Applied Ethics Paper: The Case of the Island Healers On a small island in the Caribbean, there was a research facility and power station. The small island was home to scientists and terminally ill children and elderly retirees. Many of the people who lived here came to live out their final days. Hurricane Irma and Maria completely devastated the island, leaving the research facility, power station, and homes destroyed. When rescue teams came to the island, they were sure nearly all the population was killed. Yet, when the rescue teams arrived, all the thought to be terminally ill people were cleaning up the damage. The rescuers soon realized that when the hurricane hit, chemicals from the research facility were electrified by the power station,
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She provides a similar case where a well known violinist, who suffers from a kidney disease and will die without help. The Society of Music Lovers finds that you are the only one with the right blood type to help. Therefore, they kidnapped you and plugged the violinist’s circulatory system into yours in order to save the violinist’s life. She says that if you choose that you want to unplug, nobody can prevent you from doing so. Thomson provides that, “He has no right against you that you should give him continued use of your kidneys. For nobody has any right to use your kidneys unless you give him such a right” (55). In the case of the Healing Islanders, Thomson would maintain that mandating them to connect to a patient is morally impermissible unless the Healing Islanders want to do it. If they choose that they do want to connect to save a patient’s life, it is simply kindness, but it is not something they owe the patients. According to Thomson, the islanders do not have the obligation to owe the patients anything. Thomson says, “I am arguing only that having a right to life does not guarantee having either a right to be given the use of or a right to be allowed continued use of another person’s body--even if one needs it for life itself” (56). Therefore, according to Thomson, just because people have a right to live, it does not mean that they have the right to be given use of another person’s body, no matter what benefits would be received from doing
She provides a similar case where a well known violinist, who suffers from a kidney disease and will die without help. The Society of Music Lovers finds that you are the only one with the right blood type to help. Therefore, they kidnapped you and plugged the violinist’s circulatory system into yours in order to save the violinist’s life. She says that if you choose that you want to unplug, nobody can prevent you from doing so. Thomson provides that, “He has no right against you that you should give him continued use of your kidneys. For nobody has any right to use your kidneys unless you give him such a right” (55). In the case of the Healing Islanders, Thomson would maintain that mandating them to connect to a patient is morally impermissible unless the Healing Islanders want to do it. If they choose that they do want to connect to save a patient’s life, it is simply kindness, but it is not something they owe the patients. According to Thomson, the islanders do not have the obligation to owe the patients anything. Thomson says, “I am arguing only that having a right to life does not guarantee having either a right to be given the use of or a right to be allowed continued use of another person’s body--even if one needs it for life itself” (56). Therefore, according to Thomson, just because people have a right to live, it does not mean that they have the right to be given use of another person’s body, no matter what benefits would be received from doing