Virginia Tech Alumni Continuing Education Choices and Challenges K-12 Humanities, Science & Technology Learning Module Home


This section provides a selection of projects that your instructor may ask you to do before class, during class, or after class on the topic of organ transplantation and body part manufacture. These activities may be assigned to individuals or groups of students.

Even if these activities are not required, thinking about the issues they raise may better prepare you for class discussion, writing assignments, or an exam.

Please send comments, suggestions, or ideas for additional individual or group projects to choices@vt.edu.

Download Complete Exercises as PDF File

 

Background Activities

Organ Donation in the United States Today
Bioethics Tutorial
History: Case Studies in Health Care Resource Allocation
Health Care Resource Allocation in Film
Issues in Animal Welfare

Organ Donation in the United States Today

Use the discussion board available through your course homepage at http://www.learn.vt.edu or contact choices@vt.edu to reserve NetForum space.

Take this quiz — developed by TransWeb: All About Transplantation and Donation (www.transweb.org), a nonprofit educational web site serving the world transplant community — to see how much you already know about organ transplantation in the US:

http://www.transweb.org/myths/quiz.htm

Next, review the data available through UNOS: United Network for Organ Sharing (www.unos.org) about organ donation in the US today:

http://www.unos.org/Newsroom/Frame_news.asp?SubCat=critdata

Now, explore the practice of organ donation through the Gift of Life organization's website:

http://www.donors1.org/donation/donation.html

Make sure to explore each of the 9 sub-sections: history, myths, fast facts, FAQs, religious views, area transplant centers, organs and tissues, family discussion, and donor recognition.

Finally, participate in an online discussion on the following topic:

What decisions have you and your loved ones made about organ donation? Are you planning to donate your organs in case of death? When a loved one dies, will you make the decision to donate his or her organs? Would you consider donating a kidney as a living donor?

Please treat your classmates with the same respect that you would show them within a classroom situation.


Bioethics Tutorial

Part I: Approaches

First read:

Thinking Ethically: A Framework for Moral Decision Making
Developed by Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University http://www.scu.edu/SCU/Centers/Ethics/practicing/decision/thinking.html

This reading describes five approaches to ethical decision-making: utilitarian; rights-based (also called deontological); fairness or justice; common good; or virtue. A sixth approach, dominant in the field of bioethics, is called principlism or principle-based bioethics. Read more about this approach in a primer developed by Thomas R. McCormick, faculty at the University of Washington School of Medicine:

Principles of Bioethics
http://eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/bioethics/tools/princpl.html

Next, choose one of the scenarios below, and evaluate the situation using each of the six ethical decision-making frameworks:

  1. The father of a 30 year old man died of Huntington's Disease at age 38. Huntington's Disease is a hereditary illness causes by a single genetic error (see http://www.hdsa.org/ and http://www.hdac.org/hdfaq/faq.php) that results in neurodegeneration and early death. The 30 year old man refuses to be tested for the defect before conceiving children with his wife; who does not know about the death of the man's father, or the possibility that her husband also carries the gene for Huntington's Disease. Each child of a parent with Huntington's Disease stands a 50% chance of inheriting the disease. Should a medical professional notify the man's wife, force the man to be tested, or respect the man's right to privacy and autonomy?

  2. An infectious agent that looks like smallpox is released in a rural town with limited medial expertise and equipment. Federal workers want to quarantine the area and refuse to allow medical equipment or professionals into the town, or any town residents to leave. Medical groups want to access the town, to save as many people as possible. People who do not yet have smallpox want to leave. What should be done and who should decide?

  3. Fluoridation — the practice of adding fluoride to the public water supply — has been an accepted practice in the United States for over 50 years. Fluoride is believed by many (including the American Dental Association) to significantly reduce tooth decay in the population. (See http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/fluoride.html) However, opponents point to an increase in fluoride overdose resulting in the poisoning of young children, crippling skeletal fluorosis in the population at large, and detrimental environmental impacts. Opponents are particularly concerned by what they see as a lack of individual choice. (See http://www.fluoridation.com/) Should communities continue to fluoridate their water?

  4. A 25 year old woman tests positive for a highly contagious sexually transmitted disease for which there is currently no cure — however, early treatment significantly decreases health risk and increases quality of life. The woman has had over 20 sexual partners within the last three years, including a number of persons with whom she has practiced unsafe sex. The woman indicates that she does not plan to contact any of her former partners, nor will she provide her physician or the health department with their names, to urge them to be tested. Should the woman be legally required to provide the names of all her partners?


Part II: Organ Transportation

Next, read this primer on some of the particular ethical issues associated with organ transplantation, developed by the Science Museum of Virginia:

http://www.smv.org/prog/B2Kprimorgtrans.htm

Now, examine these case studies on organ donation — focused on the ethics of resource allocation.

http://www.med.howard.edu/ethics/handouts/lecture13.htm

Using the bioethical approaches you learned above, evaluate these two cases and produce written recommendations.


