there are many
factors that make health care not equally allocated. Health insurance plays a significant role in
this situation. Somebody have only basic health insurance coverage may not be able to get some
treatments they need because they do not have ability to pay the medical expense.

10. Medical research for women should be more focused because most research is done
without female participants or with few numbers of female participants. Some diseases that are
found in both genders may have hormones alter the symptoms. This could make the treatment
outcomes different between genders. Medical research should find out the ways to treat the
disease that may yield different result in different genders.

11. Health care for minorities should be focused on curing symptoms and prevention of
diseases. It should be equal and no discrimination because minorities likely to isolate themselves
from participating or going to any official places including the hospital. The health care team
should comfort them, so they will have a good experience and come to the hospital when they
seek for medical help. This could promote a better public health which will result in less
spreading of some diseases.

12. Those with AIDS/HIV should be treated without prejudice. They should be treated no
different than those who do not have the disease. They should be given help and therapy as they
need. Moreover, they should be educated to not unintentionally spreading the disease to others.
Also, family and friends should give them support, so they will not feel isolated. The public
should help promote living with AIDS/HIV without fears and eliminate the stigmas surrounding
this disease because it fuels discrimination toward people who have AIDS/HIV.

13. My opinion has changed on most of the issues because I have more understanding on each
topic as I learned in this semester. At the beginning of the semester I could only give very basic
answers for the issues, but now I can explain more and also provide reasons to it. I notice that I
can response to the issues with more logical and ethical information at the end of the semester.

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