Ethical Surgery and Technology

Essay by lovetofishhUniversity, Bachelor'sA, May 2008

download word file, 9 pages 0.0

The medical field has continued to benefit from the success of medical technology over the years. From the invention of the stethoscope in the early 1800's, to the very first vaccines including diphtheria, tuberculosis and tetanus, to replacements of joints such as hips and knees, technology has been a crucial factor to the existence of human life. (Wright, 2007) These technologies have significantly improved our capabilities to diagnose and provide treatment for some of the complexities that exist in our medical field. The benefits that humans have experienced over the years from the advancement of medical technologies are priceless, but this has often been blamed for the continual rise in medical costs. As this advancement of technology continues, ethical concerns have become a leading issue among Americans. Ethics are consistently a concern relating to cloning, animal testing, clinical trials and medical technologies that are being conducted overseas. Cost care companies in the USA have imposed severe cost restraints limiting the development in introduction of new medical technologies.

(Saha, 1998). "Moreover, increased difficulty in getting FDA approval for medical technologies in the USA has recently led to the introduction of some technologies first in foreign countries". (Saha, 1998). Foreign countries have allowed this research and testing to continue in many instances that the United States would not. Not only is it legal to perform this research and testing in other countries but the costs of such are far less than that of the US. This is what drives many technologist, biologist, and doctors to take their business overseas especially if their business is of ethical concerns in the United States.

The doctor in the following scenario wants to use advanced medical technology to create new types of organisms. One of his goals is to alter genetically these organisms for use in...