Poll: Kill one to save ten?

[Jonesy911]

I would do what any good doctor would and not break the Hippocratic oath, I'd let the ten die and save the one.

 

[Zefar]

Imagine you are a doctor. Under your responsibility are ten people who each need a different organ transplant to survive. One day, a man who is an organ donor arrives in intensive care after a vehicle accident. He is in critical condition, but he can be saved with immediate care. However, if he dies, the organs he would therefore donate would be enough to save the other ten. If you were the doctor in this case, would you allow the one man to die in order to save the other ten, or would you save the one man, but cause the other ten to die?

Imagine for the sake of this scenario that there is no hope of getting another source of a transplant for the other ten people.

I'd want a bit more "reasonable" situation. In this one you can save the guy. Letting him die would be rather a waste.

Seeing that his organs just doesn't die out like that and can be used on other patients so that they can live instead.

The people in need of organs know fully well what will happen to them and it's only luck that can help them.

But yes if I could save more I would most likely pick them unless the person I'm trying to save is someone close to me. Friends/Family first.

 

[Doctor Glocktor]

There's no "Depends on the people we're saving." option.

 

[Tharwen]

This has probably been pointed out higher up this thread, but the doctor wouldn't be killing anyone. He'd simply be leaving the problem to solve itself with what is logically (if not morally) the fairest conclusion. This thread should therefore be called: "Give a critically ill patient insufficient treatment in order to keep ten alive for about 15 more years?"

 

[Julianking93]

Yeah, I'd let the other guy die.

 

[lizards]

since when does a man have enough vital organs he can save 10 other people............

yes

Hmmm... I count six vital organs (Edit: that are likely to be transplanted)... heart, lungs, 2 x kidney, liver, skin. Although the skin could go to 5 people. Maybe.

why the hell would you need a skin transplant


hm........maybe he has SKin DIseasE

Are you really asking that question? Have you ever seen pictures of burn victims?

and they give them skin transplants?

 

[Lukeje]

and they give them skin transplants?

Yes, though generally it's their own skin (taken from a less critical area). That reduces the chance of tissue rejection.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

It wouldn't my job to decide if he lives or dies, only to do my best to save him. So no.

 

[thisisyournamenow]

no i would save the man that came in. SAVE THE MAN

 

[Manji187]

Imagine you are a doctor. Under your responsibility are ten people who each need a different organ transplant to survive. One day, a man who is an organ donor arrives in intensive care after a vehicle accident. He is in critical condition, but he can be saved with immediate care. However, if he dies, the organs he would therefore donate would be enough to save the other ten. If you were the doctor in this case, would you allow the one man to die in order to save the other ten, or would you save the one man, but cause the other ten to die?

Imagine for the sake of this scenario that there is no hope of getting another source of a transplant for the other ten people.

Let's spice this one up a bit...suppose the man brought in after an accident is your brother. Or: a woman is brought in and she's your lover. Would you still perform the organ transplants? This one is a lot tougher to answer as objective altruism goes right out of the window once people who are very close to you are involved.

 

[AngloDoom]

If I wasn't a Doctor, but had the skills, I'd save him. If was a Doctor, however, I would have made an oath to preserve life so I would not; I will not be ending the life of the ten people intentionally, but I would the man with the apparently essential ten organs.

That, and I wouldn't want to lose my amazing job. I'm a freakin' Doctor!

 

[Booze Zombie]

Bring a doctor means I would've taken The Hypocratic Oath, forbidding me from harming people.

I would have to save him, lest I stop being a doctor and start being a monster.
Besides that, quite a few organ donors probably die every day, the chances of those patients being saved anyway, are probably pretty good.

 

[GoldenRaz]

The man has agreed to donating his organs to sick people when he dies, not when they need them. To kill him for the sake of the sick people wouldn't be so different to just taking a random person from the street and using that persons organs just to help the sick people.

And considering that it's quite a long shot that none of the organs would be rejected by the new hosts, I just couldn't kill him to possibly save ten others.

 

[Conveant0]

I'm sorry, but for those people who have chosen yes on the grounds they believe saving 10 over the 1 is correct just because of the 1 persons initial condition, then you may as well take a crowbar out into the high street to take your pick. The single person has a chance to live and in this scenario has no obvious possibilities for complications further along in treatment, meaning they'd make a full or almost complete recovery, so taking away their live is technical murder. Leaving the other 10 however is just bad luck, it can't be avoided without commiting murder and so cannot be justified.

