Human Dignity and The Market Part II

HUMAN DIGNITY AND THE MARKET

Part II

There is very old Arabic proverb that says: ‘money will buy you your favourite ice cream and desert whilst you are roasting, or being roasted, in hell’.  In other words there is nothing that money cannot buy even in the celestial or hell as envisaged in Dante’s inferno.  In a competitive market the price is determined by the forces of supply and demand or so we are thought in tertiary courses, and read in books.  We are also thought that the utility of a commodity subject to market forces is the ability of that commodity to satisfy want.  Therefore when the impoverished sells his or her kidney there is no question that want is not satisfied the real question: is he or she selling that transplantable kidney for its true market value?  In this setting that market value is inseparable from the market value of the longevity to the life of the recipient and presumed ultimate source of that transplantable kidney and presumed purchaser.  One’s immediate reaction is that surely such a sale cannot equate to or be comparable with one selling his or her car or used washing machine or fridge.  The simple and morally painful answer is that the two sales are inseparable in the amoral eye of the market! To further erode the issue of morality and the sacrosanctity of human values instead of an individual being identified as the purchaser of the impoverished sellers’ kidney a corporate entity - totally amoral like the market - can be used to do the purchasing.  In other words the recipient of the kidney need not think about the donor.  The transaction is simply commercial regardless whether the donor is a prisoner, or a missing person, or an impoverished individual in the Philippine, India, or Egypt.   

More and more these days corporate entities are becoming sponsors of major sporting events and the CEO’s of those companies set up their own private boxes watching those events in the comfort and luxury of nippling on caviar, and drinking champagne whilst the rest of the spectators, some of whom stood in a long line to buy ticket, sit or stand on rotting benches and get drenched!  Instead of being a get together of communities to watch and cheers for their favourite team sport is becoming amoral just like the market and the corporate entity. This is especially so when we all can bet on teams and watch the odds fluctuate up to the half time break! Nowadays we can do all the betting through our iphone from the luxury of our lounge room.  

In a discussion of this kind where the market is being used as means of eroding the moral fiber and ethical sanctity of human values one is reminded of the past, present and continual history of the slave trade.  This trade had been, and regrettably continues to be, the hallmark of every human civilization including the 21^st century.  In recent months the question of slave trade had been worldwide news item.  The Charitable Australian mining magnate, John Andrew Forrest (Twiggy), decided to setup some foundation/trust committee to monitor and hopefully reduce the volume of human slave trade market.  Human slave trade was a feature of Medieval Europe that peaked in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when European powers were colonizing Africa.  Between the twelfth and fifteen centuries Florence and Genoa flourished on slave trade from Africa to the Arabs.  Those slaves became known as the Mamlukes (owned) and after the decadence of the great Arab Empires of Umayyad and Abbasid took over as Caliphate until the last of whom, was defeated by the Ottoman in 1516.  Forrest’s grandiose initiative was welcomed and warmly supported by the Vatican and the Imam of El Azhar Mosque in Cairo. A smiling, Forrest was shown with his wife signing the anti slavery document at the Vatican with Saint Peter’s Church in the background. 

No discussion of slave trade (topic for next blog) is ever complete without a mention of   Abraham Lincoln, and the American Civil War of 1860.  Whilst to most historians the cause of the war was the desire by the Northern States to abolish slavery that ‘cause’ may well be one of many, if indeed the main cause.  I guess one can take comfort in the fact that the medical profession in mid 19^th century America and Europe had not even dreamt of organ transplant.

In the last two years Slavery had been the topic of new breed of Hollywood directors with major films by Quentin Tarantino Django Unchained and 12 Years a Slave by Steve McQueen.

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HUMAN DIGNITY AND THE MARKET Part I

HUMAN DIGNITY AND THE MARKET

Part I

For long time I had planned to write a blog about this subject matter but after watching the Four Corners program on ABC1 some weeks ago about trade in human organs (mainly kidneys) I said to myself its now or never.

