What Happens During The Sleep Cycle - 1463 Words

Kaylee Hanke Explanatory/ Exploratory Essay Final 11/16/15 What Happens During the Sleep Cycle? Have you ever wondered what is happening while a person is sleeping? â€Å"Sleep is the word we use to define both a biological state and a behavioral state in which we are quiet and relatively unresponsive to external stimuli† (Larson 1990). Measured when sleeping, brain waves have been identified into several distinct stages. Everyone experiences four stages of the sleep cycle, including REM (Larson 1990). This topic really interested me because it is something that every human goes through and it cannot be eliminated from a person’s life. This topic really catches my attention because everyone can experience the effects of sleep deprivation and it does not just occur in one specific person. This topic is significant to me because my grandfather has narcolepsy, a sleep disorder. As I began my research, I wanted to discover more information about a person’s sleep cycle stages. I started with a general search on the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire’s library page. The general search engine referred me to a book titled, â€Å"Mayo Clinic Family Health Book.† The reliability is shown within the title itself. Mayo Clinic is a reliable source because it is one of the largest corporations that distribute the knowledge of many different doctors. The purpose of this nonprofit organization is to use its information to address and inform average individuals about medical care andShow MoreRelatedRem Sleep : Types And Stages Of Sleep1494 Words   |  6 Pageshow vital of a role REM sleep has on our everyday life. Almost everyone has remembered when they had had an extremely vivid dream. Well that is because they were in a stage in their sleep called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. REM sleep is a part in the sleep cycle where your eyes move back and forth and is also the part of the sleep cycle where you dream the most. Our bodies need REM sleep in order to maintain proper function and health. In fact, we are programmed to sleep each night as a means ofRead MoreRem Sleep : Types And Stages Of Sleep1496 Words   |  6 PagesREM Sleep Most people do not realise how vital of a role REM sleep has on our everyday life. Almost everyone has remembered when they had had an extremely vivid dream. Well that is because they were in a stage in their sleep called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. REM sleep is a part in the sleep cycle where your eyes move back and forth and is also the part of the sleep cycle where you dream the most. Our bodies need REM sleep in order to maintain proper function and health. In fact, we are programmedRead MoreFor My Topic I Want To Be Addressing Sleep. I Chose This1740 Words   |  7 Pagesto be addressing sleep. I chose this topic because I love to sleep and I think it is interesting to find out more about why we need sleep and other things about this topic. Everyone experiences sleep so this topic can relate to everyone. It is interesting to see why the body needs sleep and what happens to it when there is a lack of it. I’ve watched many sciences shows about sleep and I have always found it an interesting topic. Until the 1950s, a great many people considered slee p a passive, inactiveRead MoreSleep is Part of Life1014 Words   |  4 PagesZZZ Sleep is something we all have in common, and perhaps also something that we know the least about. We have a vague idea about what sleep is: its what we do when were not awake. In a way sleep is one of lifes biggest mysteries, even though we spend about a third of our lives doing it! Sleep affects our daily life. Students who are sleep-deprived are very likely to have problems in school. A child might fall asleep in class or have attention and/or concentration issues. He or she might be crankyRead MoreWhat is Biological Rhythm? Essay1477 Words   |  6 PagesDiscussion What is Biological Rhythm? Biological Rhythm is periodic biological fluctuation in an organism that corresponds to, and is in response to, periodic environmental change (The Editors of Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, 2014). An example could be of the relative position of the Earth to the Sun and to the Moon with the effects of the changes like day changing to night. There are daily rhythms to many of our physiological functions and activities....our sleep, body temperature, alertness, neurotransmitterRead MoreSleep Is A Periods Of Reduced Activity948 Words   |  4 Pagesasleep! So exactly what is sleep? Sleep is a period of reduced activity. During sleep the body changes internally and externally. It rejuvenates and restores the body, and it follows a predictable pattern consisting of infiltrating Non-REM and REM sleep. Review of Research: Sleep is usually a time where the body is at a lying down position with the eyes shut. The outcome of sleeping is when the body’s receptivity to external stimuli is diminished (The Characteristics of Sleep, n.d.). Generally peopleRead MoreSleep Patterns Of Each Organism924 Words   |  4 PagesOrganisms, whether they happen to be nocturnal or diurnal always have a sort of involuntary or in the words or Ivan Pavlov, ‘unconditioned reflex responses’ that they use to determine when to sleep and wake. Biologists universally believe that organisms have a type of biological clock controlling their various cycles for daily activities. According to the American Heritage’s Dictionary of Student Science, 2014, the daily biological activities are referred to as circadian rhythms and are influencedRead MoreSleep, Sleep Disorders, and Biological Rhythms by Charles J Amlaner1247 Words   |  5 Pagesof eight hours of sleep a night. Some people get more, and so me people get along well with less, but everyone needs to get enough sleep or else they cannot function effectively in their everyday activities. In their work, Your Guide to a Healthy Sleep, National Institutes of Health pointed out that sleep is very important to human existence, so important that one-third of a person’s life is spent doing it (1). In Sleep, Sleep Disorders, and Biological Rhythms, Amlaner said, â€Å"Sleep is a required activityRead MoreThe Theory, The Energy Conservation Theory1419 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction: what is sleep: Sleeping is something that most creatures of the animal kingdom have in common. A period of time where the body seemingly ceases to function. The average human is supposed to sleep 7-8 hours a day, and although this varies from species to species, the core function stays the same.The dictionary definition of sleep is â€Å"the natural state of rest during which your eyes are closed and you become unconscious†.