One of the exercises that really stood out to me in class this week was when we had to find an ethical dilemma in “The Bicentennial Man”. My group talked mostly about the beginning/end of the story when Andrew was in the surgeon’s office and he asked the surgeon to basically kill him. He did actually want the surgeon to kill him right there on the table, but rather he wanted the surgeon to alter the connections between his positron brain and his organic nerves. Slowly the potential would be drained from the nerves and Andrew will die. Without this surgery Andrew could in essence live forever and probably would never be considered human due to his immortality. All Andrew wants is to be considered human.
When my group was talking about this particular scene we immediately made the connection to physician assisted suicide. It is a huge debate topic in the modern world about whether physician assisted suicide is moral and ethical. This procedure that Andrew is asking the robot surgeon to do is a form of physician assisted suicide, because he knows the surgery will lead to his ultimate death. This brings up an ethical dilemma because the surgeon has the ability to please the patient and carry out his will, but at the same time he will be killing the patient. When thinking about utility and using it as a way to determine if something is ethical, it is hard to say if respecting the patients wishes brings the most benefit to the most amount of people. Doing the surgery would mean that Andrew would have his wishes obeyed and he will have a better chance of being considered a man. However, he will die soon and that will bring great sadness and despair to all that are close to him. Also with the death of Andrew comes the death of all the knowledge and creativity he possesses which has proved invaluable to the humans thus far. Now, if the surgeon choses not to do the surgery, then Andrew would be upset because his wishes were not being obeyed. On the alternative side the Doctor would not have to kill anyone and Andrew would be around to share his wealth and knowledge with the world.
Through this process it is hard to know if the surgeon made the right ethical decision. There truly is no right decision in this case which is why this is a topic that is still heavily debated today. A person that is suffering only wishes to end their suffering, but that comes at the expense of the Doctor’s conscience. It is very hard to tease out and unpack this ethical dilemma but in the end I think the surgeon did make the best choice for Andrew, even if it was not the best choice for everyone.