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  • Essay / The representation of ethical philosophy issues in Grey's Anatomy

    The episode I chose to write about is Grey's Anatomy, episode 25 of season 2. I chose this episode because it has many questions different ethics that are presented in one and the same episode. episode. The main issue I will focus on is Denny's heart transplant and the decisions that were made by Izzie and others regarding the heart transplant. The question will be analyzed from several different ethical angles. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayProblem SummaryThe problem in question involves a heart transplant. Izzie's partner (Denny) is on a waiting list for a heart transplant. He has been on the waiting list for over a year and a half. In the episode, he is called in to receive a heart transplant. However, the doctors discovered that the heart of the person from whom they were going to take it was no longer functional. As a result, Denny would not receive any transplants. At another hospital, a separate patient is next on the heart transplant list (above Denny) and, as such, is eligible to receive the next heart, which comes from someone about to be operated on in the episode. Izzie decides to try to put Denny above the other patient by lying about Denny's condition. She tries to make his condition appear worse than it really is so that he gets priority on the heart transplant list. In addition to lying about his condition, she also makes the decision to intentionally stop his heart in order to fool the other doctors into believing that he is more in need of a heart transplant than the other patient. The episode ends with her cutting the tube to her heart support machine. Several important ethical issues relate to the problem of heart transplantation and the two different potential recipients. Ethical Questions The episode's storyline raises a number of different ethical questions. The first perspective to analyze is the utilitarian perspective. Utilitarianism is an ethical philosophy based on producing the greatest overall level of pleasure or happiness for the greatest number of people, as well as minimizing pain for the greatest number of people (Harsanyi, 1978). The heart transplant situation is difficult to examine from a utilitarian perspective. This would likely depend on the number of family members and friends each heart transplant patient has. Since the episode shows that Izzie is in love with Denny, it seems that her decision could be justified from a utilitarian perspective if no other information about the other heart transplant patient is present. It is possible that the situation would be different if the other patient was also in love and had a caring family who would be devastated if the patient did not get a new heart. The second ethical theory is based on Kant's philosophy of ethics. Kant's principles differ from utilitarianism in that they do not measure the right or wrong of actions based on results. Rather, Kant's ethical theory is based on the question of whether or not an individual fulfills his or her moral duty (Nell, 1978). The situation in the Grey's Anatomy episode is much easier to analyze from a Kantian point of view. Izzie has a moral duty to save patients and act honestly. She violates both of these duties when she decides to lie to save a patient she cares about personally, at the expense of another patient who was actually more in need of a heart transplant. THE.