Hannah Davis
Hour: 3 & 6
Date Nov 15
Mrs. Trimble
Medical Ethics in "Flowers for Algernon"
In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon was a thirty seven year old man, who had an IQ of sixty eight. To make himself smarter, Charlie participates in a surgery that could triple his IQ. Unfortunately, the effects of surgery were temporary and Charlie now has trouble remembering things. Charlie Gordon's doctors did not act ethically when they performed the surgery to make him smarter. Ethics are moral rules or values, the concepts people refer to as right or wrong. For example, a doctor should help someone, not increase their pain. Even though the doctors hurt Charlie, they did inform him that the tripling of his IQ would most likely be temporary. Charlie still agreed to the surgery. However, the negative effects (memory loss) that happened to …show more content…
The Hippocratic Oath is a list of ethical standards physicians must follow. The oath states "I will prevent disease..." . There was no disease in "Flower for Algernon." In fact, the surgery and experiment performed by the doctors caused Charlie to decrease his intelligence and lose his memories, like the disease of Alzheimer's . The doctors not only caused Charlie to forget things, but did not offer help to Charlie after his decline. In addition, nowhere in the story does it stay the doctors at the lab looked for a cure. In other words the doctors didn't follow the code, especially the part that stated, "above, all I must not play at God." They did not obey this part of the oath because their main interest was glory not the health of their patient. In Charlie's progress report, he reported a conversation between two of the doctors, "Dr. Nemur said that Dr. Strauss was nothing but an opportunist who was trying to ride to glory on his coattails." (Keyes, page 70.) The doctors obviously were not ethical as they did not follow the oath they had
Hour: 3 & 6
Date Nov 15
Mrs. Trimble
Medical Ethics in "Flowers for Algernon"
In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon was a thirty seven year old man, who had an IQ of sixty eight. To make himself smarter, Charlie participates in a surgery that could triple his IQ. Unfortunately, the effects of surgery were temporary and Charlie now has trouble remembering things. Charlie Gordon's doctors did not act ethically when they performed the surgery to make him smarter. Ethics are moral rules or values, the concepts people refer to as right or wrong. For example, a doctor should help someone, not increase their pain. Even though the doctors hurt Charlie, they did inform him that the tripling of his IQ would most likely be temporary. Charlie still agreed to the surgery. However, the negative effects (memory loss) that happened to …show more content…
The Hippocratic Oath is a list of ethical standards physicians must follow. The oath states "I will prevent disease..." . There was no disease in "Flower for Algernon." In fact, the surgery and experiment performed by the doctors caused Charlie to decrease his intelligence and lose his memories, like the disease of Alzheimer's . The doctors not only caused Charlie to forget things, but did not offer help to Charlie after his decline. In addition, nowhere in the story does it stay the doctors at the lab looked for a cure. In other words the doctors didn't follow the code, especially the part that stated, "above, all I must not play at God." They did not obey this part of the oath because their main interest was glory not the health of their patient. In Charlie's progress report, he reported a conversation between two of the doctors, "Dr. Nemur said that Dr. Strauss was nothing but an opportunist who was trying to ride to glory on his coattails." (Keyes, page 70.) The doctors obviously were not ethical as they did not follow the oath they had