(Sleep, n.d.) Although it seems like nothing is happening whenRead MoreThe Beauty of Sleep Essay1092 Words   |  5 PagesSleep has two basic stages. There is non-REM, and REM sleep: Non-REM stands for non-rapid eye movement. NREM sleep has four stages. Each stage can last from five minutes to fifteen minutes. Stage one consists of alpha waves. Alpha waves are the normal electrical activity when the brain is unconscious or relaxed. In stage one, a person can be woken easily, and if they do get woken up, it would make the person feel as if they hadn’t slept. Also in this stage, you often get a falling sensation and

A Scientific Discussion About Diet And Exercise For Health...

Hello Ms. Zimmerman and agents of the Zimmerman Agency, I would like to introduce myself, I am James Clark. I came across your contact information through your website as an agent that might be able to assist me with getting a completed manuscript published. The working title of this book is A scientific discussion about diet and exercise for health and weight loss. What we know†¦ what we think we know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This manuscript was previously examined by Pegasus Publishing, unfortunately, it did not move forward following a full review of the text. The reason provided, as explained to me was budgetary reasons. Upon following up with the submission editor, it was suggested that I reach out to literary agencies, as I was informed that they enjoyed the book and were consolatory in their inability to move forward with this project. Therefore, I am reaching out to you. The idea for this book is to produce a synopsis of what is understood in regard to the effects that diet and exercise has on overall improvements in health for peop le who are overweight or obese. Unlike 99.9% of all books on this topic, it is not a selective review of the information to forward a dogmatic agenda, or intended to be a marketing pitch for any particular program. The focus of within each section of the book is to present the science of the issues of being overweight and the methods utilized to lose weight based on what we know (have proof) works across the population, as opposed to the format that manyShow MoreRelatedThe Negative Effects Of The Perfect Body And Obesity1026 Words   |  5 Pagesthe trend. The rest of the people who enter these diet regimens will stop due to the lack of time and motivation for them to keep up with others. Unfortunately, these shortcuts to a thin body for beauty and overall health can lead to extremes such as liposuction and multiple eating disorders. Corporations have taken advantage of the idea of fat being similar to that of an unattractive and undesirable body and use the negative effects on health to help further their marketing for their productsRead MoreHistory Of Medicine And Public Health Essay1548 Words   |  7 Pagesbachelor degrees in sociology and anthropology at the Australian National University, as well as a Masters in Public Health and a doctorate from the University of Sydney. She has written 14 books and 130 academic journals on the topics of medicine and public health from a sociological perspective. She is currently researching topics such as sociology in a digital culture and digital health analysis (Lupton, 2012). II. Research Questions †¢ â€Å"What does it feel like to be a fat person in a cultural contextRead MoreThe High Protein Diet Controversy Essay example2620 Words   |  11 PagesThe High Protein Diet Controversy The traditional dietary guidelines most of us were taught in school are now being challenged as a result of a new diet. Remember when your teacher told you that all you needed to do to eat healthy you just needed to consume a lot of pastas and breads and eat meats and fats sparingly. Times have changed. In todays fast paced world of dot coms and international space stations, everyone is looking for something new. Its in with the new and out with the oldRead MoreData commentary on obesity2500 Words   |  10 PagesAfter reading and evaluating six articles written by experts on obesity, the data seems to imply that better educating people about how their behavioral lifestyle choices effect their future and current health is the best solution. The six journal articles evaluated and analyzed include: David Freedman’s article, â€Å"How to Fix the Obesity Epidemic,† published in Scientific American in 2011. Green Gregory’s article, â€Å"Physical Activity and Chi ldhood Obesity: Strategies and Solutions for Schools and ParentsRead MoreThe Problem of Obesity3993 Words   |  16 PagesProblem of Obesity Obesity is a major problem in American. Year after year, new diets are published, and new medications are hailed as wonder drugs that will take weight off with little physical effort, yet the problem still exists unabated. In testimony before the US Congress, Berzins (2001) asserted that, â€Å"[weight] is a complex result of heredity, culture and lifestyle.