The Biggest Ethics Story Ever
Seattle Times is tuned in to the most important issue of the day.
No, I don't mean the announcement that British and Italian scientists have created the first pure nerve cells from embryonic stem cells. No this is bigger news:Dennis Avner, who goes by his Native American name, Stalking Cat, is known around the world as the Catman. Over the past 25 years, Stalking Cat, 47, has received so many surgical and cosmetic procedures he's lost count. And he says all of them — from full-face tattoos to fanged dentures to steel implants for detachable "whiskers" — have been done to achieve oneness with what he calls his totem, the tiger.
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While the "cat man" issue certainly is sensational rather than substantive, I find plastic surgery one of the most difficult issues in medical ethics. A paradigm example of "just because we can do it, should we do it." Is it ethical to do "regular" plastic surgery on men and women who believe that it will bring them happiness? Can any "competent" person consent to anything? Is the 19 year old putting breast implants on her credit card any different from the same student who wants to sell her kidney (or her plasma, or her egg)? Would it be ethical for a cardiologist to clean out my arteries now (in my 40's) so that they'll be less likely to clog unexpectedly when I'm 70? Why not if it's my money?
Is it ethical to offer full body scans (or 3-D embryo snapshots) in malls? Or is it paternalistic to prevent people from making decisions for themselves so long as they know the risks?
Where does this stop? Should all plastic surgeons be in the 3rd world fixing birth defects?
Another thing that makes our field interesting.
Best,
JSB
- by Jennifer Bard on Aug 18, 2005 at 3:02 AM | link
Just think: If the transhumanists get their way, he could make his son look like a cat too.
- by Wesley J. Smith on Aug 18, 2005 at 4:17 AM | link
Can I really get my arteries cleaned out now??
- by ed on Aug 18, 2005 at 12:03 PM | link