The Diving Bell & The Butterfly

Dear Class,
What was your reaction to the film? Answer this generally, and then comment on 1 or 2 questions below.

• Did it make you reconsider what it would be like to be very sick, incapacitated, and/or unable to communicate?
• Did it make you reconsider how you treat other people who cannot communicate clearly? (I realize that there is a difference between someone who has none or very limited cognitive abilities and one who "merely" cannot communicate)
• What else did it make you reconsider?  How you spend your time & energy?  How you treat your friends & family?
• Where you relieved or distressed (or both) when he died?
• Did the film complicate your views of autonomy and/or paternalism? Explain.
• How did the technical aspects of the film enhance or detract from the story?  (Example: camera angles & use of point of view, focus, narrative structure & time sequencing, etc.)
• What does the title mean?
• I specifically wanted you to watch the film with subtitles because I think it makes is a bit more disorienting for you, which gives you more of a sense of what Jean-Do is going through.  Do you agree?  Comment further.

Current Events (September) CLOSED

A story on new changes in the law which will allow terminally ill children to pursue both palliative and curative care.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/guidance-on-new-hospice-benefits-for-terminally-ill-children-hailed-by-hospice-and-palliative-care-community-102767944.html

Cases (& assignments) for Ethical Theory Exercises

Class,

For the cases below you are to represent the following viewpoints:
Utilitarianism:  Bennett, Bryla, Buechel, Caruso
Kant: Clifford, Compton, Dickman, Green, Hornsby
Virtue: Klare, Knolle, Kriege, La Corte
Ross: Morrison, Nielander, Okoth
Feminism: Sandmann, Snipes, Tinker, Traxler, Walling
Principles of Bioethics: Wegman, Whelen, Wyatt, Ziegler, Zink

Cases (comment on at least 2 of the 3 cases.  You may discuss separately and present one group view, or collectively respond to create the group response).  Please title your responses for ease of tracking.

1. Medline reports a study from July 2010 about 1 in 3 doctors reluctant to report their impaired or incompetent colleagues.  Full story here:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_101003.html

2. Another study, surveying 3, 700 doctors in Britain finds that nonreligious doctors hasten death more.  Full story at http://www.kirotv.com/print/24769207/detail.html

3. A paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine looked at the ethics of offering payment to living people who donate a kidney.  "Summaries for Patients" synopsis at:  http://www.annals.org/content/152/6/I-46.full?sid=de8db5fe-8228-48f1-9922-0a7a239c7ece