† According to Rosin (2004), â€Å"About one-third of the U.S. population is 20 percent or more overweight and is therefore atRead MoreKetogenic Diet3772 Words   |  16 PagesKetogenic diet does not affect strength performance in elite artistic gymnasts Antonio Paoli1,2*, Keith Grimaldi3, Dominic D’Agostino4, Lorenzo Cenci5, Tatiana Moro1, Antonino Bianco6 and Antonio Palma6 Abstract Background: Despite the increasing use of very low carbohydrate ketogenic diets (VLCKD) in weight control and management of the metabolic syndrome there is a paucity of research about effects of VLCKD on sport performance. Ketogenic diets may be useful in sports that include weight classRead MoreObesity : A Growing Problem4014 Words   |  17 Pagesproblem that needs to be addressed because health care professionals have observed obesity-related health risks like early onset of Type 2 diabetes, respiratory problems, cancer, depression, and cardiovascular disease and the longer someone is obese, the more serious these factors become. The USPIRC article mentions that 85% percent of people with diabetes have type 2 and 90% of those people are obese or overweight (â€Å"Stop Subsidizing Obesity†). Additional health risks include infertility, skin problemsRead MoreDiabetes : The Leading Chronic Disease3040 Words   |  13 Pagesdiabetes worldwide. It is projected that by 2035, this number will rise to 592 million (Atlas, 2013). In 2012, a total of 29.1 million people or 9.3% of the United States population have diabetes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). That’s about 1 out of every 11 people. According to 2010 statistics, diabetes is the seventh leading causes of death in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). The estimated diabetes costs in the United States for 2012 was $245 billionRead MoreTaking a Look at Maternal Obesity2007 Words   |  8 PagesThe references used are located in the last part of this essay. The literature search was conducted using the keywords and terms maternal obesity, overweight, pregnancy obesity complications, pregnancy risks for obesity, weight gain in pregnancy and prevalence of maternal obesity in Australia. Articles, researches and journals published within the last five years were chosen to gather the most recent peer-reviewed and evidence-based information. The databases that were used include CinahlFT andRead MoreJean Watsons Theory Of Human Caring: Applying It To My Own Practice2314 Words   |  9 Pagesseldom took care of herself. She was overweight, pre-diabetic, and had hypertension. By giving her permission to care about herself and enabling the two of us to explore ways for Ms. X to put caring for herself into action and improve her health and reach her life goals, I believe we had a caring moment that resulted in a breakthrough in the patients ability to reach her health goals. Another valuable component of Watsons theory is that Watson is one of the few nursing theorists who consider

Major Legislations Law in Australia

Question: Describe about the Major Legislations Law in Australia. Answer: Topic 3 Australian Trust Law The major legislations in Australia have been found to be inspired by many laws which have been made and speculated by the English people, yet the Australian laws have still found a ways to be not only effected but also majorly monopolized by indigenous Australian laws which are often of small scale but tend to convert their parent laws. The Trust law found in Australia has been a key example of this scenario, whereas it was predominately found to have much resemblance in structure with the English counterpart, it has been uniquely formulated over the years by keeping in mind the family and tax laws in the country. This law has two different constituents which is crucial to understand in order to place a critical analysis of the commercial side of this law. Explanation of the general trust law The general law which has been applicable in the country explains two very different entities involved in this scenario, the trustee and the beneficiary. The trustee as defined by the law is a person of interest which is defined as legal interests in a property which has been marked as a trust property by the estate. The beneficiary in this law sense is a person who has interest in the property which is defined as an interest of equity. The law simply commences as that if any person has an interest which is both equity and remains to be legal as well than the overall measure would provide that the equity interests would remain prevalent whereas it would also be under the ambit of being legal[1]. The case where many contradictions often arise in the country and thus the practice of this law becomes more practical is that the equity is often given by family members within their own families by nominating a trustee. This alone giving of equity to the trustee now allows him to make decis ion for the property and hence endows him with power control, the law therefore states that the trustee should abide by the trust and not make decision which seem to be an over use of his power and become unjust but rather abide by the law. According the ASICs repot of 2010, there are massive loop holes in the financial literacy of people living in Australia. Moreover, there is a huge element of mistrust amongst the people which lead them towards breach in the trust deeds. There has been a similar case from United States in 1988 when Charles Balkin tried to breach his friend when they were looking forward to invest in a land property. His friend, Don was a quite sensible about the financial terms and conditions so he decided to make an agreement with Charles as a trust deed. But Charles refused because he knew that according to Australian Trust Law, if someone breaches the law or agreement, he or she will be liable to face the legal consequences. Power transfers When there are different amounts of legal property and large assets involved, the rise of greed often shadows many ethical and moral grounds of people. The Law of Trustees states that