In:
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, Cambridge University Press (CUP), Vol. 12, No. 1 ( 2003-01), p. 116-118
Abstract:
In their recent article, Glannon and Ross remind us that family
members have obligations to help each other that strangers do not have. They argue, I believe correctly, that what creates moral
obligations within families is not genetic relationship but rather a sharing of intimacy. For no one are these obligations stronger than
they are for parents of young children. This observation leads the authors to the logical conclusion that organ donation by a parent
to her child is not optional but rather a prima facie duty. However, Glannon and Ross go a step further by suggesting that because
parent-to-child organ donation is a duty, it cannot be altruistic. They assert that “altruistic acts are optional,
nonobligatory…supererogatory…. Given that altruism consists in purely optional actions presupposing no duty to aid others,
any parental act that counts as meeting a child's needs cannot be altruistic.” Here I think the authors go too far.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0963-1801
,
1469-2147
DOI:
10.1017/S0963180103121147
Language:
English
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Publication Date:
2003
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1499985-7
SSG:
0
SSG:
5,1
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