The Ethics Of Being An Amputee - 1626 Words

The Ethics of Apotemnophilia Introduction Apotemnophilia, a disorder that involves both neurology and psychiatry, involves fantasies (mostly sexual) of being an amputee. This disorder primarily involves patients that suffer from a body dysmorphic disorder in which certain parts of their bodies feel â€Å"foreign† to them. Obviously, there are many debatable questions relating to the issue of apotemnophilia, including patient and doctor consent, autonomy, medical laws, and more, but here I focus on the ethical questions of apotemnophilia, from a constructivist and utilitarian perspective in which I argue that patients do have the right to do what they will with their bodies in their own pursuit of happiness, since knowledge and what is or isn’t†¦show more content†¦This â€Å"alien† sentiment has been echoied by other pateints suffering from this disorder: â€Å"In that instant, that very first encounter, I knew not my leg. It was utterly strange, not- mine unfamiliar. I gazed upon it with absolute non-recognition [...] The more I gazed at that cylinder of chalk, the more alien and incomprehensible it appeared to me. I could no longer feel it as mine, as part of me. It seemed to bear no relation whatever to me. It was absolutely not-me – and yet, impossibly, it was attached to me – and even more impossibly, continuous with me† (Sacks, 1991, p. 7) This was the sentiment of the patients Dr. Smith operated upon successfully who reported being much happier after the fact. However, when a third patient requested the same surgery, the hospital administration became involved and the surgeon and his patients became the source of public and media disputes. One of the biggest argument concerning this case and others like it, is that these patients, considering their mental conditions, could not actually have given informed (i.e., sane) consent because the request itself is considered â€Å"wrong† by society’s standards. Of course the question of competency and whether or not someone is able to make rational decisions is the real question here and one to which a definitive answer just cannot be obtained. According to author Carl Elliot (2007) in his book, A New Way to be Mad, just because someone wants a healthy limb removed does not make them