Source: HBO

In brief the ABC program focused on two prominent nephrologists, one in Istanbul Turkey and the other in Tel Aviv Israel.  The kidneys were purchased from the impoverished in various towns in the Philippine through agents.  The agents, normally middle aged women with iphone awaiting message specifying the required matching particulars of the recipient’s either in USA, Canada, Australia, or Western Europe.  The program also focused on all the players involved in the game resulting in the kidney transplant industry.  One transaction involved young married man with two children aged five years or under both bare footed.  This man said that he was told he will get $2,000 for his kidney and showed the scars from the operation telling the interviewer that he had sold his kidney for $2,000 which he thought he will get.  Unbeknown to this man was the cut of the agent‘s fees of some $600 leaving him with $1,400 for which he appeared grateful.  Another man who sold one of his kidneys for similar amount said his other kidney was now failing and he was in moderate state of renal failure. Neither the Turkish nor the Israeli nephrologists had any compunction with either the transaction or the fees they received undertaking the operations.  To quote the Israel nephrologists: ‘one puts a price on human life and death?’ Perhaps not but officially the trade in human organs is illegal.  Despite the fact both nephrologists were arrested they walked out of court unscathed and both were continuing their busy profession.

Is there any aspect of humanity that distinguishes a human being from God’s other creatures that is still sacred or sacrosanct not caught up with market forces and can not be purchased with money?  Such things as cherished memories, community values, friendship, neighborhood, believes, secrets other things that distinguish us human?  Probably not!  If someone sees the dollar sign ($), a dollar to be made he or she will either get the story through the written or visual media now days transmitted globally through the iphone.  Oscar Wilde once said: ‘one may know the price of everything but the value of nothing’.   That comment is resoundingly true in 21^st Century. 

What's a life worth? Who determines this?

If one leave it to market forces one is taking out the judgmental argument as the market is neutral.  How could market forces put a value on a house in a village or a farm in which one’s ancestors were born and worked, ancestral inheritance - walls, ceilings, doors and window that saw generations after generations of the same family imprint their individual stamps on them?   The obvious answer is the last bid on the fall of the auctioneer’s hammer! The bones, or whatever left of them, of the great, great grandparents will writhe in their resting place.

In the next blog I will deal with the question of market forces, supply and demand, and whether any spot left for human values and dignities that distinguish the human race from other animals and plants whose sustenance is dependent on sun, water, air and soil.

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Post Mortem Conception - Life after Death...

Post Mortem Conception

Life after Death

It is common experience that significant number of human at some stage in their life they either hear about, become aware of or knew someone or some family that shared the scourge and tragic experience of newly married son or relative all of the sudden diagnosed with terminal illness.   Illness that in matter of weeks starts a chain of metastasis ravaging the new husband immune system and turns the lives of the newly married and their family into living hell.  There are number of cancers and blood disorders that once diagnosed it is literally impossible to treat or significantly arrest their progress to give the patient any meaningful remission to enjoy semblance of quality of life.   The suffering is not of the patient but also that of the immediate family and close relative and friends.  The myth that needs to be dispelled is the often held belief that the terminal blood disorder, cancer, or disease started all of the sudden without warning.  Like plants those diseases take time and often grow silent or with minimal disruption to daily living.  Often a salient feature of such insidious diseases is subtle enlargement of lymph nodes in the neck, under the armpit, groin, and a patient that had been feeling unwell for while. Such features are more often than not missed in routine medical check ups and visit to busy general practitioners who allocates 10 or 15 minutes to the consultation.

What is often ignored and rarely thought about is that sperms in a male testis and spermatic cord survive up to 36 hours after that male officially declared dead.  Most major hospitals in densely populated areas and cities do have fertility clinics.  If the will of the newly married and now widowed wife (and possibly others) is to fall pregnant to the love of her life there is a real chance she can do so.  The sperms from the testis of the deceased can be surgically harvested and cryogenically frozen.  Thereafter it is a matter for the fertility clinic and the widowed wife to make the arrangement and attempt/s that leads to conception.  If that conception is successful a widowed wife can have as many children from her departed husband as the circumstance allows.  Bizarre as it may seem at first glance the cryogenically frozen sperms of the newly wed deceased husband can, at least in theory, as a donor fertilize and give hope to many women and childless couples.

