Possibility of Abortion - Essay Example

Case study Case study number 31 page 721, biomedical ethics 7th edition by David Degrazia, Thomas, Jeffery Dr. R. should encourage Martha J to reconsider the possibility of abortion. First, it is a fact that Martha was born with PKU (phenylketonuria). This enzyme deficiency prevents the metabolization of phenylalanine. According to medical and health ethical considerations, every child born with PKU should be placed on a special low phenylalanine diet for a period not less than five years of their life. This is thought to have happened to Martha. It was ethical to consider this when Martha was young and developing. The ideal situation Martha was placed in was to ensure that life is protected at all costs. As such, it is important for Martha to consider abortion for the sake of her life since failure to abort is likely to put the lives of both the child and her in jeopardy. The diet is a necessity in order to reduce or prevent occurrence of sever retardation. Nonetheless, the diet is actually burdensome. This is when considered that Martha is in some state of difficulty with her relationship and marriage with the father of the child. Martha has done no problem of being engaged with this situation. However, she should take caution of Dr. R‘s emphasis and advice since she is about to care for more than one life. Martha is not exposed to limited foods. She is supposed to consider and stick to the use of the medical food, which is of bad taste and yet protects her from ill health. Considering pregnancy in such a case is another tedious thing since it has been proved that she is in a more difficult situation now that she is pregnant. Dr. R’s advice of considering abortion is deeply directed at reducing any possible thwart of life if she continuous carrying the pregnancy to birth. Yes, she is considerate of the fact that her ethics from religion does not allow her to abort. Nonetheless, avoiding aborting in such a scenario is poised at risking the lives of two people, more importantly her life with that of the fetus (DeGrazia and Jeffrey 45-56). Martha is at a point of making a crucial decision considering the fact that it is like she is fighting a fight of life and death. According to her doctor, abortion will solve the issue of the present life, as stated by the medical ethics at hand. The fetus is yet to be given an opportunity to grow and live, though this will be negatively affecting on the possibilities of living in Martha’s point of contention. Thus, if Martha is poised to consider abortion, she will have managed to successfully limit any occurrence of life-neglect since it is well foreseeable that she is likely to risk and kill her life together with that of the child. Her continued carriage of the fetus is like an approach of difficulty pertaining life and death, something that should not be given a chance in any medical ground poised with medical and health ethics. Furthermore, Martha is up to the fact that she has been inconstant in her diet. She has failed in remunerating the proceeds of her health discipline. As such, she should consider abortion owing to the fact that if she continues to carry the fetus; she will be up for a tedious end. If Martha J is resolved to carry her fetus to term, Dr R will be in a huge responsibility of trying to balance between the lives of two people, who survive the ordeal of living a short and exposed life. It is the responsibility of Dr R to oversee and ensure that Martha has fully adhered to the precepts of t the diet at hand. If he fails to do so then he will be acting contrary to the ordeals of medical ethics, which requires him to do so. First, Dr R is endowed with the responsibility of ensuring that Martha has stepped up to the challenge of her ruthless medication as she had experienced during childhood. At the moment, it is not a big deal for her to metabolize phenylalanine. Nonetheless, now that she is expected to carry her pregnancy to term, she should maintain the same low-level phenylalanine diet through out the course of pregnancy. This will only ensure that the fetus is not risked to sever retardation microcephaly, congenital heart disease, amongst other disorders. As such, it is the duty of Dr R to ensure that he maintains a balanced level of medical discipline in Martha, as she will be responsible for more than two lives until the end of pregnancy term. Besides that, Dr R is responsive of ensuring that Martha has often adhered to her own believes as a patient since it is upon the ordeals of medical ethics to consider the influence and effects of the patient’s believes and other religious grounds. Moreover, Dr R should avoid the issue of Martha being inconsistent with observance of the medical prescriptions. It will be of less importance for Dr R to take into consideration the state of Martha’s relationship with her father of the child. Yes, Martha needs a stability and strength of mind. Nonetheless, the case taken will be between deciding the safety of the child and mother and establishing a better relationship with the father of the child. Although Martha will be poised to consider abortion at some stage in life, she will have to entirely live within the prescriptions first hand. Maintenance of the prescribed diet is more or less important as trying to recover a dead life. The responsiveness of the Dr together with discipline of Martha will work well for the sake of the developing fetus and long life of Martha. Dr will be trying to actually maintain three lives in Martha, fetus, and the father to be. If he fails in the first two, then he will probably have lost in the third. Medical ethics states and argues that protection of life should be given its entire strength available by any medical practitioner. Dr R is an obstetrician responsible for the lives of Martha and now the developing fetus. It is with no doubt that, Dr R should provide every possible environment, which will see Martha stick to the medical prescriptions in protection of her life together with that of the developing fetus. Any problems coming up should be under the states of medical prescriptions. If all else fails, Dr R will have to seek a court order that would place Martha J in a supervised setting where dietary restrictions could be enforced. First, Dr R is acting with full capacity and authority of the medical ethics and other connotations therein as established in the text studied. Dr R is only supposed to ensure that every procedure has been considered in prescription, use, and study of any regenerated behavior from the patient. As such, all directions taken by the Dr will be bestowed on the medical ethics and not his own decisions. Seeking a court order will demonstrate that Dr R is simply acting as prescribed. He should literally have to do this if all possible pathways appear closed and Martha stands to perish together with the developing fetus. The basic points of argument and filing of a court case lies on the inability for Martha to maintain a balanced diet yet she is again supposed to cater for the developing fetus. First, the court should know that Martha developed through this process when she was young. Anything which risks her life should be gotten rid of. Martha is simply fixing her life to more danger since she does not really want to consider every procedure of the medication. The court should step up into this case. As far as Dr R has often emphasized to Martha that she needs to entirely consider and stick to the medical prescriptions, Martha has often failed. She has other issues as the capacity or possibility of a split between her and the father-to-be of the developing fetus. Now that she has not been granted a possibility to abort, everything tends to go beyond the control of Dr R. As such; the court should step up in support for Dr R and serve in rescuing the lives of Martha and the developing fetus. Moreover, this will try to establish a common ground for Martha’s religious grounds and those of medical ethics beings accustomed by Dr R. Work cited DeGrazia, David, and Jeffrey Brand-Ballard. Biomedical Ethics. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2011. Print. Read More