Assignment Task:
Take your study of Chapter 4 a step further by discussing this perspective taking exercise. Take a position and make comments giving your rationale.
Our increasing knowledge about the developing fetus brings with it legal and medical, and ethical questions. For example, doctors are increasingly about to treat the fetus within the womb as an individual patient with distinct medical needs. This gives rise to the question of whether women should be expected and give right to medical intervention - including surgery -that might save a fetus but risk their own lives.
Assume that you are an attorney arguing a test case under new pre-natal protective custody law. The case involves an ailing 24-week old fetus, for whom surgery within the uterus can be performed. Without surgery, the fetus will die before birth; with surgery the odds of survival are about 50-50. With surgery there is also 1 percent chance I 10 that the mother will not be able to have any more children; and 1 chance in 1,000 that she will die of complications. She is not willing to give permission for this operation and the father supports his wife.
1. If you are the attorney defending the fetus, what basic arguments and strategies would you use to persuade that surgery should be performed?
2 If you are the attorney defending the mother what basic arguments and strategies would you use to support the position that the surgery should not be performed.