the trustee of any appointed state or property can only be changed and appointed by the appointer of the state which in easier words is the owner. In the cases where owners pass away without nominating any kind of trustee for their property, the law enforces in these cases that the new appointers automatically become the ones that are in legal matters and close to the deceased. The new appointers now fully gain the power of hiring or removing trustees of the company or property. The Australian however allows the appointers to officially nominate themselves as the trustee of the property but these cases are rare and hence they require the nominators to officially make valid gifting and declare in writing about their decision[2]. These circumstances have been fairly rejected in many states around the worl d unless the person of interests shows both a written form of paper or declaration which incorporates the mutual consent of all parties. The transfer however has been recognized as a very complex arrangement because of the tights laws regulated by statute of frauds. The law promulgates that the transfer of a property to a trustee by the nominator or owner can be made when the owner formally files a declaration of transfer which is defined as being only legal and not equity. The careful precession of these words represents different terms and can even manipulate the transfer in itself. The transfer of the property to the trustee has to fulfill another condition which is that the owner himself has completely fulfilled all jurisdiction and formalities which are in regulations of the statute of frauds. The overall haul in the entire procedures of these trust properties are often catalyzed by investment or the common cases of people becoming greedy. The property cases which have been emerging in the country since ages have involved many conflicts between the beneficiaries of the trust and the trustee[3]. Many people have over the years forgotten about how when they are appointed as the trustee of any properties, there are different facets and rules which a trustee must abide by. The first rule which comes into play after the appointment of power is that the trustee is ideally held liable for all the property and the loss of investment in that property, he has specific duties which need to be filled such as proper care of the property. The conflicts which many beneficiaries have with trustee even though of the situation that they hold equity in the property and the law basically ties the hands of the trustee, there are still some moral grounds and limitations to the equity holders su ch as many people often are unaware of the fact that what the trustee is actually up to when catering to the trust. There are no legal constraints which allow the trustee to release the official information to the beneficiary and the same case applies to the counterpart, these systems are solely operated on the basis of trust and effective relationship between both parties. The affiliations with becoming the trustee of any property require quick planning and the innate sense of responsibility towards the property itself. The case often arises when the property starts to lose its market value because of the influx of either real estate problems or the economic issue in the country, in these cases the entire responsibility depends on the trustee who has been appointed by the owner and he is completely liable to make suitable changes to the property which can make remedial action for these properties, these situation also can shift the property towards different companies as well as pr ivate company owners. Festivities involving trust properties When the family trusts are often discussed there are a number of different festivities that often get involved while considering both the beneficiaries and the trustees themselves. The discretional property trusts often work in different ways than other trusts found in Australia. The trusts have been idealized and initiated mainly in different families where members are elected to be either of the both discretional trustees or the beneficiary, the main line which divides these both of these entities is the sources of power and the capability of having different stakes in the trust property them. The trustee in these cases holds the most powerful wand of control of the property which has been given to him on the basis of legal terms, this makes them in complete control of the finances involved in the entire property and makes them even renting out or selling these properties to any other client. The Australian Trust Law restricts the discretional beneficiaries form benefiting only on the basis of their equity claims but rather they are restricted by the trustee themselves. The only fitting way which allows for the beneficiaries can benefit from their property while considering the existence of the trustee is that if the trustee only allows the beneficiary to benefit from all the finances involved in the property. This alone in power in these types of decisions is the law in the country which allows for these trustees to mutually benefit from the inheritance and also helps the trustees to become more easy and flexible in controlling the entire property. Many cases have spurned from different angles which have shown that many trustees falling into the ambiguities of controlling their own property which has been appointed to them with the law and hence have been known to be reported to the supreme court for further assistance, this has relinquished the trust of many people in the trust and therefore makes valid claims about how the trustee was officially appointed by the family can make initial decisions which might seem often ambiguous. In the years that have followed many steps have been taken into account of using the transfer policies which can maintain for the trustees while changing an appointing the new beneficiaries of the