The nine-month parasite
And the excuses.
The excuse which the nurse peddles for using Toni as a life support machine is pregnancy, which would require her to support another life just as she’s supporting the other patient. But Toni would seem to view pregnancy, whether it was planned or not, as a natural phenomenon against which this contrasts as something unnatural.
Anyway, at this point, they start questioning her mental state, recalling a blow to the head and how her relatives thought she’d be in favour of the doctors’ actions. they sedate her and leave her in a coma-like state for the remaining five weeks.
But when they revive Toni, she’s ashamed of her refusal to play her part and thanks the staff for all their help. She even gives the biotechnologist a big bunch of flowers. (In a moment of extreme irony, which I’m adding for my own amusement, the man reacts badly to the pollen and dies.)
Did the doctors do the right thing after all?
Their excuse for sedating Toni sounds a little specious, but perhaps we’re meant to understand that Toni really isn’t in her right mind and that under other circumstances, she’d be willing to help.
Actually, it’s when the nurse uses the analogy of pregnancy that we get to the core of the case. This is an analogy devised by those in favour of a woman’s right to choose. Those who are insist on a woman having a baby would surely not hold the same objection if the other life was not her own baby.
The discussion in the book also notes that doctors have got legal injunctions to treat patients who object to certain sorts of treatment on religious grounds, hence the part of the scenario about Toni not being in her right mind.
Even although Toni emerges as more altruistic than she when entered the scenario, the doctors have had to make their decision without knowing how she would eventually react.
I suppose that most people would probably feel some disapproval about the doctors’ decision; yet if I knew better than someone else about some matter, I’d feel justified in taking a decision on their behalf. Unlike some colleagues of mine, I don’t ask my pupils what they want to do in class because many of them don’t want the class in the first place and would be unable to make constructive suggestions. Similarly, I don’t shun the book in favour of topics of my own devising because what might interest me won’t necessarily interest the vegetables or even be pitched at a suitable level. Besides, my pupils are not my peers whose views I might value and schools are not known to be democracies.
Hmmm. Think about it. The headmaster is a jumped up tyrant; the teachers are the governors and satraps of his provinces; the pupils are his slaves, who may be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
Anyway, at this point, they start questioning her mental state, recalling a blow to the head and how her relatives thought she’d be in favour of the doctors’ actions. they sedate her and leave her in a coma-like state for the remaining five weeks.
But when they revive Toni, she’s ashamed of her refusal to play her part and thanks the staff for all their help. She even gives the biotechnologist a big bunch of flowers. (In a moment of extreme irony, which I’m adding for my own amusement, the man reacts badly to the pollen and dies.)
Did the doctors do the right thing after all?
Their excuse for sedating Toni sounds a little specious, but perhaps we’re meant to understand that Toni really isn’t in her right mind and that under other circumstances, she’d be willing to help.
Actually, it’s when the nurse uses the analogy of pregnancy that we get to the core of the case. This is an analogy devised by those in favour of a woman’s right to choose. Those who are insist on a woman having a baby would surely not hold the same objection if the other life was not her own baby.
The discussion in the book also notes that doctors have got legal injunctions to treat patients who object to certain sorts of treatment on religious grounds, hence the part of the scenario about Toni not being in her right mind.
Even although Toni emerges as more altruistic than she when entered the scenario, the doctors have had to make their decision without knowing how she would eventually react.
I suppose that most people would probably feel some disapproval about the doctors’ decision; yet if I knew better than someone else about some matter, I’d feel justified in taking a decision on their behalf. Unlike some colleagues of mine, I don’t ask my pupils what they want to do in class because many of them don’t want the class in the first place and would be unable to make constructive suggestions. Similarly, I don’t shun the book in favour of topics of my own devising because what might interest me won’t necessarily interest the vegetables or even be pitched at a suitable level. Besides, my pupils are not my peers whose views I might value and schools are not known to be democracies.
Hmmm. Think about it. The headmaster is a jumped up tyrant; the teachers are the governors and satraps of his provinces; the pupils are his slaves, who may be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
Anyway, more baby-based bother tomorrow.
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