Severe Immune Deficiency Disease

Introduction

David was born on September 21, 1971 with severe immune deficiency disease (SCID). "SCID is a primary immune deficiency. The defining characteristic is usually a severe defect in both the T-&-B lymphocyte systems. This usually results in the onset of one or more serious infections within the first few months of life. These infections are usually serious, and may even be life threatening," (SCID, 2014). David was born by cesarean section and then he was sealed in a plastic chamber. His parents and everyone involved knew he probably would have this disease, but they decided to go through with the birth. His parents were very dedicated in keeping him healthy. David had to move to larger plastic chambers as he grew older, which cost his family $200,000 a year. His family did receive research grants from the National Institutes of Health. David lived to see his twelfth birthday. He died from an attempted treatment using bone marrow.

Ethical Issues in Healthcare

In relation to David, who was called Bubble Boy, did the doctors treat David correctly? "Duty-oriented ethicists feel that the basic rightness or wrongness of an act depends on its intrinsic nature rather than on the situation or consequences," (Groves & Edges, 2005, p.38). The doctors tried to treat David's bone marrow a second time, which caused him to die. Based on duty-oriented ethics, was it morally right to try this bone marrow treatment? The answer would be no. Doctors adhere by the Hippocratic Oath and the most basic terms in the oath are no to cause harm or injustice. Virtue ethics focuses on treating people right and doing the right thing. The doctors moved David to larger plastic containers as he grew. This was the right thing to do to keep him safe and comfortable as possible. Utilitarianism means to focus on pleasure over pain. David's family received research grants for his survival. Was it ethical to treat David like a research project? No. The Divine command theory follows the same concept as the Ten Commandments. David's parent knew of his disease before he was born, but they decided to let him live. This was a good moral decision. Limiting any resource to David would have caused him an earlier death. David's parents were fortunate that most of his treatments were covered by the research grant. The cost of his care could have reached into the millions.