trust, this alone step has caused different problems in the properties as reported by many people, these problems which has caused new beneficiaries to compete for the new power control and this has led to many claims by both parties since the law provides the beneficiaries with equity and the trustees with the power of legal claims. Careful precessions have been taken into account when referring to the transfer of these properties to different owners under the discretion trusts and family rules. These problems have often causes many property owners in the country to resort to schemes which would allow for less harm on both the property reputation and the property investment plans in the country. Many people or how the law calls them as the nominators of the property have made attempts into making different private companies as the trustee of their properties, this not only intestates a positive step towards the property but also makes different accounts into solving out the dispute claims in these properties[4]. This has been made possible because the law states that when the commercial company owners are made the trustees of any properties the property becomes safe when the even the official trustee on the contract or lease papers passes away this still makes the companies to remain intact of the property and be the official trustee of the company because the company still remains under the same ambit of its existence. The only case which makes them difficult in different cases is when the company owners change but that still makes the company entirely liable to the trust property; however when the company however begins on the journey of either being completely void or being shut down. The nature of this condition than allows the company to openly make active decisions and resort to different means of hiring a new trustee for the property. The difference between companies operated trustee and the natural trustees of the residential sectors however yet defines other paradigms which can make the owners be on other verges. The natural owners or law appointed trustees can make the changes to the property until and unless they are held liable when they are alive, but when these trustees pass away the conflict often arises in the cases of unsafe properties or in the cases of properties where more than one beneficiary are in collaboration with each other. The applicable rule for the trust property still remains the same but however the principle of liability changes due to the fact of the trustee type. The main conflict between trusties often also arises when the property undergoes different issues such as the property being suffered a loss in its repute or income value. Thi s situations has been catered by the trustees themselves by altering the trust deed which puts the trustees in debt of investing all the trust funds which are received by them for the investment and betterment of the property, however many trustees have made the claims for altering this very clause by stating the reason that these property values often result in dead investment plans and often makes them incapable of appointing any other investors in this case. This law has however been refined to support the legal owners of these properties to make their trust funds investments in many other property options which give them the different opportunities to have other income supports. All these festivities involve different things in these property reviews and these cases have made different acquisitions over the years also involving the commercial side of these properties and in different cases when the trustees automatically become entitled to breach their own contracts and trust de ed while facing commercial investments and property investment plans[5]. Commercial property involving trustees The residential approaches to the trust properties depending on the laws and regulations narrate out a different story rather than the private and commercial ones. The commercial property owners however have different approaches towards these trust issues and can execute different variable law schemes between both the beneficiaries and the company appointed trustee of these companies. The hub of attraction between different things which has attracted many former new clients which are known as creditors and these people are also known as the third parties which are involved in the exercise of these trust companies to make different investment and expecting their financial charts to either boost up or probably go down because of the below explained reasons[6]. The reason why these companies known as creditors are involved in investing in the commercial trust properties is that these companies hold viable investment opportunities as well as the solicited owners of these commercial prope rties such as the trustee who is only liable in making the deal come true with the creditors whereas the official appointed beneficiaries of the company who can only benefit on all the profits earned by the company without having an entire legal say in which the company would operate. This allows the creditors to make decision depending on their liking and hence obtain these properties which are often none protected at a subsidized price which is comparatively much less than the official market of having other companies which are not under the ambit of trusts. There are different levels of different problems which can be affiliated with the nominating parties and the company owners which deal with these trust properties[7]. This makes the risk of having owned a debt incorporated company to the maximum limits because there are no official signs of these records of the company in the files or in any of the documents which have been made public to the audiences or the creditor company owners or different websites which the foreign investors might want to look up. These problems have been fairly narrated by