BIOETHICS ALA TARIQ ……

I found Tariq’s paper on bioethics.

LIFE WITH HUNTINGTON’S DISEASE

The discussion is about the Smythe family. Tariq is on the Committee of Bioethics (I guess) Virginia has to decide whether she should marry Robert who is at high risk for Huntington’s disease,which is a severely debilitating neurologic disease.

Should she insist that he take the test to determine if he carries the gene? Should she marry him if he has it or not or anyway irrespective of the result?

What happens to their progeny? Virginia is hesitant to say the least.

Here is the last paragraph of his paper, which tells a lot about him:

He writes:

“Tangentially, I felt unique in the committee as the only person to question Virginia’s attitude about having a child with Huntington’s.

The disease is obviously bad, but it takes decades to manifest itself and cripple an individual.

I firmly believe that I could live a fulfilling life in the limited time that Huntington’s would afford me.

This parallels the question we discussed in one of the last classes:  “Is any life better than no life at all?”

Based to some extent on my spiritual belief that life is a gift from God, I say yes, any life is better than none at all, although I can see and empathize the opposite perspective quite well.

Secularly, I defend myself with the assertion that life – even one limited by Huntington’s – affords opportunity.  Since opportunity implies a chance of success, I feel that “no life at all” is equivalent to defeatism.”

end of article.