Virtual Mentor. June 2007, Volume 9, Number 06

Ethics Poll

Drawing the line between treatment and enhancement

The Ethics Poll is a snapshot of the opinions of interested readers.

Suppose there is a drug that improves memory and is covered by insurance for patients with Alzheimer's disease. If this medication is found to improve memory in the general population:
physicians should not be permitted to prescribe the drug for individuals who do not have Alzheimer's.
physicians should be permitted to prescribe the drug for individuals who do not have Alzheimer's but want to improve their memories and are willing to pay for the drug themselves.
insurance companies should pay for the prescriptions of patients who do not have Alzheimer's but want to improve their memories.

Parents should be permitted to use medical technology to choose the sex of their child prior to embryo implantation:
never
only in cases where there is a sex-linked disease
only for family balancing
in cases of sex-linked disease or desire for family balancing
for any reason

Many people who need an organ transplant cannot afford the life-long costs of immunosuppressant medications following the surgery. The government should pay for these medications, just as it does for dialysis.
Agree
Disagree
Don't know

View results
Poll results reflect the opinions of visitors to the site who voluntarily answer the poll questions. Those visitors do not represent a random sample of Virtual Mentor readers. The viewpoints expressed on this site are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the AMA.