different people in the past and have been dealt by the government in ways which are only prosecuted on the trustees self-morals of when he declares that the company which is being vested by these creditors is a trust owned company under a very viable trust deed. The official procedure for these kinds of interactions forms when the company is being invested by the creditors, the documents formulated often involve different things, one of th ese things involve the companys financial records and bank statements whereas the declaration of these companies as a trust unit or a non-trust unit with a trustee. This step is crucial in these transactions because it enables for the creditors in making active profit from the company without having to pay of the debts of the company or having to fulfill the mouths of all beneficiaries. Hence it is the moral code of conduct and the liability of any trustee to assure the creditors about the legal standing of the company so that the creditors may not suffer the loss of their entire investments[8]. When the cases arrive when creditors find out that the company which have been operated by these trusts have been filed for different debts possessions than the law permits the trustees to make different claims and their legal standings in the Australian court of law allows the trustees to simply pull themselves out of the matter by claiming themselves only the trustees and therefore this ma tter to be resolved by simply removing them because in the end they cannot control the assets of the financial matters of the trust owned companies. Further affiliations and problems The different impacts which can cause problems for the creditors when investing in these non-secured companies by the trust affiliations can cause different amounts of problems for these creditors[9]. The different cases of debts arrival however can be solved by the Australian law of indemnity which has been providing these trustees. The simple procedure of this clause makes it easy for the investors who have been involved in these companies as it allows that the trustee can access all the beneficiary assets of the companies which can provide the official amount which is needed to escape these problems, however these beneficiaries budgets can help to move the company towards prosperity and help the companies to solve out the issues however this only becomes possible when the trustees dont wish to use the assets to just pay off the debts of the companies whereas if in the cases of these companies many trustees have over the years been involved in the breaching of their trust deeds by actively participating them in the concept of using these funds for their personal issues and uses whereas by showing the company under debt. Breaching of the trust deed There are many reasons to why the trust deeds has been breached by different trustees of these commercial properties and hence when the company has been found to be under debt due to the actions of the trustees themselves, this further allows the official appointed beneficiaries of the company to sale the assets without the involvement of the trustee and this further allows the beneficiaries to modify the trust deed so that the remedial actions can be implemented and hence sort out the problems faced by the commercial company[10]. We have seen in the past when Brady Price, the owner of Brad Food Company in NSW tried to breach the term agreement of trust by stating that there are no debts on the property but at the time of selling the property, he found guilty for breaching the trust deed with the other party. Conclusion The overall conclusion of this critical analysis between the company and different trustee owners is that overall inclusion of these companies affiliated with trust promotes more risk than other non-trust companies, although the tangible benefits of acquiring these companies which are affiliated with trusts seem more profitable to the owners in both benefits and profit returns, This also allows for the company to deal in many other countries on different prices and the only efficient way of imposing this effective rule is that the imposition of a written proof of a companys statement of either being in a trust or not.

My Sisters Keeper Essay Example

My Sisters Keeper Paper Introduction, and Thesis: Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) to provide a genetically matched donor for an older sick child and to use the organs of the younger to the medical benefit of the elder is not morally justifiable using rule utilitarian ethical theory. This principle is not justifiable due to both the nature of the proposed rule regarding PGD and, primarily, to the nature of utilitarian ethical philosophy in general. Arguments Supporting Thesis: Rule utilitarianism is a moral philosophy holding that general rules for moral guidance should be developed that will act as an aid in making ethical decisions. For example, one such rule might by that one ought to keep promises. Given this general rule, when faced with a moral decision, an individual should look at the list of rules and see if any of these rules apply to the current situation. Using the above example, if the situation involves keeping a promise or not, then one should keep the promise. According to this philosophy, even if the consequences of a particular act of promise keeping are bad, the person behaving in accordance with the established utilitarian rule is morally not at fault. However in an attempt to establish a new utilitarian moral rule, each individual event will affect the attempt to establish a moral rule. We will write a custom essay sample on My Sisters Keeper specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on My Sisters Keeper specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on My Sisters Keeper specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer This ethical theory requires development of