Response to Jess' Organ Dispute Blog

After reading Jess' blog regarding organ selling, I felt that we have similar views on most of the issue.  She used a lot of good sources to back up her opinions.  Jess did a good job finding articles that show both sides of the issue so she could get several different outlooks on the issue.  With such a controversial topic, there are always going to be arguments supporting both sides.
Jess talked about how our bodies are special, and using them to make money is considered wrong by many.  But there are always people selling their bodies for different reasons, and this could be just another example of that.  I thought the article Jess used that supported organ selling was pretty interesting though, and I could see how that could sway her views.  Overall, she did a nice job.

Ethics and Medicine

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a common illness among war veterans and many other high-stress jobs.  PTSD can also occur following any frightening event in a person's life.  There are many treatment facilities and programs for people experiencing PTSD, and also many other forms of treatment.  A common treatment is a medicine called Propranolol.  Propranolol is used to treat heart problems and anxiety, and is now used to treat PTSD.  The drug blocks adrenaline, which is the hormone that causes people to be frightened and shocked.  The BMJ Best Treatments reported that this drug can consolidate emotional memory and weaken emotions attached to memories.  This is where all the ethical issues come into play.
On one side, people struggling from PTSD may be in need of this drug because they can't live with an experience they've had.  Forgetting some emotions may be better than living with memories that they can't get over.  On the other hand, the drug can cause users to lose emotions, and lose touch of who they really are.  Family members have become very worried about this drug, because it may completely change the user of the drug.
The following article expresses some of the strengths of using Propranolol in PTSD patients.  It is based on a couple of studies. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/729444
This article discusses the other side of the story. http://bioethics.net/journal/j_articles.php?aid=1338. If you scroll down to the Basic Ethical Issues section of the article, you can find some solid arguments against the use of Propranolol.
Although the issue of Propranolol in PTSD is fairly uncommon, I found it very interesting.  In my mind, it is up to the patient dealing with the anxiety and stress to ultimately decide if they should receive the drug or not.  They know how bad the situation is, and should be the ones making their own decisions.

Demonstration Evaluation

Here is a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fri52p1eRM

For this activity, I chose a video on solar energy.  In this video, there are a few scientists at Argonne National Laboratory describing what solar energy is, and how we can accomplish a transformation to achieve it.  I have always been curious about energy; what exactly it is and how it is created,  so I chose to watch this video.

In the video, the creators did a good job using graphics along with the scientists speaking about the topic.  This allows the viewer to get a good picture of exactly what the scientists are talking about.  The scientists did a good job doing their job: teaching us what solar energy is, how it works and how we can benefit from it.  Obviously they have some bias towards solar energy production because they are working at a lab in which the main goal is to produce solar energy, but it is for the viewer to decide whether or not they agree.  

The video was pretty convincing to me, and I didn't hear many drawbacks in the speakers' presentation.  However, with such a complex issue like solar energy, it will not be easy to achieve.  These men are obviously experts on the subject, but there are many people who believe that solar energy is a stretch.  I found one account of the disadvantages of solar energy at http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/solar.htm .  This writing by Donald E. Simanek looks at many hazards of solar energy.  

In the end, I think the video was very effective and very well put together.  From the viewpoint of a scientist working on solar energy, I think it was about as good as it could be.

Response to Dallas Lewallen's TILOHL Blog

After reading Dallas' blog post, I felt like we had a similar viewpoint on most of the material.  He talked about how controversial and touchy the subject of consent in medical research is and how we need to be more educated on it.  If we are more educated on it, it will probably benefit all of us.
The links that Dallas provided in his blog were very useful and on subject.  The one that brought me to Rebecca Skloot's website was convenient because it taught me more about her goals and reasons for writing TILOHL.  The video of Skloot speaking to a group of students from Galluadets University was also helpful to me.  It showed Skloot in a different aspect, and I respect the fact that she is willing to speak openly about a controversial subject.
As I said earlier, I agreed for the most part with Dallas on what he believes about TILOHL.  His post was clear and simply written so it was not hard to understand what his main points were.  Overall, Dallas did a solid job responding to TILOHL.

Here is a link to Dallas' post:  http://dlewallenlsc100f10.blogspot.com/