DLaina Bloxham

Inst: Jeff Zealley

HS 2050-400
Jan 13, 2016
This I Believe- Beginning of the Semester
Stem cell research is definitely a benefit to our day in age. There are many beneficial things science has
been able to do with the technology and research for stem cells. I am a little more pro to the
concept of the harvesting of adult stem cells vs. the harvesting of embryo stem cells. I need to do
a little more research for my own to convince myself that making embryos in a petri dish for the
purpose of making stem cells is a humane way to advance science.
Genetic testing for the future should be regulated and monitored as with all scientific testing. I think that
genetic testing and predictive testing will in the long run help us understand or eliminate so many
defects and diseases.
Predictive test is, like I said before should be closely monitored. I think that it still has a long way to go
because it only tells of a chance that someone may have a possibility of getting a certain defect or
disease. I think this will get more accurate as science progresses. Right now I think that
sometimes it could be a scary thing for someone to receive news that they have the gene for, say,
Crones Disease, but it not be for sure that you will actually get it or when you would get it or how
bad the symptoms would be if you did. It would make for some paranoid or more hypochondria
prone people.
Medically assisted suicide should be regulated by very few highly certified doctors. Having had a
grandmother with a very rare, very painful, incurable disease that deteriorated her body from the
inside out, even though she would never have taken part of an assisted suicide, I could see that
thorough counseling through the doctors trained properly to help people decide if that is the route
they want to take in their incurable situations could have been a comfort to my grandmother as
well as our family to not have to see her suffer the way that she did. I do believe that there should
be a lot of counseling before someone would be able to go through with it.
Parents' rights to determine health care choices for minors should be their purgative to a certain extent. If
a child is deathly ill that could be saved or helped with the uses of medicine or surgery I do think
that the state should be allowed to intervene.
Medical research should continue. I feel that we have the ability and rights to find new ways to heal and
cure diseases. This will only happen if we are able to research and experiment new ways within

the medical field.

Cultures affect expressions in race, gender and socio-economic status in the following way I had a
friend that I worked with from a Polynesian country. She was the sweetest, friendliest person you
would ever meet. We also had a very hard time getting things done in a timely manner. I was
always asking her to pick up the pace to get things accomplished but because of her culture and
upbringing she had a laidback attitude on life and everything was go with the flow. Not that it was
wrong just something that was very different from my culture. I do also think that culture plays a
role in socio-economic status as well. It is very unfortunate that it is very hard for people to break
out of poverty. If their parents were before them more than likely they will be as well. I am not
saying they cant or couldnt just statistics show they probably wont.
Patient autonomy should stop when a person is a minor. If an adult is educated by their healthcare
provider in the best possible way of all things that are going on and what could happen if they get
treated or if they do not they should have the right to choose or refuse treatment. I think that this
should stop with minors due to the fact that had they been an adult would they have chosen
different from their parent or healthcare provider in a certain instance?
Allocation of resources should/should not be considered (age/quality of life/costs) We are here on this
earth to grow and develop as a species. That means that we will need to use the resources that
are available to us. We need to be constantly changing and adapting to new ways of doing things
so that those resources are still available for as long as we need them and dont become extinct.
Organ donation is an amazing gift to those who are able to benefit from receiving organs. I think that
organ donors are unselfish in that they are saving life after they are gone Medical research
surrounding organ donation should, like I have said before, should continue to grow so there are
less organ transplant rejections.
The disparity found in medical care due to socioeconomic conditions should I dont think that treatment
should be based on anything but whether a person needs to be seen and cared for or not. They
shouldnt be turned away based on their socioeconomic status.
The state/government should/should not play a role in health care allocations I think that individuals
should be the deciders as to their own health care with the exception of minors in extreme
circumstances.

