Response to: A rational cure for pre-reproductive stress syndrome
- Correspondence to: S Aksoy Harran University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, Morfoloji Binasi, 63300 Sanliurfa, Turkey; saksoyharran.edu.tr
- Accepted 12 September 2003
Abstract
This response to “A rational cure for pre-reproductive stress syndrome” first suggests it is existence that is essential and prerequisite to everything good or bad, therefore it deserves to be protected and respected. Secondly, it argues that every life is worth living, even if it is worse than some other lives, if the only alternative is non-existence. Finally, it takes a critical view of and challenges Häyry’s suggestion that in a good clinical situation, the idea of the irrationality of having children could be a legitimate part of the guidance given, since it is not the counsellor’s or doctor’s duty to advise a couple who wish to have children that it is irrational or even immoral to bring a child into life.
Footnotes
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S Aksoy has a medical degree. After completion of his PhD in bioethics in the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy at the University of Manchester, UK, he was appointed as Associate Professor and Head of the Department at Harran University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, Sanliurfa, Turkey. He has published papers and made presentations in various topics on bioethics at the national and international levels. He currently edits the Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Medical Ethics, Law and Medicine and the Journal of International Society of History of Islamic Medicine. He is also vice-president of the Asian Bioethics Association.
