Should the Alternative Treatment Methods Be Used - Essay Example

"Should the Alternative Treatment Methods Be Used" is a good example of a paper on medical ethics. 
Schneider says that the advancement of medical knowledge is more important than informed consent. He refers to an article published in “The New York Times” on April 22 regarding the settlement of a provocative lawsuit between the Arizona State University and the Havasupai Indian tribe because of the overuse of Havasupai’s DNA samples without their consent, to criticize the books on Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca Skloot. No human cells but HeLa have thrived and have contributed to the development of the cure of a lot of diseases. Although Skloot does not share her views about remuneration, yet the racism and exploitation faced by Henrietta and her family make an integral theme of the book. Schneider is doubtful that Henrietta was exploited or her family members should have been compensated because in 1951, taking cells for medical purposes was legal and Henrietta was given high-quality treatment despite being a charity patient. John Locke’s theory suggests that scientists and doctors owned the HeLa cells because they made them valuable. Although body snatching was criminalized by society, yet the resurrectionists helped advance medical education. The notion of informed consent today sounds reasonable as long as it does not hinder the creation of scientific knowledge. Skloot has given long accounts of her investigation on Henrietta, her family, her cells, and their implications in her book. This along with the co-production of an HBO movie by Winfrey’s production company is “not merely soap opera-ish preening but, I suspect, soap Oprah-ish auditioning” (Schneider).

Response to Schotsman

Euthanasia is undoubtedly a practice that should be condemned and avoided in all circumstances. While the religion emphasizes the need to take all possible measures to let the patients have a high quality of life as well as prolonged life, there is certainly a limit to which medical science can be of help. In the case of Scotsman's brother, it cannot be said that medical science and medical treatment was of no help at all; radiotherapy did have positive effects on Scotsman's brother and did bring a lot of improvement in his brother’s quality of life. However, his brother was not quite as fortunate to have the same level of improvement in the quality of life sustained with the commencement of chemotherapy. Although chemotherapy does help certain patients of cancer, yet successful treatment with chemotherapy cannot be generalized for all patients, and Scotsman's brother provides evidence for this. Probably the best approach would have been to stop the chemotherapy halfway or to find a safe way out of the treatment once Schotsman had realized that his brother had been going through a lot of pain and suffering in his attempt to live longer. There is certainly an optimal level to which medical treatment works. Probably his brother would have lived more and with lesser pain had the chemotherapy been stopped. However, in any case, euthanasia is never an option since it is religiously forbidden. Since the results of treatment vary from one case to another, the decision to continue, stop, or choose an alternative treatment method should be made considering the facts of each case.