This is a resource I prepared for an evening to have a debate and then engage in a role-play. These activities really help young people consider other people’s different perspectives and interests in matters – especially where compromises may have to be sought.
Read moreMy forum post on MedWeb (Birmingham University) It seems to me, that discussions of medical ethics with peers, in journals and the media tend to focus on ethical implications of only current medical abilities, despite however long they have been in exercise. An example would be abortion which was practised in Greek and Roman times. The first recorded recipe for an abortion producing drug was in 2600BC. Thomas Aquinas considered the scientific and theological aspects of abortion in depth in the 13th century. Other examples include organ transplantation and euthanasia. Medicine, is one of the most, rapidly changing disciplines in society. Constantly new techniques, evidence and trials are being developed. I wonder whether or not we should be considering ethical issues concerning medical practice where the possibility of that medical practice will not emerge until a few decades. Cloning and the benefits to humans are becoming more obvious. Scientists have already a headless frog embryo. It does not seem a distant possibility of headless human clones. In fact, it is real possibility that in a few decades we could have the ability to grow clones of ourselves from birth. These clones would be engineered to be biographically dead (a persistent[…]
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