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John as a utility and ‘utility’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

K. Nadesalingam*
Affiliation:
Services for People with Mental Handicap, Church Hill House, Crowthorne Road, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 4EP
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John is a 30-year-old man suffering from severe mental handicap (IQ:30) and epilepsy, without other physical deformities or illness. He is sociable, would initiate social interaction (physical), enjoys a cuddle and going out on trips. He has no communication skills but is able to understand basic commands like ‘open your mouth’, ‘sit down’ and so on. He has been a long-term in-patient in a mental handicap hospital for the past 15 years. He is from an affluent family and had been admitted because of his family's inability to cope. He has visits from his mother once a month, and from his father less frequently. A few months ago his mother left a verbal instruction to the ward staff to make arrangements to donate his organs and to ask me, as responsible medical officer, to leave written instructions to inform the local Organ Transplant Team before his death, whenever it becomes imminent, so that the Organ Transplant Team can remove the necessary organs on his death.

Type
Articles
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990

References

Kant, I. (1964) Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. (ed. Paton, J. S.). First edition. London: Harper Torch Books.Google Scholar
Kleinig, J. (1985) Psychosurgery and the mentally retarded. In Moral Issues of Mental Retardation (eds. Laura, R. S. and Ashman, A. F.). Beckenham: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Mill, J. S. (1986) Utilitarianism. (ed. Warnock, M.). First impression. London: Fontana.Google Scholar
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