Purchase Solution

The morality of cell harvest for saving lives

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

What are your thoughts regarding harvesting cells as far as a necessity in saving lives? I admire your insight, so I ask "do you think it is morally wrong not too?". Pros should certainly trump cons provided there are restrictions.

Purchase this Solution
Solution Summary

The solution discusses thoughts regarding harvesting cells as far as a necessity in saving lives.

Solution Preview

You have opened a very large can of worms where it's probably useful to consider what you mean by implying a moral imperative to save lives. As a physician, I have taken a vow to act to save lives, but over thirty-plus years of practice it becomes obvious that oath has its limits, some practical, some moral, and sometimes the two overlap in additive or conflicting fashion. To act so as to save life may or may not be in the best interest of the person who owns that life, and it's important that we always consider what you aptly refer to as the pros and cons.

A simple example of harvesting cells to save a life is a blood transfusion. Certainly, if someone who is otherwise well able to function except that they're undergoing massive blood loss, providing them with harvested blood cells is a very moral thing to do. But then I think back to hearing a presentation about the first liver transplant done in Indianapolis on the Friday of the Memorial Day weekend. The anesthesiologist presenting the experience excitedly recounted completely depleting the Indianapolis metropolitan area of both type specific blood (same blood type as the patient) as well as O-negative (so-called universal donor type) blood supplies in the process of successfully completing the surgery. She did not appreciate my question regarding the moral ...

Purchase this Solution
Free BrainMass Quizzes
The Heart

This quiz test the understanding of the heart and some of its parts. It is important to understand how the heart functions and what makes it function.

Feeding Babies

Do you know the science behind feeding babies? Test your knowledge with this quiz.

BIOLOGY

Basics in biology

Comfort Measures For Labor

Are you ready to doula someone through labor?

Birth 101

Do you know about childbirth? Find out with this quiz.

View More Free Quizzes
Related BrainMass Solutions

  • Overview of stem cell research

    The widespread push for international debates over stem cell research has led to a concern over the morality and ethics of embryonic stem cell research.

  • Artificial Cell

    For example, if the artificial cell is destined to be a fibroblast, then one would harvest the organelles, nucleus, and cellular extract from a live fibroblast cell.

  • How do you building an artificial cell that can take the place of living stem cells?

    For example, if the artificial cell is destined to be a fibroblast, then one would harvest the organelles, nucleus, and cellular extract from a live fibroblast cell.

  • When and How to Implement Harvesting Strategies

    To successfully harvest sales for maximum cash flow, a company must prepare for the decline and offer attractive options to customers to buy. An example is given of Jostens Inc. forecasting a decline of high school students.

  • Pluripotent Stem-cell Debate Questions

    Should we not permit the creation of research embryos for the greater good of humankind? 4.

  • Bunyan Lumber LLC: Calculate when the company should harvest the timber

    Please note: 1) All the calculation is included in the Excel sheet. Please see the formula in the cell for an understanding of the calculation. 2) Just a side note, the 10% required nominal require seems high.

  • Ethics of phone use

    Many workplaces have strict cell phone guidelines so using the company phone cuts back on time out of the office and still gives you a piece of mind so that you can focus on work which becomes a benefit to everyone involved.

  • Moral Issues

    On the local level, we'll be able to closely examine the motivations for people for acting the way they do and how it correlates with our ideas of morality.

  • Federal funding for stem-cell research

    The secular media is largely biased towards abortion • The secular media is not against imposing one's religion or morality, as long as it's humanistic religion or morality • The successes of non-embryonic stem cell treatment have largely been overlooked

View More Related Solutions