Scenario 3: A Moral Dilemma
The past few weeks, Colorado has received a ton of great snow. You and a close friend decide to hit the slopes of Winter Park for a day of skiing and snowboarding. Your morning is awesome, so you decide to go in for some lunch. Another skier swerves in front of you suddenly, and in an attempt to avoid him, your friend loses control and suffers serious internal injuries.
Months later, your close friend remains in the hospital awaiting a liver transplant. She is low on the priority list, but her time is running out. The doctors have suggested using a cloned liver made from embryonic stem cells. Your friend needs the transplant to live, but is struggling with the ethics of the decision. She asks you for advice.
What do you tell her?
posted by Cara S. at 10:46 AM
55 Comments:
this is really hard to answer. the way i understand stem cell the embryo would die but i'm not sure if before or after birth, which would be sad. but at the same time i would do anything to save my own daughter. so i would tell my friend to go for it because my friend has a life and hope.
11:13 AM
I would tell her to go through with the cloned liver, I mean the embryo had probably just been removed from a women for an abortion. If it wasnt going to be used for this, it would just die so if it was to create a new liver atleast it would be put to a good use. The embryo would die, but it was going to die anyways.
2:49 PM
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6:36 PM
I agree with natalie becuase like she said the embryo would die anyways and in this process wouldnt go to waste. Also it would save my friends life and that would be all that i would care about.
6:39 PM
I think that this would also be a very tough dicision, but i think that in a life and death situation, you have to put aside some of those ethics, in order to save your own life. if this surgery was absolutly going to work, then i think that you have to tell your friend to go for and support them.
8:27 PM
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8:56 PM
I would tell her to go through with the procedure because she has nothing to lose in the long run. If she needs this transplant to survive, she will die without it, so she may as well strive to live by undergoing the operation. Even if she were to die because of the operation, she would die trying to live rather than just sitting their and doing nothing. As far as the embryo goes, it, like your friend, will die anyway if nothing is done to it. In both cases, it would be worth going through the procedure because neither your friend nor the embryo has anything to lose. This at least gives your friend a chance at surviving.
8:58 PM
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8:58 PM
Its really hard to make a decision that big for your friend but I think if she really needs it, I would tell her to go through with it. The liver may be cloned but its better than dieing.
8:33 AM
Although this would be a difficult situation, I would counsel my friend, asking her whether her life took precidence over her ethics. If she strongly disagreed with the idea of transferring/cloning livers, then I would counsel her to wait for an avaliable liver from a donor without having to clone a seperate embryo. However, if indeed she agreed that her life was of greater importance than her beliefs against cloning, etc. I would strongly sugeest that she carry through with the cloned liver on the account that liver transplants are difficult to recieve unless extremely close to dieing. Even at such a point it is very difficult to recieve a donated liver and therefore the lists for such items are quite long. So, based on my friends beliefs of whether life or ethics took precidence, I would counsel her to take either one route or another as described above.
11:35 AM
I would follow up on where the embyro was coming from, if it was from an abortioned baby I would tell my friend that she should take the organ to live. I would support her in any decision she would make.
1:56 PM
I wouldn't be able to choose FOR my friend, so I'd just tell her what I thought of each scenario and have her choose based on what she wants. If she doesn't mind using the embryo, then she should obviously go through with the surgery. It's very important to me that she lives, but if she didn't want to accept the embryo, then that's her choice, but it would be very hard for the both of us. I'd respect her decision, if that's really what she wanted to do, because I couldn't change her mind. But I think I would give it to her straight, she could use the embryo and save her life, but it would (for some people, at least) leave her a bit guilty, or she could leave it if that's really what would make her feel better. I think that when her life is in danger, though, the easiest thing for her would be to accept the embryo. It's really her decision and I can only give my views. I'd support her no matter what, but in this case, I'd prefer for her to take the liver.
2:14 PM
This is relly extreme, and i would not be making the decision for my friend, but it would only be advice. If this were to happen to my friend then i would have to tell her to go with the cloned liver. Especially if this was the only way for her to survive in the short amount of time that she has.