rules of action based on the potential rules likelihood to bring about the most good for the most people. For the purposes of this discussion a reasonable rule would be: parents should use PGD to provide a genetically matched donor for an older child and use the expendable organs of the younger child to repair life threatening medical conditions of the older. For the sake of argument, this paper assumes that any procedures that would necessarily result in the death of the younger child would not be performed. For example, if the elder child needs a heart transplant, this rule could not be used to justify the death of the younger by removing the younger siblings heart and transplanting it into the elder. The suggested rule makes use of other, more fundamental utilitarian rules such as one shouldnt cause pain or one should prevent pain. Neither of these rules in itself is sufficient to establish the more specific utilitarian rule suggested in the preceding paragraph. To determine if this potential utilitarian rule should be adopted, some cases, using Picoults novel My Sisters Keeper as a springboard should be examined. The first case to examine is the simplest case. If the proposed rule proves inadequate for a simple application, it is unlikely that more complex, and more realistic scenarios will be adequately served by the proposed rule. The simplest case within this context would be the case originally conceived of by Kates parents, Sara and Brian Fitzgerald. In this scenario Sara and Brian had two children, the elder, Jesse, is approximately seven years old. His little sister, Kate is a about two years old when she is diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Since Jesse is not a compatible donor, her parents elect to use PGD to produce a genetically compatible donor as a potential solution for their daughters health problem. Initially, the younger daughter, Anna, is to be used to donate blood cells from the umbilical cord to provide needed blood cells for Kate. Theoretically, these cells would put Kates APL into remission and that would be the end of medical treatment. All three children would be healthy, have little or no memories of the procedure and the Fitzgerald family would live happily ever after. Does this scenario provide the greatest good for the most people? Although others are involved in My Sisters Keeper, such as the nurses, surgeons, and hospital staff, it is reasonable to consider just the impact of the Fitzgerald family. It appears that the most people have received the greatest good. Kate has her normal life expectancy back, Jesse now has not one, but two little sisters to tease and torment, while Sara and Brian have three happy, healthy children. It appears to be a winning situation for everyone. This scenario provides support that the proposed rule may be a viable utilitarian rule, at least in this simplified situation. Unfortunately, all the cases this proposed rule are to be applied to arent this simple. The Fitzgeralds experiences provide an example where the simple case doesnt prevail and the situation is complicated by other events. Initially in My Sisters Keeper, it appears the umbilical cord blood cells take at Annas birth have done the job. Kate goes into remission for five years. However, at this point Kates APL flairs up and lymphocytes are drawn from Anna three times and inserted into Kate. Again this appears to work for the short term, but ultimately, the procedure fails. For the next eight years the process is repeated over and over again; Kate becomes ill, Anna donates something which should help her get better, the treatment works for a while but then stops working and a new, more invasive and painful donation and treatment is attempted. The situation during this period is not so simple and clear-cut. In the process, everyone in the family suffers: physically, emotionally, financially, and/or socially within the family and outside the home. Both Kate and Anna suffer physical pain with each procedure. Jesse begins to act up in an attempt to get attention from both his parents. The relationship between the parents suffers as Sara becomes more and more obsessed about the physical needs of Kate. The family is not the happy unit anticipated in the simpler case. In fact, at the time of Anna filing the lawsuit for medical emancipation, the only good that has resulted is that Kates life as been extended for twelve or thirteen years. All of the benefits of the Kates continuing to live have come at the expense of the rest of the family and of Kate herself, who suffers considerable pain during the process. In these more complicated circumstances it is not so easy to determine the net good or the net harm. It is no longer so clear that a rule utilitarian imperative can be established to justify PGD and the subsequent harvesting of organs. As long as the medical procedure works, it is more easily justified on a rule utilitarian basis. When the procedure fails, the amount of good, if any doesnt appear to outweigh the amount of harm. This points out a fundamental weakness in moral rule utilitarianism as an ethical theory. It does not have much utility. First, calculating the potential harm and the potential good resulting from a proposed medical procedure is difficult, perhaps even impossible, to calculate. In the simple case, it is easy to calculate the net good because only two people are involved in the process: Anna the donor doesnt suffer at all, and Kate has her pain relieved for five years. It is clear that more good than harm results from the PGD, birth of Anna, and Kates used of the cord blood cells from Anna is a good thing on an utilitarian basis. However, with every additional complication, the calculation of net good becomes more difficult. When lymphocytes are drawn from Anna three times at the age of five, it is clear she feels pain and is at some amount of risk of life due to the use of