R.E Medical Ethics Coursework

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Medical Ethics Coursework

Approximately one in six couples have difficulty achieving a pregnancy. It has been found that are responsible in 30% of cases, factors account for a further 30%, combined male and female factors account for 20% and the remaining 20% of cases are . Under normal circumstances, the chances of pregnancy occurring as a result of unprotected intercourse during the fertile time of the cycle are about 25% per month. After 12 months of trying, approximately 80% of couples will have conceived.

For most men the infertility causes is the result of having a low sperm count. This is caused by a lot of different reasons some of which are medical. These would include a condition called variocele and having sperm that is shaped abnormally. The lifestyle that a man chooses can affect his sperm count as well. For instance, if a man smokes cigarettes, uses illegal drugs, or drinks excessively they will have a lower sperm count than a man that doesn’t. Even wearing tight pants and soaking in a hot tub can lower the sperm count. Of course, these are things that can be changed to help correct this problem. Medications and certain sickness can lead to having low sperm count temporarily as well and can also be corrected.

Ovulation is one of the main factors that infertility causes in women. Several factors cause a decrease in ovulation such as being in stressful situations. A woman’s age is a huge factor, if she is thirty or older ovulation has slowed down considerable. The age group that has the best chance for ovulation is late teens and early twenties. There are also a number of medical conditions that can cause infertility in women; these include cervical conditions that are brought on by diseases and infections. Scar tissue and fallopian tubes that are blocked can also cause infertility in women. Fibroids ...

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In-vitro fertilisation (IVF) was once called creating a "test tube baby". During IVF, a woman is given fertility drugs to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs, and the eggs are retrieved in a minor surgical procedure. The eggs are fertilised in the lab and the resulting embryos are incubated for several days. Usually, one to three embryos are selected to be transferred into the mother's uterus, and hopefully a pregnancy will result.

A surrogacy arrangement is one in which one woman (the surrogate mother) agrees to have a child for a couple (the intended parents) and surrender it at birth. This provides an opportunity for those women who are unable to have a child for themselves, and to overcome their childlessness.

Egg Donation is the process of taking eggs from a donor, fertilising them with the male partner's sperm in the laboratory dish and transferring the resulting embryos back to the female partner's uterus. The female partner will not be biologically related to the child but will be the birth mother of record. The male partner will be the biological father of the child.

Embryo Donation is when infertile couples who have completed their families often have remaining embryos kept frozen in a lab. They can now donate these embryos to another infertile couple, to be implanted in the intended mother, who carries the pregnancy to term.

R.E Medical Ethics Coursework

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