Friday, July 31, 2015
ETHICS
Little news story about a medical hero. Not clear why the story is popping up just now, but it's worth reading and thinking about.
At age 95, Lucille Horn often reflects on her long, full life, with a husband and five children, and how it might not have happened if not for the renegade doctor who put her in a Coney Island sideshow when she was just days old. Horn is among thousands of former premature babies whose lives were saved in the early 20th century by Dr. Martin Couney, a pioneer in the use of incubators who sought acceptance for the technology by showing it off on carnival midways alongside freak shows and fan dancers. "Life Begins at the Baby Incubator," read one of the signs at his displays - essentially a ward with babies in the glass cribs - that drew huge crowds at world's fairs, on the Atlantic City boardwalk and Coney Island's Luna Park. Couney invited desperate parents to bring him their preemies, and he paid for their care with the 25 cents he charged for admission. Couney died in 1950, shortly after incubators finally came into wider use. Horn and others who owe their lives to him want their stories told so the doctor's curious tale - one that would cause outrage by today's standards - doesn't die with them.Yes! TOTAL OUTRAGE! Saving lives! Letting people appreciate the saved lives! Letting the watchers pay for the process so the poor parents don't have to pay! HORRIBLE! UTTERLY OUTRAGEOUS! TOTALLY UNETHICAL!
"We think this is a spectacle. We could never do this today," said Dr. Richard Schanler, director of neonatal services at Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York.Of course not! We could never save lives and show them off! We are ETHICAL now. Instead of OUTRAGEOUSLY UNETHICALLY saving lives, we ETHICALLY harvest the liver and ETHICALLY harvest the lower extremities. We ETHICALLY skip the crunchy parts. We ETHICALLY harvest the calvarium above all. That's the real luxury ETHICAL part, the Lamborghini ETHICAL part. This is ETHICS.
Labels: 20th century Dark Age, Ethics
¶ 3:40 PM
