Difference Vs. Disability

I found the discussion about whether having deaf children receive implants when they are born is the right decision or not. In the beginning of class, my first instinct was to question why a parents wouldn't want their children to have the ability to hear if they were given that opportunity. As class continued, I realized that most of the time even if children or young adults have the choice, they will not choose to have this procedure done. This forces us to think about who is to judge what the norm is for people. I liked how the video we watched in class said that what if I were to walk into a room of all deaf people, I would be the one out of place because I would not be able to follow the conversation. This calls up the question difference and disability. If it's a true disability and there is a fix for it, that would be an easier decision. But if it's just a difference, then what? Sometimes we can wait for the children to grow up to make decisions about medical procedures, but sometimes it is necessary to make them earlier. It is a tough call to decide if someone's differences qualify as disability or not.
This discussion made me think about the larger concept of one person making a decision for another person and how that would be more difficult than making a decision for yourself. If I had to choose whether to have a medical procedure for myself, I would do all the research, ask a lot of questions, talk to people who have chosen the procedure and to people who have chosen not to have it. I would make the best decision I could, and then I would live with the consequences. But to have the responsibility to make that kind of decision for another person would be hard. I would do all the same things in making the decision, but because it wouldn't be ME who has to live with the consequences but rather someone else, it would be much harder. That person would have different opinions and life experiences that might make a decision that I would be happy with something that he or she would not be happy with.
Parents have to make a lot of decisions for their children: whether to immunize; what schools to attend; whether to raise them in a small town or a big city, etc. Those decisions alone would be difficult. But to have to choose about having a medical procedure that will alter the course of their kid's life would be really hard. I suppose the best way to do it is to apply the same method you would use for making your own decision...get as much information from as many sources as possible, especially from people who are in the specific situation as the child, and then decide.

Blog 1

I found it interesting to see the changes that were made between the Hippocratic Oath and the Modern Oath. There are elements that stayed the same, and changes that were made. It was interesting to see the Modern Oath and the Hippocratic Oath next to each other to be able to compare those changes.

What jumps out the most is the removal of the line stating that a doctor will not give “a deadly drug to anyone who asks for it,” nor give “a women an abortive remedy.” I understand by removing this anyone who is taking the modern oath could do so while believing that abortion and euthanasia are options that should be available. This made me wonder what happens in the case where someone who believes in euthanasia or abortion graduates from a medical school that uses the Hippocratic Oath. What are the ethical ramifications for people who take an oath that they know they are going to break? If this is an ever an issue within a schools, I wonder if they give any options to students. Those are just some questions that I had after learning about the Hippocratic Oath.

Another change that is made from the Hippocratic Oath to the Modern Oath is the part about treating the whole person. I like the inclusion of that part to the Modern Oath because they aren’t just treating the illness but every aspect of the person.  The same medical condition in two different people might require different treatments depending on the other aspects of their lives.

 Something that caught my eye in the original oath was the mention of a doctor going to someone’s house. House calls are a thing of the past. All I know about house calls are what my mother has told me about when she was little!