Lives for 32 hours after

More often than not it is the will of the newly married deceased to have children and the chances are that he would have discussed this with his wife. Off springs that carry his name and memory.  For the deceased’ parents it is a gift befitting the adage: ‘nothing more greater precious than a son but grandson’.     

When we think about it the genetic material that we as human carry and that distinguish us as individuals, the RNA and DNA (ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid) are present in the nuclei of cell of all living species including plants and animals.   Cutting edge research in cellular biology and genetics is now being undertaken in many laboratories around the globe.  It is not beyond the realms of possibility, and more likely probabilities that species long extinct such as dinosaurs can be brought back to life.  These advances raise very interesting parallel and highly controversial question both ethically and religiously that, to my knowledge, none of the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) had specifically or subtly addressed. 

The parallel:

“Christianity tells us that on the Day of Judgment the dead will be resurrected back to life. The newly married and deceased husband whose sperms are harvested and cryogenically preserved is ‘resurrected’ through his offspring albeit a later generation”. There is no issue that both events fit the definition of resurrection.  Needless to say on the Day of Judgment the newly married and deceased husband will be brought back to life.

Resurrection....

Current day advances in genetic understanding and genetic engineering led to the production of cross breeds and modifications of plants and grains.  Whilst it may sound and read like science fiction it is by no mean farfetched to think that within the foreseeable future long extinct animals such as dinosaurs could be brought back to life.  

Possible...

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Dissertation on Capital Punishment

Dissertation on Capital Punishment

Part 1

As a general matter of principal the Civil Law adjusts competing claims between litigants by award of compensatory damages aimed at restoring an aggrieved Plaintiff to a position - as far as money can restore - as if the tort or cause or causes of action complained of whether covered by statute or precedent or otherwise did not take place. 
Criminal Law, on the other hand, is based upon judicial finding of criminal guilt and adjudication on punishment.  That punishment can be retribution based on religious philosophy “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” which is often the rationale behind mandatory penalty for murder.  Out of the 52 States that makes the Union of the United States of America, 32 States still have and practice the death penalty.  For a good century and half the practice of putting convicted felons (presumably after exhausting all avenues of appeal) to death was either by firing squads or gas chambers.  That was before the European multinational pharmaceutical companies saw the opportunity to cash in and make a deal with prison authorities to supply them with the “humanely correct injectable mix of drugs”.  The correct injectable mix that would do the job as painlessly as possible, according to the chief medical examiner of the State of Oklahoma, Jay Chapman, is sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride all in higher doses then what is normally used for general anesthesia. 

This correct injectable mix formula was never tested, or given the nod by pharmacological review panel, or medically monitored or commented upon.  After the introduction and use of the injectable mix by Oklahoma, all 32 States followed the example of the State of Oklahoma.  All wanted to be seen equally compassionate letting convicted felons breath last gulp of air as humanely as a cocktail combination of drug would allow.  That was up until the European Commission raised its eyebrows on the multinational pharmaceutical companies in 2011 and cut of supply to the prison authorities and those acting on their behalf.   What followed was haphazard rush to seek substitute from drug manufacturers in developing countries with little, if any control of their compounding pharmacies.  The humanly correct injectable mix became experimental and subject to the whims of the Governors of prisons in the 32 American States and those advising them – medicos, pharmacists, charlatans, or otherwise.   For good 2 years, between late 2011 and December 2013, we know little about the last moments in the lives of those who walked to the execution chamber of the various prisons, strapped to the gurney and injected with the substitute generic humanely correct injectable mix formula.  However, from what we now know the last moment of those convicted felons could not have been much better than the last moments of Michael Lee Wilson, injected in Oklahoma on 9 January 2014, Dennis McGuire injected in Ohio on 16 January 2014, and Clayton Lockett injected in Oklahoma on 29 April 2014. 

Michael Lee Wilson

The supposedly correct injectable mix used on Wilson and McGuire was combination of phenobarbital, vecuronium bromide, and potassium chloride.  That used on Lockett was midazolam, verconium bromide, and potassium chloride.  For considerable number of minutes after being injected Wilson said "I feel my whole body burning".

