Blogs as Teaching Tools

Actual case studies and personal narratives are oftentimes the optimal jumping off point in teaching ethical theory, methods, and stimulating discussion. In addition to the standard hardcopy tome, why not use the real-time lived experiences of bloggers? Here are a few blogs to check out, which might serve as discussion starters in your bioethics class:

A Little Pregnant [http://www.alittlepregnant.com/] Description: Madcap misadventures in infertility, pregnancy, and parenthood.

Hospice Blog [http://hospiceblog.blogspot.com/] Description: Fighting for quality hospice care for those that need it.

A Single Woman's Journey To Motherhood [http://kajohn345.blogspot.com/] Description: I am 30 and ready to start my family. I am beginning TTC in January. If that doesn't work (after 6 months to a year), I am heading to adoption. These are my random thoughts and obsessions about TTC, adoption, weight loss, teaching, and working on (actually procrastinating) my Master's. If you stop by, please leave me a short note! I like to know when I have visitors.

Code Blog: Tales of a Nurse [http://www.codeblog.com/]

Death Maiden [http://www.deathmaiden.blogspot.com/] Description: The following postings are all fictionalized. Names and circumstances have all been changed to protect the identity of persons in the stories. Any resemblance to real life people and circumstances is purely coincidence. This blog has been created to explore my personal feelings and professional experiences with death and dying. --Dominic Sisti

Confessions of an Abortion Doctor

A first person account of the moral conviction that motivates one physician to provide abortion services, and the ambiguity surrounding many cases.

One morning years ago, when I was working as a resident, a nurse brought me in to talk to a pregnant girl. When I walked into the room, there was this child -- an 11-year-old. She had come in for a procedure, and it soon became obvious that she had no understanding of sex -- she didn't really understand that she'd even had it, or that it had any connection to her pregnancy. We literally had to teach this girl about what it means to have sex -- about STDS, abstinence, and pregnancy. I remember thinking: In a world where people don't want kids to learn about these things, how can you not give them the choice to terminate a pregnancy? Even if she had chosen to continue the pregnancy and opt for adoption, what would that have done to her own childhood? How can we not provide a child with any education about sex, then force her to become a parent long before she's ready? ...

I have the utmost respect for life; I appreciate that life starts early in the womb, but also believe that I'm ending it for good reasons. Often I'm saving the woman, or I'm improving the lives of the other children in the family. I also believe that women have a life they have to consider. If a woman is working full-time, has one child already, and is barely getting by, having another child that would financially push her to go on public assistance is going to lessen the quality of her life. And it's also an issue for the child, if it would not have had a good life. Life's hard enough when you're wanted and everything's prepared for. So yes, I end life, but even when it's hard, it's for a good reason.

Toronto Star Assisted Suicide Op-Ed

Our friends in Toronto let us know of a pretty provocative personal story: Rosie Dimanno writes of her personal struggle with assisted suicide.