Monday, April 16, 2012

Universal, or Individual consequences?What would Kant say?

An Israeli court has granted permission for family members to extract and freeze the eggs of its 17-year-old daughter, who died earlier this month in a car accident, according to the Israeli English-language website Haaretz.
Chen Aida Ayash died on Aug. 3, 10 days after she'd been struck by a car, at Kfar Sava's Meir Hospital. Her parents donated her organs and obtained a court order to remove and freeze Chen's eggs.

 If we're to follow Kant on this point, the individual consequences are irrelevent, just as doing what's best for the "greater good" is irrelevent. Only the practice of universal ethics matters for Kant, therefore, whether or not the eggs are used isn't the concern, but rather, by whom is using them is what really matters here.
When doctors and families do decide to follow through with such decisions, several other weighty problems arise.
"Here, since the patient cannot give consent, doctors would need to be assured that a suitable substitute decision-maker is in place and can provide consent," said Judith F. Daar, professor of law at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, Calif. "Families must try to set aside their understandable desire to keep a part of their child and focus on what their child would have actually wanted.

This suggest that the primary issue is that the catagorical imperative isn't being followed. The parties involved are approaching this on an emothional level and out of personal motivations.
As applicable to universal consequence, would the donation of these eggs be constructive if those eggs led to a child being born that would cure a major disease? Would that be equally as justified if that child became a serial killer? Again though, the conseqences for Kant don't matter, it's the intent that is paramount, and nothing more. So here, the intent is to help people on the doctors behalf by using the fertile eggs for study. The parents want them to perserve their lost daughters legacy for selfish reasons. Who's right here? Is anybody right here?



http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/Ethics/28009

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