Mrs. Hamilton Case Summary

I. Identification: The main ethical issue presented in Case 1 is, “should the hospital’s ethics committee decide to allow Mrs. Hamilton to conceive a baby or should they deny her request?” The hospital’s ethics committee is divided and they have to decide if they are willing to help Mrs. Hamilton conceive a child with her dead husband by using postmortem sperm procurement. Mrs. Hamilton’s husband recently passed away from a severe head injury; Mrs. Hamilton now wants a child with her deceased husband and she has asked the hospital for assistance. The hospital has all the technology and equipment to carry out the procedure, but they have to make an ethical decision. Some people are for the procedure as others are not. Mrs. Hamilton’s physician believes that if Mrs. Hamilton wants a baby now, then her husband must have had a desire to have a child as well. As for the hospital’s social worker and Mr. Hamilton’s parents, they do not agree with the procedure. The hospital’s social worker argues that it is not fair to bring a child into the world knowing that one of his/her parents will not be present. Mr. Hamilton’s parents agreed and stated that their son would have never wished for his child to be raised by one parent. The hospital’s ethics committee must make a decision, and the right one. What is …show more content…
Hamilton to make the decision of having a baby alone? Mrs. Hamilton did state that she and her husband were desperately trying to have a baby, but how can anyone know if she is telling the truth or not. Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton could have been bickering about wanting to have children before his deadly injury happened, and now Mrs. Hamilton could be using her husband’s death to her advantage by requesting that the hospital help her with postmortem sperm procurement. Shouldn’t the decision of conceiving a baby be made by the mother as well as the father? Mr. Hamilton is deceased so how will the hospital staff be able to determine if he ever wanted a