Capstone Studies in Bioethics

Sex Differences in Dosage Recommendations Cause Damaging Effects on Female Patients 

My paper focuses on inequality in medical research and how current research practices provide incorrect dosage recommendations for much of the population. Doses of many medications are catered towards white males, since they are the majority of the sample pool. My paper examines multiple reasons as to why white males appear to be prominent in medical research. I also touch on how this practice affects all fields of medicine. The solutions I offer include reworking the legislative requirements for medical research, correcting current doses of medications on the market, and offering rewards for companies for having diversity in their research. 

Is Healthcare a Universal Human Right?

My paper focuses on the ethical justifications for the United States switching to a universal healthcare system. I establish the grounds on which healthcare could be considered a moral right that ought to be protected by the government. I also discuss how universal healthcare would decrease human suffering and minimize the disparities in the quality of treatment between different socioeconomic groups. I utilize two case studies to further explain how people in the United States are dying from manageable illnesses as a result of individuals being unable to afford the medical treatments that they need. 

Informed Consent in Abortion: Are They Just Trying to Dissuade Women?

There are many factors to consider when thinking about the regulation of abortion services for women. One concept that is often overlooked when examining the ethics of abortion is informed consent. When women are considering or ready to begin the pregnancy termination process, it is evident that there are many issues which call into question whether or not current informed consent requirements for abortion are ethical. This paper looks into different informed consent regulations and requirements with respect to abortion, along with examining challenges surrounding crisis pregnancy centers. Moreover, I investigate the potential biases influencing lawmakers, and I question whether personal autonomy and psychological well-being for women are taken into consideration to an extent, if at all.

Roads to Recovery: A Shift from Reductionist Psychiatry 

Since the boom of psychopharmacology, psychiatry has been focused on treating the mentally ill primarily with psychiatric drugs. This default method depends on a reductionist view of mental illness, which assumes that the causes of mental illness are organic in nature. I argue that modern psychiatry’s use of a reductionist framework is objectionable on the grounds that it causes harm to patients by selling them short of recovery options. I discuss the evidence that the predominant interventions are of questionable efficacy and other routes of recovery are marginalized. I also touch on the concern that the medicalization of mental illness is being exploited for marketing purposes. Psychiatry should shift towards a more holistic approach that treats each patient as a whole person and broadens treatment options. 

Physician-Assisted Dying: Regulations to Protect the Vulnerable  

The social consequences argument against physician-assisted dying states that physician-assisted dying should not be legalized because it would have dangerous consequences for society, such as doctors promoting life-ending treatment over life-sustaining treatment. With physician-assisted dying legal in a handful of states here in the United States and other countries around the world, are there proper regulations put in place in order to protect the most vulnerable? This paper looks into a handful of regulations and arguments both for and against physician-assisted dying. The regulations under evaluation are ones put in place in Oregon and in Canada. The paper then addresses regulations that should be in place whenever a state makes physician-assisted dying legal.

Rapid Allocation and Age-Rationing in the Time of Covid-19

The massive loss of life during the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us just how much attention we need to apply to worrying about the lives of others. This paper focuses on how we should allocate scarce resources such as hospital beds and ventilators to Covid patients and, specifically, whether it is ethical to ration resources based on a patient's age, prioritizing the younger over the elderly. Time constraints and the lack of resources force us to choose between prioritizing those who may benefit the most from treatment vs. a principle of first-come, first-served. I argue that age rationing is unjust discrimination and that first-come, first-served allocation is the best we can do during the current state of emergency.

The Risks that Unconventional Methods of Cognitive Enhancement Place on Morality

With more and more methods available for humans to enhance their cognition, it’s worth pondering if any of these methods come with any serious risks. To accelerate the process of cognitive ability through unconventional methods is problematic because there are no successful ways to also accelerate the process of moral enhancement, which I argue to be essential. The bad that would come from enhanced cognition without enhanced morality outweighs any of the good. I make an argument against cognitive enhancement though unconventional methods because these methods ultimately risk leaving morality behind. 

Advance Directives: An Extension of Autonomy Through Alzheimer’s Disease

With the use of advance directives, people have been able to maintain autonomy in end-of-life decision making. As many believe that their decisions will be completely autonomous, advance directives are not always followed in the case of Alzheimer’s Disease since the individual is no longer deemed competent. I propose that while the demented individual may discover new experiential interests, it is our duty to promote the best interests of those living in dementia by granting them precedent autonomy through the use of an advance directive. As the number of Alzheimer’s patients increases, we must educate our geriatric population on the importance of advance care planning. Upon initial diagnosis, I suggest that conversations about end-of-life care should be made early, while individuals still have the capacity to make decisions that best reflect their critical interests.

In Defense of Presumed Consent for Organ Donation

In the United States, individuals must “opt-in” to becoming organ donors in order to permit removal of their organs when they die.  An alternative system gaining popularity is an “opt-out” system, according to which we would presume that everyone consents to becoming an organ donor unless they opt out of the system.  Some bioethicists oppose an opt-out system because they believe it would be wrong to remove people’s organs without their explicit permission.  I argue in support of presumed consent to organ donation.  It is the system that would result in the greatest amount of good and, also, the fewest instances of disrespecting people’s autonomy.  

