Cochlear Implants, The Deaf Culture, And Ethics
Temas
Detalles
The ethical debate regarding life-saving organ transplants no longer embodies the emotional content generated by the first successful transplant in 1955. The decision of life – no life, and the success of medical intervention has certainly muted that debate. The current ethical debate is directed at biomedicine’s involvement in quality of life issues such as gene therapies, surgery in utero, and the implantation of a device to stimulate the 8th nerve of born-deaf infants. These interventions are specifically directed to alter, eliminate, or correct non-life threatening conditions. This paper specifically addresses Cochlear Implants (CI) in born-deaf children, with emphasis on trait vs. disability, informed-surrogate consent and the possible demise of the deaf culture (ethnocide). An introduction to Deaf culture and Cochlear Implants (CI) provide a framework for later discussion of disability, proxy consent, and ethnocide.