History: Case Studies in Health Care Resource Allocation

Write a book review — choose one of the following books or a text selected or approved by your instructor. Length: 750-1000 words

David Rothman, Beginnings Count: The Technological Imperative in American Health Care (Oxford University Press: 1997).

David Rothman, Strangers at the Bedside: A History of How Law and Bioethics Transformed Medical Decision Making (Basic Books: 1991).

Lisa Belkin, First Do No Harm (Fawcett Books: 1994).

How to Write a Critical Book Review (pdf)


Health Care Resource Allocation in Film

Write a film review focusing, in part, on health care resource allocation — choose one of the following films or one selected or approved by your instructor. Length: 750-1000 words

First Do No Harm (Touchstone Video: 1997)

John Q (New Line Productions: 2002)

Lorenzo's Oil (Universal Studios: 1993)

Miss Evers' Boys (HBO Studios: 1997)


Issues in Animal Welfare

What is the relationship between humans and other animals? What does the human/animal relationship look like in the arena of scientific research? What should it look like?

This exercise can be done with a partner or by yourself — review the articles below, supplementing them with additional research as you identify the need — and then develop a set of dialogue papers between an opponent of animal research and a supporter of continued animal research. Each paper should be done in an op-ed style — see a description of what an op-ed looks like below.

The Center for Laboratory Animal Welfare
http://www.labanimalwelfare.org/

"Trends in Animal Research: Increased concern for animals, among scientists as well as the public, is changing the ways in which animals are used for research and safety testing" Madhusree Mukerjee, Scientific American, February 1997
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Philosophy/Scien%20Amer.htm

What does an op-ed look like?

In these papers you should give a brief introduction explaining the controversy over animal research, identify the key issues, and offer your own position on what ought (or ought not) be done, and then explain why.

To make the most convincing case, it is necessary not only to give the arguments in support of your own position but also to identify what the opposing arguments are (doing this fairly, of course) and to show why your arguments are stronger or more reasonable.

Recognizing areas of uncertainty and offering suggestions for what new policies or laws might be useful are also appropriate.

Keep in mind that op-ed articles are written for a general audience so you must keep your op-ed paper simple and direct. You can be dramatic, poetic, passionate. But avoid technical language. Keep sentences short and clear. And it helps to end your op-ed paper with a brief, snappy paragraph that sums up your view.

Each paper should be no longer than 750 words, double-spaced with pages numbered. You must give credit to any sources that you use including the Internet. In the case-study paper you can do this with footnotes. However, op-ed articles do not use footnotes. So here, you must work the credit into the text. For example, you could write something like: "According to Jill Hudson in her November 1999 article in Discover magazine…"


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Discussion Activities

Religious Traditions — Making Decisions about Donation
Informed Consent — should it be presumed or voluntary in the United States?
Animal-to-Human Organ Transplantation — Peril or Promise?
A Presidential Commission on Embryonic Stem Cells
Organ and Body Part Manufacture and Repair

Religious Traditions — Making Decisions about Donation

What do different religions have to say about the ethics of organ transplantation? As a medical counselor, how would you talk to the families of potential organ donors? Using the resources below — and additional research, as you see fit — you, or you and a partner, should develop a 3-5 page basic script about the benefits of organ donation, and how you would handle specific questions and resistances of the potential organ donor's family.

In addition to using your background knowledge on organ transplantation in the United State today, as well as any other information you feel to be relevant, make sure to address specific religious doctrines.

General

Judaism

Christianity

Islam


Informed Consent — should it be presumed or voluntary in the United States?

In the United States, organ donation functions on a voluntary consent basis, meaning that the donor or his/her family must give permission for organs to be donated. In other countries — such as France — organ donation functions on a presumed consent basis — persons must opt out of organ donation, rather than into the process.

Option 1: If you are working alone, you are the chair of a science advisory committee that will be established to advise the President of the United States on the issue of consent in organ transplantation. Should consent in the United States remain voluntary, or does it make sense to switch to presumed consent?

As chair, you must establish the parameters of the study — what are the issues? What other countries will be used as additional case studies? Who else should be nominated to the advisory committee?

Option 2: If you are working in a group — you will be producing a 5-7 page report to advise the President. First, decide: what are the issues? What other countries will be used as additional case studies? Who else should be nominated to the advisory committee?

Then, choosing both scientific and non-scientific roles for the advisory committee, work with your group to answer the question. (Each person should be responsible for a different aspect of the project.) Include a 1 page executive summary which summarizes your decision.


Animal-to-Human Organ Transplantation — Peril or Promise?

Should animal organs be used to deal with the organ shortage?

In this exercise, you will be writing two press releases. One should be developed by members of the Animal Liberation Front, regarding a recent action taken against a private company's laboratory and farm allegedly involved in the production of animals to harvest their organs. The second press release should be issued by the private company, responding to the charges and actions of the Animal Liberation Front.

Each press release should be 1-2 double-spaced pages.


