Grey’s Anatomy, Episode 25 of Season 2, is the episode I chose to write about. This is the episode I chose because it presents many ethical dilemmas in one episode. I will be focusing primarily on the heart transplantation of Denny, along with the decisions Izzie and others made regarding this transplant. The issue is going to be discussed from various ethical perspectives.
The issue at hand is a heart transplant. Izzie’s partner (Denny), who is Izzie’s lifelong companion, is currently on a list of heart transplant candidates. He’s been waiting for a heart transplant for more than a year-and-a-half. He is brought in for a heart-transplantation. The doctors find out that the heart they were planning to use is not functional. Denny will not receive a transplant. In a new hospital, Denny is not the first patient on the list of heart recipients. The next one is a patient who will soon be operating on. Izzie decides she’ll lie about Denny to get him to be placed above the other person on the heart transplant list. She lies about his condition to give him a higher priority on the transplant list. She decides not only to lie about his health, but also to stop his own heart so that the other doctors will think he’s in a worse condition than another patient. She ends the episode by cutting off the tube that connects to his heart-assistance system. Several ethical questions arise in relation to the heart-transplant issue and the potential recipients. First, the utilitarian viewpoint will be examined. Utilitarianism focuses on producing a high level of overall happiness and pleasure for a large number of people. A utilitarian approach to the heart-transplant situation is not easy. The number of friends and family that each heart patient has would be a factor. Izzie appears to be in a relationship with Denny. Therefore, her decision would seem justified from an utilitarian perspective. If the other heart transplant patient had a loving family who would be devastated by the loss of the patient’s new heart, the situation could be very different.
Kant’s ethics philosophy is the basis of the second ethical theory. Kant’s principles do not use outcomes to determine whether an action is right or wrong. Kant’s ethics is not based on outcomes, but rather whether an individual has fulfilled their moral duty. Kantians can easily analyze the Grey’s Anatomy scene. Izzie owes it to herself and her patients to be truthful. She has violated both of her duties when, in an effort to save someone she cares about personally at the expense of a more desperate patient who needed a heart-transplantation. Izzie’s behavior would be considered unethical by Kantian standards.
Izzie’s actions and her words are unethical in my opinion. While they may be justified in theory from a utilitarian viewpoint, most ethical theories cannot justify them. She chooses to save the life one person she loves over another who actually needs the transplant. Denny might have waited a couple of months to get a new heart. Izzie could have directly caused the death in another patient.
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