Go to the Stem Cell Institute (University of Minnesota) Web site and watch the video on the making of the rat heart. Do you think this type of technology, when and if it is ready for humans, should be paid for by health insurance? Should it be available without conditions, that is age or reason for the failing heart? If you believe it should be made available but with conditions, what should these conditions be?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

No single right answer exists to this open-ended question. Using
the ethical discussion steps presented in Chapter 13, you may want to
make this a general discussion question in the classroom or review their
answers as a group. As part of the discussion, you may want to bring up
the increasing cost of healthcare as a result of advances in medicine and
because people, who would have died a few years ago, are living longer
as a result of medical advances. However, this too raises the cost of
healthcare. You should discuss the question of who should benefi t from
these technological advances. For example, should alcoholics, who have
ruined their livers by drinking excessively, be allowed to obtain a liver
transplant before any individual who needs a replacement as a result of
disease? Another example is the growing of a new heart for an individual.
Should individuals, who are in their 70s or have other health problems
that may limit life span, receive a grown heart?