Your assignment: Your job is to create the outline for a paper that will cover the following considerations and provide relevant citations (more on that below). You will turn in the outline and citations by 10/14. The final paper will be written based on the outline (with any suggested corrections)
- An introduction
- Identify the single most convincing reason that providing a cochlear implant and associated technology for Emerson would be ethical and provide support for this reason.
- Identify the single most convincing reason that providing a cochlear implant and associated technology for Emerson would be unethical and provide support for this reason
- Determine which of the two positions the stronger one is and defend your answer
Outline/Citation Assignment
Some infants are either genetically prone to later developing hearing problems or are conceived with a hearing impairment. Congenital deafness is a type of hearing impairment that is present from the start (hearing problems at birth), originates during pregnancy, or is inherited at birth and results in hearing impairment as the child ages and matures. When there is significant or acute hearing impairment, it is also referred to as congenital deafness. While there are many potential causes of congenital loss of hearing, genetics is the most commonly cited reason in most cases. This is referred to as a hereditary hearing impairment (Renauld & Basch, 2021, p.1). One or both parents may carry the genes that make a person susceptible to hearing problems. An auditory assessment is often performed on newborn babies to check their hearing. This assessment will reveal numerous sensorineural abnormalities. When a baby or toddler has a hearing problem, it can be challenging to detect it, particularly if the impairment is only moderate.
A heterosexual husband and wife of mixed ethnicity gave birth to a healthy four-month-old Emerson; they are not parents to any other children. Emerson was born without the “sensory hair cells,” which are the cells in the auditory nerve that “give us an insight” audio vibrational frequencies into nerve (neuronal) transmissions for the nervous system. As a necessary consequence, Emerson was born deaf. “Sensorineural deafness” is the scientific condition used to diagnose this type of auditory abnormality. Emerson’s parents are informed by the evaluation specialists at a prominent medical center that their child is an outstanding prospect for a cochlear implant after having her auditory and hearing-related functionality evaluated. With practice, people with hearing impairments like Emerson can listen to sounds and learn how to speak due to a cochlear implant, which works by bypassing the damaged portion of the auditory passageway.
The possible advantages of the procedure and implantation are apparent to Emerson’s parents after doing some research and technology. They also learn that some medical professionals and speech and language therapists who collaborate with cochlear implantation as well as the Deaf communities have ethical concerns. The effective therapeutic approach for individuals who have profound hearing loss is cochlear implants, which are also morally acceptable (Kral, Dorman & Wilson, 2019, p.42). The degree of understanding and tenacity with which the individual committed the crimes for which he or she has been charged must be carefully examined when determining the amount of criminal capacity attributable to deaf individuals. Ethics support cochlear implants. Every case of implantation must be examined separately. Before carrying out the procedure, the ENT doctors must properly notify Emerson’s parents or legal representatives and obtain their written permission. This is because it is their ethical duty to recommend assistive technologies.
The possible advantages of the procedure and implantation are apparent to Emerson’s parents after doing some research and technology. They also learn that some medical professionals and speech and language therapists who collaborate with cochlear implantation as well as the Deaf communities have ethical concerns. The effective therapeutic approach for individuals who have profound hearing loss is cochlear implants, which are also morally acceptable. The degree of understanding and tenacity with which the individual committed the crimes for which he or she has been charged must be carefully examined when determining the amount of criminal capacity attributable to deaf individuals. Ethics support cochlear implants. Every case of implantation must be examined separately (Burke, 2022, p.249). Before carrying out the procedure, the ENT doctors must properly notify Emerson’s parents or legal representatives and obtain their written permission. This is because it is their ethical duty to recommend assistive technologies.
The Deaf Community views Emerson’s cochlear implant as a clear and present danger to Deaf culture, which is the main justification for their opposition (Oghalai et al. 2022, p.149). Even though they help with listening, those who use them exist in a sort of limbo between both the hearing and the deaf worlds; they can never fully integrate into either with such equipment. In addition to being incredibly expensive, this type of surgery could cause total hearing impairment and is disrespectful to the deaf community.
I would like to support the unethical position which is against the Cochlear Implantation procedure because the implantation and the deaf community are both subject to numerous problems. On the websites of a company that makes cochlear implants, there is proof of problems like “fixing” deaf children, offering individuals false optimism, and making them choose a unique community (de Rijk et al. 2020, p.1196). The cochlear implant could occasionally fail to perform as well as anticipated. Risks are generally taken when a cochlear implant becomes one of the first options offered to parents and caregivers of a deaf child and children may be forced to live with the prosthesis even though the intended outcome was not achieved.
References
Burke, T. B. (2022). Bioethics and the deaf community. In The Disability Bioethics Reader (pp. 243-253). Routledge.
de Rijk, S. R., Tam, Y. C., Carlyon, R. P., & Bance, M. L. (2020). Detection of Extracochlear Electrodes in Cochlear Implants with Electric Field Imaging/Transimpedance Measurements:: A Human Cadaver Study. Ear and hearing, 41(5), 1196.
Kral, A., Dorman, M. F., & Wilson, B. S. (2019). Neuronal development of hearing and language: cochlear implants and critical periods. Annu. Rev. Neurosci, 42(47), e65.
Oghalai, J. S., Bortfeld, H., Feldman, H. M., Chimalakonda, N., Emery, C., Choi, J. S., & Zhou, S. (2022). Cochlear Implants for Deaf Children With Early Developmental Impairment. Pediatrics, 149(6).
Renauld, J. M., & Basch, M. L. (2021). Congenital deafness and recent advances towards restoring hearing loss. Current protocols, 1(3), e76.
