Gene and cell therapy are new treatments for cancer patients. These treatments are easier on the patient than the standard methods that are offered. Although they are experimental and still under clinical trial, they have shown positive results in some patients. This treatment allows patients own bodies to fight the disease for them and not have to worry about reoccurrence. The one thing that needs to be considered when using these types of treatments are if they or not. Gene and cell therapy are not ethical because it breaks the theory of utilitarianism.
Utilitarianism theory states that in order for something to be ethical the output must make the most of the good. Its focus is on creating pleasure while taking away the pain. The goal of this theory is to make as much good in the end that is possible. The viewpoint is “that our actions should be ethically determined by the consequences likely to result from them” (Mepham 31). This states that the outcomes of people’s acts determine if they are ethical or not. The consequences need to produce good, wholesome results. Gene and cell therapy goes against God.
God created humans how He wanted them to be in His own image and likeness. God knows that people are strong enough for what He has given people. Gene therapy changes what God has given His people. It changes their genes so they are no longer His. It is unethical to change something that God wanted His people to have no matter if it supposedly for better or worse. It is not their job to fix the work that God has placed in His world. He carefully created humans for how He wanted, not how the world wanted humans. The utilitarianism theory and God go together well.
The theory believes that all things that happen must have a lot of good in the end. God has everything have goodness in it when He is finished. God does not let bad consequences happen, He only allows good to win in the end. Everything that God does is then ethical according to this theory. If what He created turns out to be good, then everything humans see in the world have good in the end. If humans try changing it and it can lead too bad, then it is not worth it. According to Mark Sagoff, “human freedom consists in our accepting the human genome from nature or God as given” (83).
Humans cannot ethically change something that takes away something. That causes a bad consequence because it does not allow humans to have the freedom that they deserve. All actions come with outcomes. These outcomes can be good or bad. They can affect many people’s lives or one individual. These consequences help judge if an action was right or wrong. They can have a long lasting effect or only change the moment they happen. These are important factors when it comes to make decisions if something is right and ethical.
Every action that is going to take place needs to be thought through carefully to make sure that there are not any unwanted consequences that follow. These unwanted consequences break the theory of utilitarianism theory. The actions a person makes can follow them for the rest of their lives. It can affect many people and many things. It is important in the medical field to make these decisions carefully. It especially important to consider if the option they are to give is ethical or not. It will not only change their life but someone else’s and their families.
The decision could follow them for the rest of their lives. These things need to be considered when making important decisions that can affect a person’s life. If these decisions result in negative consequences that outweigh the bad, it would violate the utilitarianism theory. Gene and cell therapy violates utilitarianism because this treatment doe always work and has a lot of unknown consequences. Since these therapies are new and are still going under trials, there are many questions that do not have answers to. There is no guarantee that these treatments will work.
Patients might end up still having to go through standard treatment to beat their disease. This would take away time from the patient that could be crucial to their recovery. Time is important when it comes to treating cancer. The sooner the treatment can be started, the better. Choosing a therapy that may not work and having to switch to another one may not be in the best interest for the patient. These negative results would outweigh the good, which infringes the utilitarianism theory. Gene and cell therapy are relatively new to the medical world.
This treatment has not been around long enough to know about any long-term consequences from this type of treatment. These unknown consequences could do more harm than originally thought. Gene therapy changes the genetic code which could lead to unknown mutations or consequences when reproducing. This could do more damage than good for the people undergoing these treatments. These treatments are still clinical trials that need more findings before doctors know how well they will work. These doctors do not know what the outcome are yet, but they have a hypothesis.
If the outcomes are bad and hurt the patient and their families, it would violate utilitarianism theory because the bad outweighs the good. Every medical decision needs to be considered ethically because it will be making an impact on human being’s lives. It is not only one-person life that is affected by the decisions doctors make. It affects the person’s whole family and friends along with the doctor. If something goes wrong not only is the doctor at fault but the patient and their family have to live with what has happened for the rest of their lives.
It changes their lives for years, not solely the period of time that it happens. These bad results the break the utilitarianism theory because it causes more harm than good. Doctors have a special rule when it comes to experimental therapies. Each time they decided if their treatment is ethical and will work, they are putting their trust and job at risk. Doctors can get bad reputations if their actions fail and end in bad consequences. If the action they preform if unethical it can affect their future and harm the patients that get treated.
Doctors need to keep in mind that all the actions that they decide to take can cause many different outcomes that affect many different people in different ways. If these outcomes turn out to do more harm than good, then these doctor’s decisions would be unethical according to the utilitarianism theory. Any outcome that does more harm than good breaks this theory. The gene therapy changes the person’s genes. These genes that are being changed no longer the gene they were given but what the medical science has given them. Medical science tries changing these genes for the good but these changes may not be for the best.
These changes could cause unwanted effect for the patient. These effects are still unknown due to how new these treatments are to the medical world. If these changes have more bad outcomes than good, then it would break the utilitarianism theory. This treatment could break the utilitarianism theory if it causes the patient psychological affect. This would be a bad outcome that the patient would have to overcome during and after their treatment. It could take months to years until the patient can overcome psychological issues. The patient would have to overcome these issues and fight their cancer.
This would drain the patients physically and emotionally. These unwanted consequences that affect the patient could also affect their family members. The family members would want to help them but would not be able to because it would cause them emotional pain too. The family would already be in emotional distress because of the cancer. To add more emotional distress would cause more harm to the family. This unwanted distress breaks the utilitarianism theory because it causes bad unwanted consequences to people and their lives.
Mark and Millie should do standard treatment because there could be unknown consequences that could happen due to the experimental treatment. There is a lot of that is to risk if they participate in the experimental treatment. Long-term effects are not known for sure. It could do more damage for Millie in the future than proceeding with the standard treatment. Standard treatment would ensure that she would know exactly how her future would be affected Millie should go with standard treatment because doctors know the outcome and the side effects. Doctors know the long-term effects of these treatments.
She will know that her treatments are ethical and are safe. There are no surprises that can come from standard treatments. She will know that she is in good hands with treatments that have been safely used for many years on many different types of cancer and patients. She will know that whatever happens to her know will not affect anything in her future. Millie will know that what her treatments could do to her. She will understand how they will affect her and the rest of her family. It may not be the easiest treatment option to go through, but she will know it will get the job done.
It will not change her body drastically and it will not come with unknown long-term side effects. She will know exactly what will happen to her and how it will change not only her lifestyle, but her family’s lifestyle too. With all these possible negative consequences, it would be in Millie’s best interest to treat her cancer with standard therapy. This would ensure that all the consequences of this treatment are well known. She will know what exactly can happen to her. Her and her family would know how it would affect their lives.
