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Genetic Testing and Traditional Values-Reply
Carson Strong, PhD
University of Tennessee College of Medicine Memphis
Arch Fam Med. 1994;3(4):307-308.
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Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings. |
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In reply
Although O'Connor raises an important issue, her description of contemporary medical ethics is inaccurate. She points out some of the problems of utilitarianism, but it has many other difficulties that have been widely recognized for years. Some die-hard utilitarian ethicists remain, but they are a small minority, and O'Connor misinforms us when she says that utilitarianism is "politically correct." Medical ethics today is more accurately described as pluralistic in that there are many conflicting nonreligious and religious viewpoints. I have explained elsewhere why I oppose utilitarianism,1 and I do not make the implausible assumption, as O'Connor states, that most people are utilitarians.
O'Connor implies that I, and ethicists generally, hold that there is no place for religious discussions in medical ethics, and I wish to make it clear that this innuendo is false. Even more disturbing, the tone of O'Connor's letter implies that to discuss the abortion issue from
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
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