Advantages And Disadvantages Of Charlie Gordon's Surgery

Isabelle Carroll
Hours 4 & 5
November 15th, 2016
Argument Essay
Charlie Gordon's doctors did not act ethically as they performed the surgery on him to increase his intelligence. Ethics are what people consider to be morally right and wrong. The scientists decided that it would've been morally right to conduct their own experiment on Charlie Gordon. However, the scientists may have acted ethically by conducting the experiment to see if they can improve the intelligence of the entire society. It is unfortunate that the disadvantages outnumber the number of advantages because the ratio shows that the scientists should not perform the surgery, as there are more risks than benefits.
The scientists were not ethical while preparing and performing Charlies surgery in many ways. They had not thought about how Charlie's life would change when his intelligence would be increased, and also how his life would be after his intelligence rapidly decreased back to normal. According to Medical Ethics, the patient must be fully informed with all available information.

In the Five Steps to Better Ethical Decision Making article, it states each step clearly in how to become a more intelligent person when it comes to ethical decision making. The first step is to collect all facts and evidence. Step two is to make an educated guess of what could possibly happen, good or bad outcomes. Step three is to figure out if this decision is because one wants it, or because someone else wants that person to do it. Step four is to decide if the decision will improve one as a person or not. The fifth and final step to making better ethical decisions it to decide if one's decision is good enough to explain to another person (Dobrin). As science progress, we must maintain the balance between improving people’s lives and ensuring any ethical decisions we make don't cause more harm than