Blue’s Growth Attenuation Therapy: an Ethical Analysis
Caring for a child with severe disabilities is a great challenge for caretakers who aim to provide the best life for the child with accessible resources. For some, Growth Attenuation Therapy (GAT) is perceived as a useful tool for not only improving the care provided by the caretaker, but also the quality of life for the child. This is the case with a child named Blue who suffers various disabilities, such as brittle bone disease, seizure disorder, biochemical imbalance and atypical mental development, due to a condition called Hypercalcemia. Blue’s parents, after stumbling across the Ashley Treatment case, believe GAT will improve her life and are seeking permission to have her undergo the procedure. However, permission requires …show more content…
First, to complete an Act Utilitarian analysis, the potential benefits and consequences for everyone who may be affected by the treatment. Identification of those who may be affected by the treatment is the initial step to discovering these consequences. Blue (the one undergoing the therapy) and her family (the caretakers) are obvious; less obvious individuals are the Doctor providing the therapy, and other families dealing with disabled children. The least “most” positive results of the procedure would occur for the doctor. If the treatment is successful, the doctor would be credited with performing the therapy that helped improved Blue’s quality of life. The doctor would enjoy a personal happiness and satisfaction of furthering their field. The families of other disabled children would be able to utilize the outcome of procedure to be better informed of treatment options for their children. The more important and most positive results would occur for blue and her family. Not only would her family gain happiness from the improvement of Blue’s quality of life, caretaking of Blue would be much easier due to her permanent small stature. Utilizing the case of Ashley X, “as a
Caring for a child with severe disabilities is a great challenge for caretakers who aim to provide the best life for the child with accessible resources. For some, Growth Attenuation Therapy (GAT) is perceived as a useful tool for not only improving the care provided by the caretaker, but also the quality of life for the child. This is the case with a child named Blue who suffers various disabilities, such as brittle bone disease, seizure disorder, biochemical imbalance and atypical mental development, due to a condition called Hypercalcemia. Blue’s parents, after stumbling across the Ashley Treatment case, believe GAT will improve her life and are seeking permission to have her undergo the procedure. However, permission requires …show more content…
First, to complete an Act Utilitarian analysis, the potential benefits and consequences for everyone who may be affected by the treatment. Identification of those who may be affected by the treatment is the initial step to discovering these consequences. Blue (the one undergoing the therapy) and her family (the caretakers) are obvious; less obvious individuals are the Doctor providing the therapy, and other families dealing with disabled children. The least “most” positive results of the procedure would occur for the doctor. If the treatment is successful, the doctor would be credited with performing the therapy that helped improved Blue’s quality of life. The doctor would enjoy a personal happiness and satisfaction of furthering their field. The families of other disabled children would be able to utilize the outcome of procedure to be better informed of treatment options for their children. The more important and most positive results would occur for blue and her family. Not only would her family gain happiness from the improvement of Blue’s quality of life, caretaking of Blue would be much easier due to her permanent small stature. Utilizing the case of Ashley X, “as a