----- Original Message -----
From: Marc Brookhuis <brookhuis1@zonnet.nl>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2000 10:40 AM
Subject: RE: MD clinics and baby's
Hi Marc,
The case you outlined can be IMO seperated in 2 lines of questioning.
There are 2 aspects of 2 different problems which are complicating
eachother.
1_ the social argument/ issue towards life, that is the deonthology of the
doctors (Intellect)
2_ the blind woman has really not a lot to choose from ( Social)
Let me axplain,
1a_ in a sense the doctors had to discriminate, because of the high risk for
the baby getting blind itself.
Here doctors do came up with taking a choise in the place of the woman/
mother.
In a moral sense, understandeble, doctors " know " what they were talking
about (not really but that I leave aside).
1b_ in doing so, they " protect " the society against a certain burder for
the
Social/ Quality future. That is, in a nearby future the personal choise/
opinion
of the blind woman will have become a social problem.
That is, someday we as the society will pay up to support the child
throughout
the rest of its existing life after its mother/ family died.
Once again, doctors make the choise. Understandeble, but IMO not really
their choise to make.
2_ in a sense the blind woman have no choise !!
Choosing between 58% chance to have no blind child or no child at all, is
IMO less to nothing.
It would have been better to support the blind woman in choosing for the
right thing to do, that is choosing for potential points of Quality.
That is, no one had giving her other possibilities than donor insemination,
where IMO gen- technology, human selection and genetic improvement
would had open up the door to more possibilites. That due to the opinion
of the clinic I think.
On the other hand I presume, no one told her either about the social impli-
cations by choosing for the former or for the other.
That is, like I said before on this list, a personal opinion/ choise would
be-
come a social problem if the mother dies eventually and the society have
to support then the child or its family.
Not that society would refuse that, but looking back on some threads posted
upon this list, I think social solidarity will collapse due to some society
ten-
dencies like Individualism.
So can we solve your problem !?
Yes and No !
Yes, but only in a nearby future when new technologies will be widespreaded
and had become socially accpeted. Untill then the doctors will choose 1_
along lines of their deonthology, or will enforce the lines to choose from,
that
is Intellect will go its own way and that is to maximize the chance of a
normal
life, 2_ along the clinic rules, like Marty said the clinic has rights and
obliga-
tions = competitive motivations ( not really mine idea of a clinic though)
and
3_ along lines of social agreement, that is solidarity, ethics, public
opinions, political decisions.
In the case of answering NO, I will not extend this very far, but nowadays
a social tendency towards " not making choises myself " is showing.
That is, people don 't dare anymore to make up there own mind, due to
some effects of/ in Society_ like " would the society support the choise
that
I make to give birth to a blind child "!?
( You are Dutch !?, Do you know Filosofie Magazine !? Some time ago there
was an article about that stuff, but can 't find it....I will look for it,
if you
need it...)
Like I said, solidarity is dimisnishing.
On the other hand, I see the tendency towards ' not daring to make choises
'
due to the fact that in the society are effects at work against
Individuality and
against Individualism. But the question can be solved if the subjects take
up
( once again) their responsibility towards the Social, that is we have to
stand
up against the reign of terror of the Intellect ( like doctors) and on the
other
hand we have to force the Intellect to pay up for using the new
technologies_
in that case, we would have more possibilities to choose from...now the
Intellect is restricting us to do that.
On the other hand, the Intellect have very good reasons to do just that...
In a nutshell, no easy answer, personally, I would not mind if the woman
chooses to have a child, but it would be on her account when it should
show that the child is blind...solidarity, with all do respect has its
borders,
personal responsibility is quit and IMO even more important than solidarity.
Hopes this helps...
Best regards,
Kenneth
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