Saturday, December 3, 2016

Reflection on Pillow Angels

The article, "Pillow Angle Ethics" by Nancy Gibbs talks about "The Ashley Case" which is about a young girl, Ashley, who is brain-damaged and is receiving estrogen treatment as requested by her parents on the basis that stunting her growth would make caring for her easier. The purpose of the piece was to inform the audience about the situation and the backlash the treatment is getting. According to the article many had difficulty determining whether the treatment was ethical. While reading the article it seemed as if even the author believed that the decision was unethical. In fact, she began her article by stating "What kind of doctors would agree to intentionally shorten and sterilize a disabled six-year-old girl to make it easier for her parents to take care of her? " Her use of  the phrase "easier for her parents" portrays the parent's decision as one made by the need to lesson a burden. This one phrase set the tone for the ,majority of the passage. The idea of using medicine to stunt or cease growth is understandably hard to understand and in my opinion it is somewhat of an oxymoron. However, in Ashley's case her both her parents and doctors make a reasonable argument to justify their decision. The doctors also removed her uterus and breast tissue which they justified by saying cancer runs in their family. This is a valid concern and cannot be dismissed. I found this article extremely interesting because I had to look at it form a different lens. I had to put my morals aside and evaluate the situation based on the ethics of American society. On the show "Grey's Anatomy" there was a case similar to Ashley's. There was a child who was under a coma and unresponsive leaving the parents with the decision of what to do. The parents eventually chose to pull the plug even though it must have been an unbelievably hard decision to make. I think Ashley's parent's felt the same way with the estrogen treatment. All they wanted was more comfort for Ashley.

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