Posted on 10/05/2006 3:49:28 PM PDT by wagglebee
MELBOURNE, Australia, October 5, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) Patients designated as in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) should be used for medical experiments, according to several top bioethicists, regardless of whether or not prior consent was obtained.
Several articles published in the recent issue of the Journal of Medical debated the potential use of patients with non-responsive brain function for such medical experiments as animal organ transplantsto bypass ethic prohibitions against using a living human being for medical experimentation, some even suggested designating such patients as dead, saying their cognitive impairments justified treating them as cadavers.
Dr. John Shea, medical advisor to Campaign Life Coalition, told LifeSiteNews.com it would never be ethically or morally acceptable to use a living human being for medical research without their permission, regardless of their level of cognitive function.
A person who has PVS is not dead! If you claim to respect the sacredness of human life, you cant use a human person for medical experimentationthat would be grossly immoral.
In fact, little is understood about the capacity for awareness and understanding of people suffering from severe cognitive impairment, Dr. Shea said. Documented cases of patients who have unexpectedly woken up from a supposedly permanent PVS state have refuted the argument that their condition is irreversible. (See: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06070409.html)
Dr. Steven Curry of the University of Melbourne, who supports experiments using PVS patients, said it would be too difficult to convince the public that PVS patients were dead, according to commentary by the bioethics news watch BioEdge on Oct. 3.
Regardless, he said, their bodies should be used for medical research. Repeating a common fallacy of the bioethics debate on PVS, Curry stated that such patients will not recover. Those who are in a PVS will not ever wake up, they feel no pain or discomfort and have no continuing interest in their own survival
While making the argument that PVS patients have no right to mental autonomy since they have no apparent functioning mental capacity, Dr. Curry excused the medical use of their bodies by suggesting such patients should be allowed to choose to donate their bodies for the good of science, saying, these patients must also have a right to risk that life for the common good.
As a further basis for his argument, Dr. Curry stated that PVS patients inability to bear children and their lack of any capacity for movement justified the possible confinement caused by experimentation.
Also, he said, no risk of withdrawal of consent exists. While stating that obtaining prior agreement to experimentation would be preferable, he pointed out that such agreements would be unlikely, since few people would anticipate living in a comatose state for several years.
Dr. Curry would support permitting family members to give permission for a comatose relative to be used for medical experimentation, with reference to the persons values and stated preferences.
Read commentary from the Australasian bioethics newsletter:
http://www.australasianbioethics.org/Newsletters/currentbioe...
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Man Wakes from Two-Year Coma was Aware and Remembers Everything
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/oct/05100604.html
New study questions brain-death criterion for organ donation
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/sep/06091502.html
Helen Keller was deaf, dumb and blind, I've often wondered whether or not this would be considered a "brain injury" and I don't doubt for a second that many of these self-anointed "ethicists" would declare that she did not have the "quality of life" to justify keeping her alive.
The things I'm thinking right now....
I'm gonna need a shower.
Sumbitchmustdie!
I was watching the German news the other day, recently, and they spoke of finding a mass grave just the other day that was filled with those considered a "burden" by the Nazi's. Located near the gravesite was a building that housed some of the "burdensom" people before they were killed.
"Why do you stalk Bykrbayb, are you bored? "
Go to my posting history. See how many times I have ever even dealt with Bykrbayb. Then ask the Admin Moderator how many times I've been banned or suspended here.
They want to do it again and they will try. Look at abortion, in their wildest, most evil dreams the likes of Hitler, Mengele, Stalin never dreamed of a day when the United States would "legalize" the murder of over 1 MILLION infants per year.
I guess you spend you whole day looking to start fights because that is exactly what you did. Pathetic!
What a bunch of God damned Nazis.
Actually, none of this would have happened had not a couple of posters played a little game of talking about another FReeper by imbedding emboldened letters in their message.
I came to the thread because of its title. I thought that the little game was stupid, so I pinged the people named. I did not contact any mods. I just pinged the people. They're not even people I talk to on FR.
You're blaming me for pinging another freeper. I don't think I've ever done that before. Go find someone else to bother, please.
I agree. There is a very good reason abortion is illegal in Germany.
Give me a break. You were looking to start a fight and that is PLAIN for anyone to see.
"You were looking to start a fight and that is PLAIN for anyone to see."
Even a 3rd grader could see what you were trying to do. So please, don't try to act all innocent, no one is buying it.
Gutter rolling catfight ping.
I never seen where she lied. I have only seen where she offered to post your website again. When she did that, she got banned. Is that not correct?
You sounds like you're saying that from experience; is that what you do?
If not, what exactly explains YOU showing up oh this thread four days after the fact, missy?
I have no idea why she got banned; I'd take a look at the Admi Moderator's comment for a clue though.
I hate I missed it.
Looks like someone's reinstated already. Pity.
Also, nothing more pathetic than grown men who have nothing better to do than to make petty comments.....I could NEVER imagine my husband or yours wasting their time doing that...how pathetic! Girly men or metrosexuals????? LOL!!
I wonder just who she is in love with???? Check FRmail on that one....What a way to spend retirement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!
I've heard that rumor before, but you're the first one I've seen present it as fact. Most people say "I heard a rumor that..." Do you believe the rumor, or are you just trying to sell it to others. Is your belief in that rumor the reason you tried so hard to get me to post your AFer group on a Friday, and why you were so disappointed when I didn't post it until Tuesday? Do you honestly believe that certain FReepers are routinely banned, just because Friday has arrived, and a certain shift is on duty? Where is your proof?
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