Allie Fenlon #5

Imagine being in class and the professor gives you the following scenario: a mother gave birth to a set of conjoined twins, one of the twins was much stronger, while the other had an underdeveloped cardiovascular system. The weaker of the two would eventually become fully unconscious, thus killing the other twin within six months. But a separation process would deprive the weaker one of vital organs and the surgery would make the weaker child die. The parents want to keep them conjoined, but the doctor petitioned the court to separate them against the parent’s will. Who in the situation is right?

This semester, I am in a course called Moral and Social Problems in Healthcare. This is an ethics course requirement for a Health Science major. I have never encountered a class that makes me so uncomfortable; I have never been involved in such controversial conversations than the scenarios given to us at the beginning of each class. When I say controversial, I mean that there are conversations where you have to think about and argue for certain situations that are so heavily debated in the media today. For example, we have talked about who should be higher on the organ donor list, and how the list should be determined and if the current system for the organ donor list should be changed. There has never been a time in my life where I have had to argue for or against topics like these; I had never even thought that these situations could occur in real life. This is a normal ethics class. I find this class to be simultaneously my most interesting and my most emotionally and morally draining class. 

Do not get me wrong, this is one of my favorite classes. It makes me think in a way that I have never thought before. I think about all sides of each argument and then another is brought to attention. It forces me to see both the objective and subjective sides of each story. I now think about certain situations twice, one time I consider the emotions and the other I think of the actual ethics and the morality of the situation. I am also forced to think of everyone affected by these specific situations and how that affects my answers. The class makes me realize that there are not many problems in the medical profession that are black and white. There are many situations given to us that, based on the information given, my opinion changes three or four times. My professor also makes a point of finding why one has the opinion that he does. This means that there are many times that someone will argue one way and he will change one aspect of the situation or add information in an attempt to see what makes our opinions of what is morally right or wrong. There are times in this class that I feel as though there is no right and I have to argue for the lesser of the two evils.