Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
recent discussion with author and veterinarian, Richard
Orzeck,
20
who candidly shared the following case:
I congratulated her again, and not giving it any more
thought at the time, returned to continue my autopsy of
a Labrador retriever. Several minutes later I saw that
the research professor had indeed arrived, and my friend
and he carried out their grim task (I won't go into the
details) to advance the ''noble cause of medical science.''
My surprise at her enthusiasm was because I knew her to
be
d
just like all my vet school colleagues
d
a dedicated
and compassionate person who loved all animals,
especially horses. She was subjecting herself to a rigorous,
unrelenting, and expensive eight years of college and
medical school to fulfill her life's dream of saving the lives
and improving the welfare of her animal patients. But
here she was, ready to end the life of a perfectly healthy
horse and eager about the opportunity to do so.
During my second tour of duty through Cornell's
pathology department, I was working late one weekday
afternoon in the hospital's postmortem room performing
an autopsy on a young Labrador who had died
unexpectedly from no obvious cause, when one of my
friends from the junior class walked into the room
leading a dapple-gray, quarter horse mare. The
pathology professor and I had just finished a long and
detailed study of the poor dog's lungs and heart when he
decided that we both needed a short break. Having
nothing else to do while he was out smoking his
cigarette, I went over to chitchat with my
underclassman colleague.
As she stood there holding the silent and unusually
well-behaved horse by its lead, we talked about all of
the exciting things that vet students talk about when
they're able to find the time: how our classes were going,
how my rotations were going, and how demanding all of
the professors were. After a couple of minutes of this
small talk, I casually asked her what she was doing with
the horse here in this room normally set aside for
studying the dead.
Her eager and straightforward answer surprised me.
She said that the animal was a donation to the college
by an owner who, for whatever reason, no longer wanted
it. She said that she had been working with a research
professor after classes on a project focused on
degenerative joint diseases in racing and performance
horses, and that the animal was part of their study.
Reaching over to stroke the horse's neck, I looked into
eyes of my future colleague and smiled as I
congratulated her on being asked to be part of this
research project. As a student research assistant, even
though the job mostly involves doing all the ''dirty
work'' such as mucking out the stalls and feeding and
caring for the research subjects, you do get to interact
on a higher level with the doctors and professors in
charge. And it can all be pretty exciting stuff, especially
if a scientific or medical breakthrough is discovered.
Still curious as to why she was here in the postmortem
room with this obviously healthy horse, I asked her
again why they were here.
A few of seconds of awkward silence ensued as I
waited for her to answer. Reaching up with her free
hand to pet the horse on its muzzle, she finally told be
that she was waiting for the professor to arrive. After he
arrived, they would
euthanize
the animal in order to
harvest its healthy joint cartilage. These tissues were
needed as a
positive control
in their research. And then
she said no more. She seemed quite excited by the whole
thing, and I remember, just briefly, being a little
surprised at her enthusiasm.
Orzeck's case indicates the extent to which scientists can
rationalize behaviors and decisions within a ''research''
context that we would not otherwise do. This is truly an
example
of
the
ends
justifying
the
means.
Orzeck
continues:
I can't say for sure, but by the words that my fellow
student used allowed her to justify and to absolve
herself of what she was doing. ''She and the researcher
were going to euthanize the animal in order to harvest
its healthy joint cartilage so that they could use the
tissue as a positive control.'' Animal? Euthanize?
Harvest? Positive control? To make what she was doing
more bearable, she transformed this living, breathing
horse into an object of exploitation through the use of
these very specific words.
Animal: The creature was no longer a horse; it was
now an animal object. It was easier to accomplish what
she had to do to an animal or research subject than it
was to a living horse.
Euthanize: Even though I and all other veterinarians
(and, quite sadly nowadays, even the human medical
profession) use the term all the time, the word
euthanize
also is quite sneaky. The term has been bastardized and
twisted and applied to many situations less ennobling.
It's nicer to say ''euthanize the research subject'' than it
is to say ''kill the innocent horse.''
Harvest: The term brings to mind comforting images
of strong and hardy farmers gathering up sheaves of
wheat and corn, or perhaps little red-cheeked children
helping their dear grandpa pick apples from well-
trimmed trees in his ancient New England apple
orchard. But the word also has recently been adopted by
various groups of people to rationalize some despicable
behavior. Credit and banking agencies ''harvest'' and
''mine'' the data that they extract and collect from their
clients; various government agencies ''harvest''
mountains of covertly obtained information on its
citizens for their so-called common good; and, most