Mental Disorder, Suicide, and Incompetence

Society's assumption that the mentally ill are incompetent and incapable of making decisions pertaining to their medical care is a significant social issue that we deal with on a daily basis.  This stigma causes society to imagine the mentally ill patient as a victim who must be cared for and protected.  Additionally, this institutional paternalism forces medication and incarceration in order to settle society’s fear that people with mental disorders are a harm to themselves or others.  In my paper I argue that some mentally ill people who have thoughts of suicide are not incompetent and that they have the right to refuse treatment.  

End-of-Life Decision-Making and the Incompleteness of Classic Standards of Autonomy

In discussions over end-of-life (EOL) decision-making, the classic normative standard for autonomy is incomplete insofar as it leaves out the social self and emotional considerations. In this paper, I argue that the burden of an autonomous decision is a lonely hardship for the person and that the emotional and social self plays a significant role in EOL decision-making. I also note how the American attitude towards death impinges on EOL decision-making. Finally, I argue that palliative sedation is not killing in the sense that physician-assisted suicide might be considered, but rather it is allowing to die. I situate my arguments within the realm of EOL decision-making as regards autonomy and relational autonomy. 

The Case for Genetic Enhancement

Empirical evidence suggests that we might be able to use genetic technology to make future generations of humans stronger, smarter, and healthier. While these enhancements might sound beneficial on the surface, others worry that allowing them would harm key human virtues, such as humility, responsibility, and solidarity. I argue that, while we might see a shift in virtues and how they exist in society, the result will likely be that the bar for virtue will be raised. Further, genetic enhancements of moral traits and good medical practices will protect against virtue degradation as well as allow future people to reap the benefits of these enhancements.

An Ethical Analysis of Treatment Methods for Gender Dysphoria in Children and Adolescents 

My project focuses on the debate over medical treatment for children and adolescents diagnosed with gender dysphoria, an area of medicine in which there are few general practices and policies currently put into place.  I looked at current standards of treatment along with the arguments for and against treatment and evaluated whether these recommended practices follow the ethics of beneficence, justice, and autonomy. I argue for a need to develop a universal standard of care that benefits the patients themselves and restricts practitioners from making medical decisions based off political bias.

Preconception Gender Selection: The Importance of Parental Virtues

With the introduction of preconception gender selection (PGS), a couple can choose which gender they would like their child to be. This technology is ethically controversial especially when a child’s gender is chosen for nonmedical reasons. While some ethicists support PGS on grounds of reproductive liberty rights, others raise concerns about gender discrimination and potential negative impacts on the child’s life.  In this project, I defend the view that PGS for nonmedical reasons is unethical because it is contrary to the parental virtue of acceptance, according to which children should be loved, accepted, and allowed to flourish, regardless of their gender.  

Alternative Medicine, Pseudoscience, and Health Care

With the expansion in health care and the input of Obamacare, the idea of universal healthcare is being considered in the United States. My project examines to what extent healthcare coverage should be expanded to include alternative medicines such as chiropractors, tai chi, herbal medicine, acupuncture, self-help groups, and yoga.  I examine this question in light of the criticism that alternative medicines lack scientific validity.  I argue that health care plans should cover some alternative medicines provided that certain conditions are met, including that the medicines produce more benefits than harms for the patients.  I further seek to explain the differences between good science, bad science, and non-science.  

Neurolaw and Ethical Punishment

Developments in neuroscience have led to debate within the legal community as to whether defendants can be found guilty of a crime due to any one of many physiological brain conditions that can cause lapses in judgement. This debate includes whether theories of free will can change how the courts treat defendants. If defendants are found to be not guilty of a crime due to an underlying neurological condition, then how should we proceed in ensuring that justice and the rule of law is maintained? The solution may be treating the defendants who are found to have a physiological condition in a way like defendants who plead insanity are treated. This may lead to changes within the legal system to incorporate neurological evidence that would show the defendant was not in control of their actions.

Addiction: A Disease or a Voluntary Act that Leads to Disease 

In this paper, I focus on the initial phase of addiction and how one is responsible if knowledgeable of the disease that may result from their excessive substance use. First, I define the concepts of disease, addiction, and internal willpower. Further, I explain the disease model and the concept of addiction as a disease of choice.  Subsequently, I focus on the relationship that both the disease model and the disease of choice model hold and I address the following questions: Can one be both compelled and autonomous? Are addictive behaviors due to lack of willpower? Can addiction be measured on a continuum based on one's willpower? 

The Ethics of In Vitro Meat

Current methods of meat production involve breeding and slaughtering animals in industrialized factory farms.  Many people are concerned about how ethical this practice is due to the suffering it inflicts on animals and the detrimental effects on the environment.  A recent, alternative method of meat production is in vitro meat.  It involves using stem cells from animals to grow meat in a laboratory.  I argue that in vitro meat is a more ethical alternative to factory farming because it is better for animals, humans, and the environment.  In defending my position, I address the objections that in vitro meat still disrespects the rights of animals and that it is a less ethical solution than vegetarianism. 

The Moral Standing of Human Embryos and the Ethics of Using Them in Research

Medical research on human embryos poses many potential health benefits including the development of treatments for conditions such as spinal cord injuries, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases.  Despite these benefits, some people oppose embryo research on the grounds that it involves the destruction of embryos and, in doing so, it fails to properly respect human life.  The debate over embryo research forces us to ask whether embryos have the same moral standing as adult humans.  I argue that embryos have significantly lower moral standing than adult humans and, therefore, that it is ethically justified to use embryos in research for the betterment of humankind.