4:53 PM
Because the liver was from the stem cells of an unborn baby, and because, like nataliej said, it was from an aborted embryo, I myself would take the organ if it were me. It's not as if you are choosing between your life and the baby's life. However, I think I would have a hard time advising a friend to do this. If later, in her happy healthy life, she began to feel guilt and change her morals to think that the operation was wrong, I too would feel gilty for helping convince her to go throught with the transplant.
6:27 PM
I agree with Shelby B, I wouldn't be able to choose FOR her, but I would tell her my ideas. I think that if it's a life or death situation, using the cloned transplant would be the way to go, even if it wasn't the most ethical decision. I think it is actually a pretty good idea to use cloned transplants because then it is easier to make one that completely matches the person's body type and need. However, I'm not sure that I would want to have the transplant my whole life, maybe I would tell her it would be only temporary.
7:07 PM
Since we have progressed into biology ethics...
I have to pose a question:
Have you ever wondered why elderly people and mothers would rather give their lives up for their children than live themselves?
Children have a life to live, and the older people feel as if they have already lived their life.
The doctor shouldn't have even suggested that possibility in the first place. Do you look the same as you did when you were 5 years old? Of course not. Do you look the same as when you were 10 years old? No. People change. That embryo is a person, and that person will change. If they were kept in the womb, soon, they would become 1 year old, and look different than they are now. Change happens to everyone, not just the people who you need an ultrasound to see.
My opinion doesnt matter. My friend shouldn't even ask my advice. She needs to talk to her family. They are the ones who will be directly affected by whatever happens to her.
1:32 PM
i say go for it. It is the difference between life and death. If you do the liver transplant, you have a chance of living, if you dont, then you hace a chance of dying. Its kind of the is your glass half full? or half empty of water? if you do the transplant, then that would symbolize more value of life, i say go for it
6:32 PM
If one of my friends has the tough decision to make I would defiantly tell her to take the embryonic liver. I agree with Kelsie, the embryo would die anyways. She has life and has hope to live longer. The embryo has no chance to live. I would tell my friend to imagine all the good to come in her life if she takes the embryonic liver and lives. If it is between life and death, I would persuade her to take the embryo liver.
7:36 PM
I would tell her to take the transplant. When it comes to a decision of life or death, I do not believe that ethics matter. Life is too valuable to let it just slip away like that. My friend would be probably only 14 or 15 years old, and that is way too young to die. Transplants are done in order to save people’s lives. Not everyone is able to get a transplant. I do not think that I would let my friend pass up the wonderful opportunity to live.
5:57 PM
I would tell my friend that they should go through with surgery and get the cloned liver. Even though it is a embryo it was probablaby from an abortion and it is now going to be put to a good use and it was going to die anyways so i would tell them to go through with the surgery.
12:54 PM
I would say that she should take the liver because sometimes you need to think about yourself and your life before your ethics.
3:15 PM
This is a hard situation. If her time is running out i would want her to live. I would tell her that she should get the clone liver. She could use that one until she is higher on the priority list for a real liver. A life is a precious thing and i wouldnt want my friend to die because she didn't take a chance.
5:30 PM
This would be a very difficult question to answer. My friend deserves to live, but so does the embryo providing the stem cells. I generally disagree with cloning because it seems to me like it would give people the power to decide who lives and who dies. The question we need to answer when we hear this is: should we take a life to save another? I believe the answer to this question is no. I think we should let nature take its course. As harsh as this sounds, my friend would still have a chance to get a transplant. In fact, I would donate something if I could. Even with this decision, the choice would ultimately be up to my friend.
6:00 PM
This wouldn't be to hard of a decision for me. I would tell my friend to have the procedure and take the cloned liver. Weather the baby was aborted or any other situation where the mother made the decision to donate the embrio i would tell her to go for it. The embrio has no life yet and has no knowledge of anything happening where as my friend is in pain and in full undersatnding of the situation.
