EthicsAdvancedMMI station
A deaf couple doing IVF asks you to help them pick an embryo that will also be deaf. What do you do?
Ethical dilemma: Competing duties with no perfect answer: consent, confidentiality, fairness.
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Sample answer outline
- Acknowledge both views: many Deaf people see deafness as a culture and identity, not a disability. Others see choosing it as limiting the child's options.
- Name the principles in tension: the parents' reproductive autonomy and the future child's interests (sometimes called the right to an open future).
- Explore the couple's reasons with curiosity instead of assumptions.
- Check the law and clinic policy where you practice. If you decline on conscience, say so openly and explain the options.
- Recommend an ethics consultation, then give your reasoned position.
What makes it work
- It shows cultural humility without dodging a position.
- Naming the principles makes the reasoning easy to follow.
Avoid
- Calling deafness simply a defect.
- Ending on "it depends" with no view.
How to approach ethical dilemma questions
- Clarify the facts and what you would want to know before acting.
- Name who is affected and the principles in tension: autonomy, doing good, avoiding harm, fairness, confidentiality.
- Walk through realistic options, starting with the least drastic.
- Choose a course of action, explain why, and say who you would involve.
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