For those who have wrote "I'll ask the 1 person"...
Scenario- (Please not the script is simplified, and no I don't intend to go into writing..)

Doctor:"Hey, how's everything hanging?"

Patient:"A lot better thanks doc, how long did you say for a full recovery?"

Doctor:"Not to long without further complications, by the way, there are 10 patents further down the hallway who are dying, mind if we kill you and use your organs?"

Doctor 2:"We know that if you choose no, you'll be mentally scarred over choosing 10 lives above your own, but what the hell right we just wanted to ask anyway"

Patient:"Wha..Wait you said I was going to recover?"

Doctor:"Well you could, or you could order your own death and we could save the lives of 10 others you know nothing of"

Patient:"YOU JUST F***ING ASKED ME, THE PATIENT, TO CHOOSE MY LIFE OR THEIRS? And choosing no would LEAVE ME WITH THE LIVES OF 10 PEOPLE HANGING ABOVE MY HEAD FOR THE REST OF MY OWN LIFE?
...
How can you ask someone like this? Your fucking doctors, this would be murder"

Doctor:"Well.. erm"

Doctor 2:"Shesh, touchy"

Again, not made to be fun to read, more just to put the point across when I couldn't be bothered write four paragraphs. Simple note, you wouldn't ask someone to end their life, and as a Doctor that's more-so.

 

[lizards]

and they give them skin transplants?

Yes, though generally it's their own skin (taken from a less critical area). That reduces the chance of tissue rejection.

yes i know that but keywords "generally it's their own skin"

 

[LockHeart]

and they give them skin transplants?

Yes, though generally it's their own skin (taken from a less critical area). That reduces the chance of tissue rejection.

yes i know that but keywords "generally it's their own skin"

Yes but surgeons do perform skin transplants, i.e. the French woman who got a new face.

I'm sorry, but for those people who have chosen yes on the grounds they believe saving 10 over the 1 is correct just because of the 1 persons initial condition, then you may as well take a crowbar out into the high street to take your pick. The single person has a chance to live and in this scenario has no obvious possibilities for complications further along in treatment, meaning they'd make a full or almost complete recovery, so taking away their live is technical murder. Leaving the other 10 however is just bad luck, it can't be avoided without commiting murder and so cannot be justified.

For those who have wrote "I'll ask the 1 person"...
Scenario- (Please not the script is simplified, and no I don't intend to go into writing..)

Doctor:"Hey, how's everything hanging?"

Patient:"A lot better thanks doc, how long did you say for a full recovery?"

Doctor:"Not to long without further complications, by the way, there are 10 patents further down the hallway who are dying, mind if we kill you and use your organs?"

Doctor 2:"We know that if you choose no, you'll be mentally scarred over choosing 10 lives above your own, but what the hell right we just wanted to ask anyway"

Patient:"Wha..Wait you said I was going to recover?"

Doctor:"Well you could, or you could order your own death and we could save the lives of 10 others you know nothing of"

Patient:"YOU JUST F***ING ASKED ME, THE PATIENT, TO CHOOSE MY LIFE OR THEIRS? And choosing no would LEAVE ME WITH THE LIVES OF 10 PEOPLE HANGING ABOVE MY HEAD FOR THE REST OF MY OWN LIFE?
...
How can you ask someone like this? Your fucking doctors, this would be murder"

Doctor:"Well.. erm"

Doctor 2:"Shesh, touchy"

Again, not made to be fun to read, more just to put the point across when I couldn't be bothered write four paragraphs. Simple note, you wouldn't ask someone to end their life, and as a Doctor that's more-so.

Exactly, no one has the right to try and persuade you to die for other people. A Doctor's job is to do what is best for their patients and anyone who thinks that this just boils down to simple mathematics scares me. Seriously.

 

[Kamikazi1231]

As a medical professional the answer is no. I'd try to save all of them equally and if he does happen to not make it then I guess it's a lucky day for the other ten people. Assuming we are ignoring organ waiting lists lol

 

[Macgyvercas]

In reality, organ donation is only considered after the patient has been declared dead. Doctors are bound by the Hippocratic Oath to do everything in their power to save them, no matter how many people the organs would help.

 

[Willwillwritehiswill]

That would go against a doctor's hippocratic oath. If i were in that situation. Even knowing that ten lives would be saved, it would be wrong for me to willfully kill a man.