Question

***Transplants of organs such as the heart and the kidneys are now routine procedures. Before too long, scientists assure us, the transplant of the brain will also be a reality. Will such an operation ever be ethically justifiable? In answering consider the various activities of the brain and their influence on personal identity.

*** Jack Kevorkian (also called “Dr. Death”) achieved notoriety and a prison sentence by assisting terminally ill people in committing suicide. He provided them with a specially designed machine that allowed them to push a button and release a fatal dose of anesthesia into their bloodstream. Kevorkian believed that what he did was not immoral. In fact, he spoke of the “goodness of planned death” and dismissed criticisms of him as “emotionalism.” Discuss the ethical questions surrounding Kevorkian’s medical “specialty.

Answer 1

Brain and a person's behavior are directly related. The regions of the brain can be mainly divided into frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobe. These portions are responsible for one's creative thinking, rationalization, memory, decion making, intelligence, etc.

Brain transplantation has ethical problems, because it is connected to one's behavior. Some researches conclude that the person with brain injury used to exhibit some odd behaviors. For instance, organic cause (brain injury) is the one reason for developing Schizophrenia. So it is clear that brain functions as well as personality is related. One of the main ethical problem of brain transplantation is, it will affect the individual identity. In addiction to this, there will be changes in personality, behavior, skills and cognition.

There are lot of ethical questions to Kevorkian's idea especially from the religious part. They claims that there is lack of respect to human life. In the contrary to euthanesia, palliative care can provide more dignity and care to human life. Euthanesia can be abused by people and there are chances for killing persons who want to live. It will eventually change the attitude towards the terminally ill people.