A study on the ethical issues of using reproductive human cloning as living donors in Never Let Me Go / 中国医学伦理学

ABSTRACT

Kazuo Ishiguro，the Nobel Prize winner in Literature，is among one of those intellectuals who concerns greatly about the ethical issues in organ transplantation. A “utopia” of organ transplantation in which reproductive human clones are used as living donors is fictionalized in his first science fiction Never Let Me Go. The ethical issues of donors，especially those caused by using reproductive human cloning as living donors，is an important theme explored by the author. Based on the basic principles of bioethics，this paper aims to present the relevant ethical issues from the following three dimensions：the examination of ethical problems in using reproductive human cloning as donors，the interpretation of the medical circumstances of reproductive human cloning donors and the analysis of the ethical responsibilities for the tragedy of reproductive human cloning donors. From the perspective of donor source，the ethical problems of using reproductive cloning as living donors are mainly manifested in the serious harms done to the clones and the violation of their dignity as human beings. By investigating the donors’ medical circumstances，it is clear that the reproductive human clones do not enjoy the right of informed consent that donors should have while donating organs is not their complete independent decision and their risk-benefit ratio as donors in the process of organ transplantation has not been carefully evaluated. In terms of ethical responsibility for their tragedy，the health care providers’ indifference to and trampling on the value as well as the dignity of reproductive human cloning is the direct cause，the policy made by the governmental decision-makers who follow the principle of “technological imperative”the important cause while general public’s lack of consciousness in technical ethics and their pursuit of short-sighted utilitarianism principle the basic cause.