8:45 PM
personally i would do what pretty much what ever it takes to save my friend no matter what and even if it cloning my own liver idk, but i personally against cloning in gerneral cause i think its wrong but in the right cerconstances it could come into use but i would tell him to go threw with it because its better to do it then to wonder what if after wards
8:51 PM
I would tell her to do it. If you do it then you have a chance on living. If you dont you die no matter what. The embryo probably came from an abortion and would just be put to waste this way the liver gets used and she lives. So i say go for it.
9:02 PM
This would be a really hard question to be asked and have to answered, but given the scenario, I would tell her that she should do it. If it helps people why not? She should be able to be healthy too and save her life!
5:31 PM
I can kind of understand the ethics issue in this situation, and because I cannot make the decision for my friend, I would just need to be confident that she did come to me for my opinion, so I shouldn't worry too much about voicing it, despite the fact that she may disagree.
I personally would support using the cloned liver. Though the stem cells "have the potential to become a life", they are not a life yet. I guess a way to put it into perspective is, if there was a fire in a medical science lab, and there were 10 stem cells on a counter, and a live 5 year old in the lab, which would you save? The living child, or the stem cells? Most people would choose the 5 year old. Why? Because though the stem cells have the potential to become what the five year old is, the five year old is already alive, breathing, thinking, and living.
It comes down to this: Your friend may die. They need a liver. They can obtain one through science, cloning something that is not yet completely alive.
8:33 AM
I would ask her what she wanted. If she wanted to contuine to live her life or not. If she didn't take the cloned liver then she might be in the hospital a very long time but if she does decided to take the liver she might also have to stay if there are complications. I would tell her that I would try the new cloned liver and just waited to see how things went. I would suggest to her to try understand that if there is a way then you should try to go through with it.
10:16 AM
I would personally tell my friend to go along with the procedure as long as the embryo isn’t aborted. In the end though the decision would be theirs and they would have to ask themselves if morals are more important to them than their life.
4:00 PM
Wow, thanks for the hard questions mrs. syers! lol. Well it would depend. We would have to talk over the decision, and exactly why she was confused with it. In the end i would ask her to take the liver, but i would ask, not pressure, or try to force, in the end it is compleatly her decsion.
5:12 PM
I would say that she will die if she doesn't do it so yes she should. This is a hard answer because it involves cloning but it could save her life so i would still go ahead.
1:53 PM
I would tell her to get the transplant because she still wants to live and if she waits any longer she may not live to see another day. I know that some people are against cloning and if she was i would suggest waiting for a donor, but I would rather have a cloned liver than dying.
3:17 PM
I would tell her to do it because it could save her and allow her to live a long and healthy life. The only thing I would be afraid of is that the scientist that figure out the embryo to a point that they can make clones of people that they would mis use it.
3:59 PM
I would tell her to take the procedure to save her life. If she didn't take it, then she would inevitably die, but if she took the procedure she has a great shot at living.
4:02 PM
I don't find it a hard decision, i maybe be against the stem cell research, but it's in avaliablity, why not? There is a love there, of course, and you'd do anything. The liver is there, why not go for it, the liver has already been created, it is done. too late now. But you must face whether or not to save another's life or going with your personal and maybe political beliefs. I seriously fail to see how a person could not take the created liver.
5:03 PM
I think that I would have to tell my friend to go ahead and give the cells to have her liver cloned. It would be well worth it, an embryo is the potential for life more than it is a life it is not a concius being, and to let a concius being die just because you dont think it is right to use an embryo, is more murder than it is to kill the embryo.
6:09 PM
I would tell my friend to get the cloned liver. She has a 50/50 chance of it working. And most chance are that it will work. She also has no other choice. Either she dies waiting or takes the chance and lives. But, she is the one who has to chose if she wants to live or die.
6:26 PM
I would tell my friend that it would ultimately be his decision on whether or not he/she wanted to go through with the cloned liver. I agree with Hannah D that he/she should consult people closest to her, like her family members rather than a friend. In my opinion this is an easy decision, why would there be any debate on whether or not you should live or die? I would definitely take the cloned liver and live rather than die. When a person has only so long to live, why worry about morals when it is a matter of life and death?
