[Vision2020] Rights to kill

[Ted Moffett]

I suppose it goes without saying that such an arrangement, where removing
the device would be fatal, and the device is not necessary to save a life,
but is an optional life-style choice, is rather unlikely to be medically
approved, it seems to me ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primum_non_nocere ),
which would not stop illegal arrangements. of course.  But for a situation
where removal was fatal, assuming such a device became approved for medical
use, the legal responsibilities and options for both parties would likely
already be spelled out in detail, in some sort of contract, I guess...

I suppose this thought experiment has ethical connections to abortion rights
debates, but the arrangement is between two consenting adults, I assume (?),
whereas a fetus cannot legally consent to anything.

To explore more options for your thought experiment, that were not
discussed, that I read, what if the women is killed in an accident or dies
of medical causes or murder?  Of course this possibility is rather obvious
and would be considered before such an arrangement was pursued.
-------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 7:57 AM, Robert Dickow <dickow at uidaho.edu> wrote:

>  Hi all,
>
>
>
> This is sort of a new thread. Maybe. Anyway, let’s try a little thought
> experiment. Suppose, at some time in the not-too-distant future, we have the
> technology to hook up an adult to a woman via a kind of mechanical placenta.
> Ok, so let’s say I decide to work out a deal with a local female that I
> contact via Cupid.com and arrange to hook myself up to her body via the new
> apparatus. After all, I live alone, and I’m tired of fixing myself TV
> Dinners, and I’m a lousy cook, and I want to simply have a little vacation
> and be nourished through my new (and rather expensive) MicroSoft Placenta XT
> Version 2.3. The woman agrees, and we undergo the simple but delicate
> procedure to install the artificial placenta and wire it up to my belly
> button. Six weeks later, she decides she has changed her mind and doesn’t
> like me parasitizing off her, despite the princely weekly deductions from my
> PayPal account that we agreed would be fair exchange for the deal. Of
> course, I’m quite happy with my arrangement, and I refuse to detach the
> device, which of course is under my control, protected as it is with a
> secure 164-bit Ryndael Encrypted password system (Patent Pend). The
> authorities can’t forceably detach me from the device without killing me,
> and such action might kill my host as well (although this only happens in a
> small percentage of cases).
>
>
>
> Now, a question: Does the woman have the right to arrange to have me
> detached, thereby killing me?
>
>
>
> If yes, could the detachment service costs by Federally funded?
>
>
>
> P.S. Microsoft eventually develops a male version of the placenta, so that
> males can serve as hosts as well.
>
>
>
> Bob Dickow, troublemaker
>
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20101104/233139a8/attachment.html