Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Engineers believe that they can solve the problems
posed by the future, as opposed to views like the one posed
by Ehrlich who sees a future where ''small pockets of
Homo
sapiens
hold on for a while in the Southern Hemisphere, but
slowly die out as social systems break down, radiation
poisoning takes effect, climatic changes kill crops, livestock
dies off, and various man-made plagues spread. The most
intelligent creatures ultimately surviving this period
are cockroaches.''
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Indeed, this dramatic example serves
to illustrate the differences between the engineer's technical
optimism and the doomsayer's technical pessimism, so to
speak. Of course, this discussion has considered the
extremes. Many economists are quite optimistic and many
engineers are rather pessimistic. But the ethos of each
discipline does travel in different directions, since the nature
of engineering is to solve problems. If one has little or no
hope at finding a solution, why ever bother? But what does
the future call for - the proverbial idealist or the modern-day
skeptic? Mankind can either resign itself to failure and deem
the big problems unsolvable or it can press forward,
attempting to solve the problems it faces and overcome
tomorrow's challenges. While the question is subjective, it
becomes clear that in order to progress, most engineers
choose the latter option. Thus, it can be strongly asserted
that utility is but one measure of biosystematic success
albeit an important one. Reason and duty are also important,
as we will investigate throughout this text.
2. What are some downsides to technological optimism?
3. What is the difference between high density and
crowding (or ''overcrowding'')?
4. Explain the bioethical aspects of population
controls proposed by two recent Canadian political
agendas:
a. A private member's bill, C-407, introduced to the
Canadian Parliament that proposed to allow any
person, under certain conditions, to aid a person
close to death or suffering from a debilitating illness
to ''die with dignity'' if that person has expressed the
free and informed consent to die.
b. Health Canada's plans to introduce preimplantation
genetic diagnosis (PGD) regulations in May 2006.
Defend your agreement or disagreement of the following
statement:
Both proposals establish legally binding mandates as
to when, how, and why innumerable innocent human
beings shall be consigned or abandoned to death,
reminiscent of the early ''slippery slope'' actions that led to
the eugenic
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movement embraced by many scientists in
the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany in
the 1930s, which ultimately led to the heinous actions of
the Nazis to produce a ''master race.'' Thus, physicians
who participate in euthanasia or in prenatal diagnosis often
think in terms of ''weeding out'' the unfit, thus denying
them their inalienable right to life. Stemming
overpopulation is simply the environmental rationalization
for eugenics. (Hint: Read varying views about ''Social
Darwinism''.)
Questions
1. Is the moniker ''dismal scientist'' truly applicable to the
economist? Explain.
a number of credible researchers fear the attendant risks
of such nanomachinery, including the creation of un-
intended toxic by-products and dangerous new strains of
microbes.
The life aspects of engineering are, for the most part,
the major success stories of engineering. For example,
more than any other profession, engineers have prevented
(in some cases, eliminated) devastating diseases with
their public works projects, such as wastewater treat-
ment, sanitary landfills, hazardous waste facilities, air
quality controls, and drinking water supplies. Engineers
not specifically practicing in biomedical engineering
sometimes need to be reminded that their work serves
life.
The ''medical'' part of biomedical engineering implies
a strong link between the medical and the engineering
professions. Like engineers, medical practitioners apply
the basic sciences to achieve results. Thus, our designing
of devices and structures is part of the larger health care
provision. It is quite interesting to watch the growth and
evolution of professions. They seem to oscillate between
stages of specialization and contraction. Presently, both
seem to be occurring in biomedical engineering. Medical
doctors have become highly specialized, but their re-
sponsibilities have increasingly called for broader ac-
countability. While the individual practitioner may lead
one area of health care for the patient, they must build
systems to ensure that all of the other specialties effec-
tively work together to provide the best care for each
patient. In this sense, medicine is part of a larger
biosystem (human health).
Some of the most dramatic ethical and legal failures
have resulted not from the practitioners' incompetence
in their area of specialization, but in their lack of over-
sight and quality assurance of others who are part of the
comprehensive care. Engineers are part of this system of
care. In fact, some of the major advances in devices have
come about through the close relationships with medical
practitioners, such as the collaborations between teach-
ing hospitals and biomedical engineering programs (like
those at Duke, Johns Hopkins, and Stanford, to name
a few). The engineer brings a number of assets to the
team, including practicality, creativity, adaptability, and
a long-term view.
