The Cadaver Who Joined the Army
Response to "The Cadaver Who Joined the Army"Research that uses dead bodies of human beings is "ethically sticky" because most people who donate their bodies for research don't know or picture what will really happen to them. Romantically, they think a medical student will find a cure for a disease as a result of a careful and thoughtful dissection with every effort made to preserve the dignity of the corpse. They don't picture being blown up or made the target of bullets. In fact, mutilation is probably not considered when making the decision.
The author of the article, Mary Roach, maintains a light, joking sort of tone throughout her whole discussion, probably to offset the heaviness and horror many readers would experience in a detailed discussion of the physical body after death. A politician with his ear to the moods of the public would work to end funding for such research (as Presidents Carter and Clinton, in fact, tried to do). Probably, the research on ways to protect the feet of soldiers is ethically defensible, even though the public wouldn't support it. Undoubtedly, some people will never be convinced that research using cadavers has value-no matter how worthwhile the knowledge gained from it (like the project to find a better boot for soldiers who work with land mines). There isn't any positive label that can be attached to the mutilated corpse that would make us feel all right about it. Most people don't know such research takes place at all. When you think about it, sending live soldiers to be shot at, blown up, maimed and mutilated in battle is far more unethical than experimenting on the dead. It is defensible because the knowledge gained could help the soldiers (our living sons, daughters, fathers, brothers, etc. But the public sees soldiers sent to war as "heroes. It's impossible for most people not to react emotionally to the news that dead people are being used this way. If they did, they would most likely object overwhelmingly. Even more disturbing is the thought that the body was once somebody's parent (or child) and is now being subjected to indignities and mutilation. " They don't know about research cadavers.
Common topics in this essay:
Carter Clinton,
Mary Roach,
Army Research,
don't picture,
don't research,
knowledge gained,
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