Izlaganje sa skupa
FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON: THE ETHICS OF HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION ON THE INTELLECTUALLY DISABLED
Nishan Ghoshal
; School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Paul O. Wilkinson
; School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Peterborough, UK
Sažetak
Flowers for Algernon is a novel written in 1966 by Daniel Keyes. Since its publication, it has received significant critical
acclaim, earning a Nebula science-fiction award, and was also adapted into a feature film.
Set in the 1960s, the novel follows the story of Charlie Gordon, an intellectually disabled man who lives a simple but happy life
working a cleaning job at a local bakery. Charlie’s life, however, faces an abrupt change when he is offered the opportunity to
participate in a novel surgical procedure to improve his intellect.
Although he doesn’t fully understand the risks of the operation, consent is provided on his behalf by his estranged sister and
Charlie undergoes the experiment. The experiment is a success and Charlie develops intellectually at an alarming pace, soon
surpassing the experimenters themselves. The rest of the book follows the, not all positive, changes that this intellect brings to
Charlie’s life.
The novel is set in a time when American scientific experimentation could often occur without fully informed consent. This article explores the ethical side of such experiments like the one performed on Charlie, namely if it is morally right to perform a potentially dangerous experimental procedure on someone who doesn’t fully understand the risks, even if it will potentially help them.
Ključne riječi
flowers for Algernon; ethics; human experimentation; informed consent; intellectual disability
Hrčak ID:
263798
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.6.2017.
Posjeta: 1.164 *