1.
Sacrificing the lives of the few to save the lives of the many is often
assumed to be a higher level of moral reasoning. What can you say
about it? (Film: Swordfish)
2. A man’s wife is pregnant, her health goes south quickly. The doctor’s
tell the man he must choose between his wife and his unborn child. He
must sign a paper allowing the doctors to abort his baby and save his
wife, or he must take his chances, and possibly both the wife and the
baby could die. In one instance the husband wants desperately to abort
the baby, because in his reasoning, he only has one wife, and without
her he can’t have any other babies. If they abort this baby, they can
always have another one. The doctors wants to save both the wife and the
baby, and risk accidentally killing both. The husband refuses to sign
papers allowing his baby to be aborted. He decides to take his chances,
and the doctor’s were able to save both his wife and his new baby girl.
3.
Organ transplantation in Japan is regulated by the 1997 Organ Transplant
Law which legalized organ procurement from "brain dead" donors.After an
early involvement in organ transplantation that was on a par with
developments in the rest of the world, attitudes in Japan altered after a
transplant by Dr. Wada in 1968 failed, and a subsequent ban on
cadaveric organ donation lasted thirty years. The first transplant after
the Organ Transplant Law had defined "brain death" took place in
February 1999.
Due to cultural reasons and a relative distrust of
western medicine, the rate of organ donation in Japan is significantly
lower than in Western countries.