A Presidential Commission on Embryonic Stem Cells

Option 1: Your group has been convened by the US President to issue a report answering the following question: Should federal funds support experimental research that involves the creation and cloning of embryonic stem cells?

Your report must address:

  • The potential benefits of embryonic stem cell research and whether these 'problems' can be addressed by alternative means;
  • The moral status of embryos — from at least three ethical standpoints;
  • The history of reproductive and genetic policies in the United States and how this history does and should effect the current situation;
  • What regulations — if any — should be put in place;
  • Issues of access and affordability;
  • Other issues are they are pertinent to the discussion.

Each member of your group must choose one of categories below — and act from within the boundaries of the chosen position (i.e., role-playing).

In your report, please be sure to indicate where and why disagreements occur.

  • Physician
  • Spouse of or a person diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease
  • Religious leader: please choose a faith; more than one religious leader's participation may be necessary
  • Members of the public: a teacher, homemaker; social workers; retiree; and so on; more than one member of the public should participate
  • NIH administrator
  • Embryonic stem cell research advocate
  • Medical researcher
  • Bioethicist
  • FDA policymaker
  • Historian of genetic and reproductive policies
  • Sociologist
  • Legal scholar
  • Other options must be approved by the instructor

Option 2: You or you and your group will read and evaluate the September 1999 National Bioethics Advisory Committee Report: "Ethical Issues in Human Stem Cell Research," available at http://www.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/nbac/pubs.html.

In your 4-5 page report, identify areas that NBAC must revisit due to scientific and technological advances occurring in the years since the report was drafted.


Organ and Body Part Manufacture and Repair
What does it mean to be human? How will the promise of bioengineering - and cyborgs - change this meaning?

Imagine that it is the year 2050. You, or you and your partner, are reporters for Dateline. Prepare a transcript of your 15 minute report to America on how bioengineering - specifically, organ and body part manufacture and repair - has changed (or not changed) the face of America. (Short commercials may be included as part of the transcript.) Who will you interview? What types of evidence will you gather? What questions will still remain open, if any?

You may be required to present this report to your class — in character.

 

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Review Activities

Payment, Trade, and Coercion — Increasing the Number of Organ Donors
Encouraging Organ Donation — A Commercial
Constructing Exam Questions on 'The Six Million Dollar Body'
Organ Donation and the Popular Imagination

Payment, Trade, and Coercion — Increasing the Number of Organ Donors

The undersupply of organs for transplantation is not a problem unique to the United States. Global proposals — beyond presumed consent, xenotransplantation, mechanical organs and body parts, and stem cells — to increase the availability of organs for transplantation include:

  • the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners;
  • a reduction in prison sentences for prisoners willing to donate kidneys or livers;
  • financial incentives (including direct payment or funeral expenses); and
  • preferred status for organ donors or their families.

Prepare a 3-5 page brief evaluating each of these alternatives using the skills and knowledge you have developed through your completion of this module.

You may wish to start here:

UNOS — Bioethics
http://www.unos.org/frame_Default.asp?Category=Resources


Encouraging Organ Donation — A Commercial

Develop a one minute commercial encouraging organ donation for the American prime-time public. Include both a script and descriptions of the actors and/or visuals you would use.


Constructing Exam Questions on 'The Six Million Dollar Body'

You, or you and your partner must develop an exam to test your classmates' understanding of the issues involved in this module. The exam should be worth 50 points, and include short answer, multiple choice, and at least one essay question, among other testing mechanisms. Also develop an 'answer sheet' for each question — provide information regarding: What types of information must be included for a 'complete' answer? How many examples should be present? How much is each question worth? How should your essay question be weighted? Please be sure to include grammar and writing style as part of your grading calculation.

Organ Donation and the Popular Imagination

Fiction writers and filmmakers in the 19th and 20th centuries seem fascinated by organ transplantation and body parts. From Frankenstein to Invasion of the Body Snatchers to Return to Me (starring Minnie Driver and David Duchovny), countless storytellers have imagined both beautiful and horrific possibilities. They have asked even more questions — can souls and personalities be transplanted with body parts? Do scientists have too much power to control life? What constitutes death? What is the relationship between man and machine? What does it mean to be human?

Locate two different media dealing with organ transplantation and body parts — films, stories, books, video games, etc. — and compare the stories they tell and the questions asked. How do these narratives speak to the scientific and ethical issues raised by the other sections of the module?

Write a 3-4 page response paper.

 

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Project Director: Doris T. Zallen
Project Co-Director: Eileen Crist
Project Coordinator: Mary Ellen Jones
Research Associates: Jane Lehr & Jonson Miller

For more information, contact the

Choices and Challenges Project
Center for Interdisciplinary Studies
Virgina Tech, Mail Code: 0227
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
Phone: 540 231-6476 Fax: 540 231-7013
Email: choices@vt.edu

 
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Last Updated: March 2002
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All original material is a product of the Choices and Challenges Project
with support from the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Virginia Tech.