RE: Religion and Medical Ethics

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  • Religion and Medical Ethics
    • Sanctity of life
      • the belief that there is something special or holy about life
      • Soul - the non physical part of a person which may go to heaven when the person dies
      • General Christian views
        • Human life is different because they share something of the nature of God, and God made humans uniquely, in his own image
        • Everyone has a soul that lives on after death and it is judged by God and can go to heaven
        • God plans each human life
        • God has given their lives to them, so they have the responsibility to take of themselves and others
      • Catholic views
        • The catholic church teaches: "Human life is sacred"
        • The catholic church teaches: "no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being
      • Church of England views
        • They have a great deal of respect for the principle of the sanctity of life, but feel it needs to be balanced against the command to "love thy neighbour". As such they see abortion as, in all cases, evil, but sometimes the lesser of two evils
      • Quotes
        • "God created mankind in his own image"
        • "God formed man, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life"
        • "The body is a temple of the Holy Spirit"
    • Abortion
      • Abortion is the deliberate termination of the foetus from the uterus
      • conception is when the sperm meets and fertilises the egg
      • pro-life is disagreeing with abortion
      • pro-choice is agreeing with abortion (though do not encourage it)
      • Catholic views - absolute morality
        • Roman Catholics believe that life begins at conception , therefore they believe that the killing of an unborn baby is morally wrong
        • In some cases, if abortion is needed to save the life of the mother, then Roman Catholics would accept the doctrine of double effect
      • doctrine of double effect: if doing something morally good has a morally bad side, it is right to do it provided that the bad side-effect wasn't intended
      • Church of England - Relative morality
        • They also oppose abortion, but recognize that there can be certain situations when abortion would be morally acceptable, such as the child having severe medical disabilities or in the case of ****
      • Methodist church views - relative morality
        • The Methodist church says that abortion is always an evil but recognizes that there are cases where abortion may be the lesser of two evils
      • Quotes
        • "Do not murder"
        • "love on another as i have loved you"
        • "you knit me together in my mothers womb"
    • Fertility treatment
      • Fertility treatment is help for parents who are infertile and want to have a baby
      • artificial insemination is directly inserting sperm into a woman's womb
      • AID is artificial insemination by a donor
      • AIH is artificial insemination by husband
      • IVF is when sperm and egg are put together outside the body and an embryo is formed which is then transferred into a woman's womb
      • General christian views
        • Fertility treatment brings happiness to people
        • It is wrong because God chooses whether people have babies or not, linking to God's will and the sanctity of life
        • It is loving to offer medical help
        • goes against the natural law; creating a child in ways other than sex
      • Roman Catholic Church views
        • Life begins at conception, which creates a problem with spare embryos. Some embryos may be thrown away during the process, stored or used in medical research.
        • They see it as going against the commandment "you shall not murder"
        • AID is wrong because it involves a third party which they believe is adultery
      • Church of England views
        • IVF is acceptable in all its forms, including the donation of eggs and sperm by third parties.
        • With regard to embryos, the church teaches that experimenting on spare human embryos is acceptable up to 14 days after fertilization because after 14 days a foetus can split and form twins, therefore it is not a human life until 14 days
      • Quotes
        • "be fruitful and increase in number"
        • "do to others as you would have them do to you"
        • "the lord had closed her womb"
    • Cloning
      • cloning is the creation of genetically identical copies of DNA fragments, cells or organisms
      • genetics is the study of heredity of genes
      • general views
        • research into the****utic cloning is unnatural and against the will of god
        • each person is given individuality by God and human life should not be tampered with
        • humans are not tools for science
        • humans have a god given responsibility to care for creation and if the****utic cloning would benefit humans, its is a good thing as long as it is strictly controlled
      • the****utic cloning is a medical procedure where single cells are taken from a person or embryo and are 'reprogrammed' to create stem cells which can be used  in medical treatment
      • Roman Catholic views
        • cloning separates the reproduction of children from the sexual act
        • to create embryos with the intention of destroying them , even with the intention of helping the sick, is completely incompatible with human dignity
        • it is gravely immoral to sacrifice a human life for the****utic ends
      • Church of england views
        • they want to support efforts to find treatment for serious conditions.
        • the support the use of embryonic stem cells if it is absolutely necessary and once all over options have been explored
      • Quotes
        • "before i formed you in the womb i knew you"
    • Suicide
      • the act of trying to kill yourself intentionally
      • Christians against suicide
        • god chooses when people ate born and when they die, so suicide is against Gods will
        • suffering can bring people close to God
        • suicide is a form of murder
        • the body is the temple of the holy spirit and should be treated as a place where God lives so should be respected
        • it is selfish and doesnt consider the grief that death might cause to those left nehind
      • Christians for suicide
        • helping suicidal people is showing love, instead of punishing them.
        • people who commit suicide should be regarded with respect and understanding not condemmed
      • Quotes
        • "Do not commit murder"
        • "There is a time to live and a time to die"
        • "The body is a temple of the holy spirit"
    • Euthanasia
      • Euthanasia is a gentle or easy death, another person helping someone to die
      • a hospice is a place where terminally ill patients are cared for
      • palliative care is care given to a terminally ill person to help them die in as much comfort as possible
      • voluntary euthanasia
        • when someone asks for the end of their life but is unable to commit suicide without help. often called assisted suicide
      • involuntary euthanasia
        • when other people decide that it would be best for someones life to end because they are unable to make the decision for themselves
      • active euthanasia
        • when the action is taken to bring a life to an end, such as a lethal injection. this is against the law
      • passive euthanasia
        • when a decision is made to stop giving further treatment such as antibiotics or invasive, painful surgery, even though the result is death.
      • Roman Catholic view
        • they are totally opposed to euthanasia, they regard it as the same as murder because it deliberately brings about death.
        • Ordinary treatments such as feeding a patient must always be continued but extraordinary treatments such as a complicated surgery that is unlikely to succeed need not be given
      • Church of England views
        • although deliberately taking a human life is forbidden, there are strong arguments that people should not be kept alive at all costs when they are suffering intolerable pain
        • To allow someone to die may be the most loving thing to do and applies to the christian teaching of agape
      • Quotes
        • "do not commit murder"
        • "Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and i will give you rest"
        • "God gives and God takes away"
        • "do to others as you would have them do to you"
    • Animal testing for medical research
      • dominion is the authority or rule over animals
      • stewardship is looking after something for someone else
      • medical research is scientific experiments carried out to help cure a disease
      • Roman Catholic and church of England views
        • both share the same view that animal experimentation is an important method of testing for life-saving drugs but they do not encourage it, and the animals must not be hurt unnecessarily
      • for animal testing
        • animals are not considered as important as humans and many christian's do not believe that animals have souls or can have a relationship with God
        • animals can help save injury and loss of human lives, and provide good research into cures to help the lives of humans
      • against animal testing
        • many christian's don't approve of using animals for medical research and they believe that God made his covenant with animals as well as humans and that they both have the same origin in God
        • they believe that animals are god's creation and should not suffer
      • Quotes
        • "God notices even the death of a sparrow"
        • "rule over the  fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature on the ground"
    • Surrogacy
      • surrogate is a woman who bears a child on behalf of another couple who cant have a child
      • General view
        • Most Christians are opposed to surrogacy because it involves a third party in a much bigger way than donated sperm/eggs
          • It strikes at the heart of the family
          • It can create massive problems for everyone involved, including the child
      • Roman Catholic view
        • Surrogacy is wrong because the mother who carries the child in her womb develops an intimacy and a real bond of connection to that child
        • it involves some great distortion of what God intends and it is playing with the notion of what motherhood is really about

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