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Reproductive technology: drawing the line.
1Office of Medical Practice Evaluation, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
Obstetrics and Gynecology
|February 1, 1992
Summary
Medical students evaluated the ethics of reproductive technologies. Most found scenarios acceptable, but some would act professionally in situations they personally opposed, highlighting ethical complexities in obstetrics and gynecology.
Area of Science:
- Medical Ethics
- Reproductive Technologies
- Medical Education
Background:
- Clinical clerks in obstetrics and gynecology encounter complex ethical dilemmas.
- Understanding medical students' moral judgments on reproductive technologies is crucial for ethical training.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess clinical clerks' moral acceptability of various reproductive technology scenarios.
- To explore consistency between personal and professional moral judgments among future physicians.
- To evaluate the utility of a survey for teaching applied analytic ethics in obstetrics and gynecology.
Main Methods:
- An anonymous survey was administered to obstetrics and gynecology clinical clerks.
- Participants judged the moral acceptability of 11 reproductive technology scenarios.
- Judgments were assessed from personal and referring physician perspectives.
Main Results:
- Personal moral acceptability ratings ranged from 30-100%, and as a referring physician from 36-99%.
- A small percentage (1-15%) would act as referring physicians for scenarios they found personally unacceptable.
- Opposition to contracting for children correlated with higher moral unacceptability ratings for scenarios.
Conclusions:
- The survey effectively facilitated discussions on students' ethical boundaries and professional distancing.
- Applied analytic ethics training using such tools is highly relevant to obstetrics and gynecology practice.
- Ethical considerations in reproductive technologies require ongoing dialogue and education for medical professionals.