7:09 PM
While it is a tough decision, I would tell her to take the cloned liver because without it, her chances of living would be very slim. While there is the possibility that something could go wrong, there is also the possibility that everything could go right. However, it's way easier just to say this stuff than it would be to make the decision in real life.
7:16 PM
I think that it would be a very tough, but it is worth a shot, why not go for it?
7:19 PM
I would push twords getting it cloned. It seems to be obvious that every one seems to think that it would die anyway. and it would be saving a life.That seems to be a way better accomplishment than dieing. even for an embryo
7:23 PM
If my friend were capable of recieving the liver without many risks I would say go for it. There is no problem with reproducing cells to prolong life,but cloning entire human has me wondering...
8:14 PM
I don't really understand why this would be unethical in her book, unless she is incredibally religous (Which she might be) i would argue that there is nothing wrong with using stem cells if it will save her life and if she doesn't take that option than she must have extreme emotional issues and she really just wants to dump the pressure on me and i would tell her. Otherwise, if she is religous than my approach to convince her to go along with the cloning procedure would be to say that if God didn't want you to live he would have had you stumble in front of an oncoming bus instead of giving you a chance to live.
8:27 PM
Since my friend has developed a life of relationships, accomplishments, and (with medical help) has the hope of a future, I would tell the friend that the cell cloned for their liver dose not have a life with these aspects, therefore, it would be closer to murder (or suicide) to refuse this medical option and lose their life rather that ending a non-existent life.
8:54 PM
I would tell her to go through with the cloned liver because it's pretty much her only chance at survival and of course i would want her to live.
9:35 PM
First of all this would be very hard to handle because it is your friend. But if my friend did ask me what he/she should do i'd tell them what i believe and see what they think. I would say that this is a life and death situation and it is very important we clone this so you can live. Waiting for a liver would take time and money and we need to get you one soon so i would try to convince them for my sake to go ahead with the cloning of the liver
8:20 AM
do it! your liver would work better than anybody elses liver and if it works you will be good as new. I would not have any problem with them cloning my body parts. I think it would be cool. It would also make her famous!! go for it.
8:32 AM
I would tell her that if she wants to live that she should clone the liver, the embryo would probably have been removed from an abortion. I think that it's her best shot at living any longer.
9:19 AM
I would tell her to take the cloned liver. The emryo was made up of living cells, but it wasn't a live human being so it isn't murder to use it for science. Plus, this emryo could have been taken from a woman who would have gotten an abortion anyway. So instead of losing two lives, only one is lost.
9:20 AM
If the cloned liver could save my friend's life,I would tell her to do it. The embryo's used to get stem cells are no where near developed, and its not really like killing little baby. If it was the only way my friend could survive I would want her to do it because a cloned liver o is better than nothing when your life depends on it.
9:24 AM
i would tell her that this opperation could save her life and if she wanted to wait there was the possibility that time could run out before she gets the transplant. cloning isn't a bad thing espesialy when it could save your life. There is also nothing wrong with the idea of cloning a liver when you need it to live.
9:28 AM
i think that this would be very hard to deal with, but i think i would tell her that if she loved her life and she wanted to live it to the fullest until she was 100, all the way to the end, i would tell her to do it because i know i wouldnt be ready to let her go, let alone what her family would have to go thru.
7:02 PM
do the liver. a cloned liver to save a life who could argue with that. is it really such a big deal that were taking a bunch cells from an embryo who would have never seen the light of day anyway, i mean if you die you can donate tyour organs your giving thatm to the world but if you get an abortion you cant give your slimy unborn fetus to science i dont see the logic in that. so just get the freaking liver.
3:09 PM
I think that it would be fine to use a cloned liver. If she is dieing I really don't see anything wrong with using it. Stem cell research doesn't bother me because the embryos used are donated and if the mother didn't want them then it is fine. It never was a human so I thinks it's ok to use it.
4:48 PM
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