DLaina Bloxham
Inst: Jeff Zealley

HS 2050-400
Apr 25, 2016
This I Believe- End of the Semester
Stem cell research should be used to advance science. There should be guidelines though, for example,
stem cells should be harvested from adult stem cells or cord blood. In my opinion they should not
be grown in Petri dishes, if the need arises for embryonic stem cells there are embryos that are
being abandoned from people freezing their embryos for a family that they did not need anymore.
Like in the case that happened in England where they could have used all of those embryos for
research instead of just destroying them.
Genetic testing for the future will start to eliminate some of the diseases of our time but I feel will cause
more pregnancy termination or abortion. I fear that it will cause other genetic defects along with
parents and people wanting the perfect child that they abort many to get it right.
Predictive test is again is like genetic testing; both should be monitored very closely and may someday
eliminate horrible debilitating diseases. I think that to tell someone that they have a percentage of
a chance that they will get a disease like certain types of cancer or MS or even blindness just
because the trait is there so lets take out the eyeballs that are going to become blind
eventually is wrong. I feel that is what Predictive testing does. It is not for all people (clearly) and
should be tested and people should be informed of every aspect to make the best decision for
them.
Medically assisted suicide should be legalized. Someone who is diagnosed with an incurable disease
should be allowed to make their own decision of how and when they want to die instead of the
disease taking away all of their dignity or being in so much pain they take their own lives in a less
dignified way. There are arguments that this is the easy way out. Those that are faced with this
dilemma argue that the easy way would be to live and not have the disease at all. They have to
say goodbye to their loved ones and friends either way so they should be able to choose how and
when that is.
Parents' rights to determine health care choices for minors should be their right, until the child is suffering
from an illness that could be easily treated and dies as a result, the parent should be charged with
negligence at the very least or homicide. Children do not know what is going on in a lot of cases
and should be able to be treated regardless of the parents beliefs until that child has the cognitive
abilities of knowing the reasoning behind the parents denial of services.
Medical research should continue. I would love for it to be all humane and advance ten-fold but I know
that is not or will never be the case. We need to be advanced in our research so people like
Connie Culp can have a face or Zion Harvey can have his hands! I do wish that they didnt have
to harm animals in the process but I do understand that we wouldnt be where we are I this day in

age without animal testing.

Cultures affect how people express themselves in different races, genders, and socio-economic statuses
in the following way We just hired a girl from Tennessee in our office; she made the comment
one day about how the granddaughter of a client was treating her grandmother. She told us that in
the South that would never be acceptable behavior. I hadnt thought anything of it until she
pointed out the behavior. Culture plays a big part in upbringing. Different races, religions, ages,
and genders are taught how to act and how to feel. Boys are taught to be tough, girls are taught
to girlie. According to the African American in medicine chapter and an article that I read for that,
African Americans and minorities are not pushed as hard to get good grades or to get higher
degrees. Socio-economic statuses unfortunately rarely change. Poverty begets poverty and the
chain continues usually never unbroken.
Patient autonomy should stop when they do not have cognitive abilities of their own. This would include
severely mentally disabled, minors, unconscious patients (that have not expressed their wishes
before hand). Those who are in full capacity of their reasoning and faculties should have
autonomy to the end and should be able to decide what they want to do with treatment. Also
those who have discussed treatment in a rational manner and put wishes in a will or with the next
of kin, those should count as autonomy when the patient is no longer cognitive but would not want
to be that way.
Allocation of resources should not be considered (age/quality of life/costs). My cousin was in a horrible
accident about two months ago. He was in a coma for almost two weeks. He has no insurance.
After the first week in a coma the doctors started to say that he may not come out of it. He is thirty
years old, someone who should have most of his life before him. The quality of his life may be
severely diminished. Does this mean that he shouldnt receive the best care available because he
doesnt have the resources to pay for himself to get better? I dont think so. He is getting better
and he was the kind of person to live life to its fullest. Hopefully he will get back to that place. I
feel that he will be grateful that he was saved by the doctors. His life is worth more than the cost
of his treatments! (At least to his family it is.)
Organ donation is an amazing tool that we have to save lives. It should be handled ethically and kidney
and liver harvests in developing countries should not be allowed. There should be an incentive for
those who sign up to be organ donors because I feel that people just dont know how much they
could help by donating them.
and medical research surrounding organ donation should be done carefully. We have so much to
improve on but without practice and research we wont get very far in where we could be with
organ transplantation and saving lives with the breakthroughs that are happening all the time in
this area.
The disparity found in medical care due to socioeconomic conditions should not affect the quality of care
given to anyone. A patient should be given medical care regardless of race, gender, or social

status. There should not be special tests done on minorities to see how long it takes them to die
with a certain disease. There should be equal rights to all in health care.
The state/government should not play a role in health care allocations. Patients should be able to use
their autonomy in their own health care. Minors are the exception, they need someone to speak
for them for life should their parents have different views than doing whatever could save their
child.