Health

11 Pages 2725 Words

ization, it would make it ethically wrong to “pull the plug” (Rothstein 1698.) The next commandment of old ethics is, “ Never intentionally take innocent human life” (Singer 192). If a doctor or any health care professional just stood by during the birth of a child and both the child and the mother were dying, how could that doctor stand there and watch both the mother and the infant die without taking some method of action. However, if that physician were to save either patient while sacrificing the life of the other, that health care professional would be considered unethical and scorned by the standard of this ethical commandment. In comparison, the new commandment states, “Take responsibility for the consequences of your decisions”(Singer 195). By the token of this declaration a physician can make a choice based on his/her best judgment, yet; be held accountable for their actions. This gives a doctor the power to use his/her best judgment and knowledgeable skills, to do what they believe is best for the patient. This statement allows for a person’s right to free will, even a person who is a Christian may more fully agree with this statement just for the pure reason that they want to believe more in God’s promise of free will in their life. Commandment number four states,” Be fruitful and multiply” (Singer 198). This biblical injunction has been a part of Christian ethics for thousands of years. “ Augustine said that sexual intercourse without procreation ` turns the bridal chamber into a brothel’” (Singer 198). Some laws in America concerning contraceptives survived until the mid- 1960’s when the Supreme Court declared them invasion of privacy (Madsen 325). The revised commandment number four, “Bring children into the world only if they are wanted” (Singer 199), allows for population control as well as prevention of children who were never wanted and not loved. From 1930 when the population was two bi...