Biomedical Ethics-PHIL 365
Spring 2009
Dr. Kabasenche Final Exam Review Sheet
--There are two parts to the final exam. Part I is an essay that you will prepare in advance using
the prompt below. Part II will consist of short answer questions taken from the list of questions
in the second part of this sheet. Part I will be very similar to the two papers you‟ve written this
semester. Part II will be like the mid-term exam.
-Part I: Essay
Please write a 2 to 3 page, double-spaced essay on the topic described below. The
grading criteria for the essay will be the same as for the position papers you‟ve written (with the
understanding that you have a limited space in which to make your case). As with the papers, I
will look for a clear thesis in the introduction, reasons to support your thesis, consideration of
one or more objections, and a clear, concise paper overall. You may have no more than 3 pages
of text, plus a works cited page. Name on back as with the position papers.
“Dr. Yury Verlinsky, director of the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago, has
recently predicted that soon „there will be no IVF without PGD‟” (President‟s Council on
Bioethics (in Mappes and DeGrazia), 584). John Robertson says, “[s]ome degree of quality
control would seem logically to fall within the realm of procreative liberty. For many couples
the decision whether to procreate depends on the ability to have healthy children. Without some
guarantee or protection against the risk of handicapped children, they might not reproduce at all”
(Children of Choice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), 33). Thomas Murray says,
“[t]he emphasis here on control and choice does not fit well with our understanding of families.
Good families are characterized more by acceptance than control. Furthermore, families are the
preeminent realm of unchosen obligations” (Murry (in Mappes and DeGrazia), 554). Your
question: Is IVF with PGD a morally good practice?
Part II: Short Answer Questions
-For these, please be prepared to write a 2 to 5 sentence response that demonstrates your
understanding of the issues involved and that answers the question posed. I‟ll have seven
questions, taken from below, on this portion of the final exam, and you‟ll answer six of them.
1. What is the key ethical issue concerning how death is defined and organ acquisition?
2. What is Martin Benjamin‟s answer to the question, “What is it that ceases when we say that
someone has died?”?
3. What are the two main features of what I described as the “paradigm case” for withdrawing
life-sustaining treatment?
4. As we discussed it in class, is Jane the Jehovah‟s Witness who refuses foreign blood products
committing suicide? Why or Why not?
5. Explain the following quote from Vicki Michel: “The point made by the disability community
is that it is not the disability itself that makes life so unbearable that suicide seems a reasonable
solution, but rather the conditions that people with disabilities have to contend with, including
both social attitudes and the lack of accommodation and opportunity” (337-8). Be sure to
address Michel‟s claims about social attitudes and the lack of accommodation and opportunity.