In the case of McGuire some 5 minutes after being injected he tried to get free and for considerable number of minutes later he kept making attempts to get free and made loud sounds and gurgling noises as if drowning in his own fluid.  Being generic copy of the original formula the midazolam was supposed to cause unconsciousness. It did not. Lockett opened his eyes and started mumbling and thrashing against the gurney.  Shocked in disbelief the warden sought to have the execution stayed and resumed at a later date. But before the formalities of such a procedure could be put into legally binding effect some 45 minutes after being injected with the humanely correct injectable formula Lockett died of a heart attack!  When the media got hold of these barbaric executions there was outcry throughout the USA, even President Obama calling the execution “deeply disturbing”.

The Eighth Amendment to theConstitution of the United States of America bans cruel and unusual punishments.  Whether the cases of Wilson, McGuire, and Lockett find their way to the Supreme Court to test the Eighth Amendment is at best a moot point. Nevertheless these inhumane and cruel executions – and presumably countless other death row prisoners executed between late 2011 and December 2013 – presents rare opportunity to humane lawyers, thinkers and advocates of human rights to mount a case that could ultimately results in the abolition or stay of the death penalty.

In Part II I will take a closer look at the pharmacology of the various humane injectable formula used by the 32 US States and applicable case law decided by the Supreme Court of the United States of America dealing with the Eighth Amendment and Capital punishment.

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Cowra celebrates 70th Anniversary = Biggest Prisoners Breakout In WWII

Cowra celebrates 70^th Anniversary

Biggest Prisoners Breakout In WWII

On 5^th August 1944 at Cowra, a country town in Central West New South Wales 1,100 Japanese prisoners of war armed with knives and sticks, and baseball bats stormed their way out of the lightly guarded prison camp a kilometer or so from the town’s center.  Suicidal act it may be but to the minset and training of a Japanese soldier, sailor, or pilot it is better to die honourably for one’s country and sacrifice one’s self to the Emperor then be a prisoner.  On that note and with Pearl Harbour in mind, one should remember that instilled in the training and mindset of a kamikaze pilot is the notion and belief that when he and his airplane crash on a destroyer or carrier it is an act comparable to the Divine’s manna from heaven offered to the Emperor, the likes of that sustained the Jews during their 40 years journey through the Sinai desert.     The ensuing melee of the breakout resulted in the death of 231 Japanese prisoners and the injuring of 108 others.  After few days the remaining 761 prisoners were recaptured.  To their credit, training, and culture none of Japanese escapees harmed any civilian either in Cowra or surrounding towns.  The Australian casualties list was four dead.  There are tales of Japanese prisoners walking into farms and being offered tea and scones in traditional country hospitalities.

To celebrate the occasion the remaining sole survivor of the breakout, 94 years old Teruo Murakami flew from Japan for the occasion to pay his respect and thank the people of Cowra.  To commemorate the occasion the casts of a special play produced by Tokyo based theatre company Rinkogun supported by the Japanese and Australian governments called No Hancho Kaigi (Hancho’s Meeting in Cowra) flew to Cowra on 1 August.  Five Australian stage actors will perform in the play one of whom is Matthew Crosby who plays the role of Private Ralph Jones one of the four Australian killed during the breakout. One interesting aspect of the play focuses on the Imperial Japanese Military Regulation at the time requiring a Japanese serviceman to die rather than being captured.   To what extent the writers, directors and those involved in the play are subtly or otherwise suggesting modern men and women serving in present day Japanese armed forces should abandon 1944 Imperial Japanese Military Regulations is a question to the audience to judge.  The play which started in Cowra on 1 August will make its way to Canberra and Sydney. 

It is worth noting that in recent weeks the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, visited Australia and addressed both Houses of the Australian Parliament before signing Free Trade Agreement between the two countries.  It is also worth noting that in recent weeks, despite the chagrin and protest of countries that suffered at the hands of Japanese occupation in 1930’s and WWII such as South Korea, and China, Shinzo Abe removed the shackles imposed by the allies on Japan’s armed forces after WWII.  Japanese armed forces can now venture and take part in drills and maneuvers outside Japan.

In the next blog I will look at the forgotten massacre of Australian POW’s by Japanese army on the island of Ambon in 1942.

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