general anesthesia. It is also clear that Kate receives some benefit from the donated cells. What isnt clear is how much physical pain Anna suffers and how much benefit Kate receives. There are no clearly quantifiable measures of pain. There are scales of pain used by physicians to try and measure pain, but they are estimations by the patient and extremely subjective. Suppose, to salvage the utilitarian principle, one were able to establish a unit measure of pain and relief of pain. Suppose Anna reports that she has pain at a level three for twelve hours for a total of thirty-six pain hours, level two for six hours for twelve pain hours and pain level one for 3 hours for three pain hours. This gives Anna a total of fifty-one pain hours. Presumably, on Kates side, if one assumes a one for one exchange of pain values between Anna and Kate, as long as her net relief of pain is greater than fifty-one pain hours the procedure is justifiable from a rule utilitarian point of view. This result is remarkably similar to the conclusion above in that as long as the medical procedure is successful, the performing of the procedure add credence to the establishment of a new moral rule. This is not a satisfactory moral principle. It fails to consider far too many aspects of the entire situation and bases the moral evaluation purely on the result. For example, as any medical provider knows from personal experience, sometimes people die regardless of the treatment they have received. In the above case, suppose that Kate, after receiving the lymphocytes, and despite the fact that the medical team is well qualified and performed the procedure in accordance with the best established procedures, dies shortly after the procedure. Autopsy and postmortem investigation finds no particular reason for the death. For all intents and purposes, Kate randomly dies when she was expected to live. According to rule utilitarian ethics, this procedure was a failure and should not be used to support a potential rule for future behavior and presumably should count against the potential rule. However this wasnt the fault of the procedure and, intuitively, shouldnt count against PGD and the subsequent use of donor tissues. A second objection to utilitarian rules is that it is unclear when a new rule becomes established. Except for fundamental rules which lack substance, such as truth telling is good, loyalty is good, promise keeping is good that are already established, when does a proposed rule have enough evidence to be a new moral imperative. There isnt a Governing Board of Utilitarian Theory (GOUT) that meets periodically and either approves or denies potential utilitarian rules of ethics. One wonders then if a utilitarian rule can ever be established beyond basic, fundamental rules such as those mentioned above. It is counterintuitive to think that an ethical rule can only be established when it has been tested a sufficient number of times. The whole point of ethical rules is to give people ethical guidance. If one is forced to rely on only the more basic rules such as causing pain is bad and relieving pain is good until the new rule has been established with sufficient data, one is often at a loss since such rules are extremely general and can be, and often are, contradictory. In the case of My Sisters Keeper to relieve Kates pain, Anna must be caused pain. This is essentially a wash that really leaves one with no answer at all. Objections that Rule Utilitarian Cannot Justify PGD: The biggest objection to the conclusion that rule utilitarianism cannot justify using PGD to provide a potential donor for a critically ill child is that if feels like one should be able to use rule utilitarianism to make this decision. One ought to be able to look at this issue and say yes it is moral to provide a potential donor for a child using PGD or no, it is not moral do so. If one cannot use rule utilitarianism to help make a decision what good is it? Response to Objection: That is precisely the point. Rule utilitarianism, in fact even act utilitarianism as well, is inherently flawed. Instead of looking at the entire issue of is it moral to perform an act it shifts the focus to will performing such an act result in a net positive value instead of dealing with the social issue the person who posed the ethical question, utilitarianism deals with an unwieldy ethical system of bookkeeping. This is unsatisfactory because it skirts the real issue. Human ethics is not bookkeeping. Results of an act are important in evaluating the morality of an act, but this is only one part of the entire equations. Equally important, and oftentimes more important are other factors that ought to be considered: motive of the people involved, capabilities of those involved and the rights of those involved are essential ingredients in making ethical decisions and rule utilitarianism makes no allowance for these vital concerns. In fact, it is the question of the rights of Anna Fitzgerald that is central to this novel. It is these other factors that are most revealing and the most interesting from an ethical and sociological point of view. Summary of Paper: Rule utilitarian ethics is unable to establish the rule that using a PGD child to provide a transplant source for an older, critically ill child. This is due to rule utilitarianism ethics not being a particularly viable ethical system. The unwieldiness of trying to calculate the net good or bad makes rule utilitarianism impractical. In addition, rule utilitarianism fails to account for anything other than the results which are a small, uninteresting part of any ethical dilemma. This bookkeeping approach to ethics is inadequate. A moral dilemma is not easily solved and is never solved without considering, the agent, the act and the reasonably expect consequences of the act. It is for this reason that utilitarianism cannot, in fact, justify itself as an ethical system.