Ethical issues of using umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy of John Stewart Mill perspective

Abstract

21st century, the medical industry was interested in organ transplantation from stem cells especially stem cells from the umbilical cord to treat chronic and degenerative organ diseases eg. kidney disease, liver disease, blood cancer and organ transplantation which successful and widespread throughout the world.  Thailand has 600,000 thalassemia patients and more than 900 new children with cancer every year.  About 50 percent are leukemia which needs to be treated correctly and urgently.  In general Standardized chemotherapy But if the cancer patient has a bad prognosis Or have recurrent cancer Patients need to be treated with bone marrow transplants or stem cells to have a chance to heal.  According to Mill’s Utilitarainsm, the ethical concepts that determine what is the basic criterion used to determine whether it should or should not concern with the popular benefit that the criterion used is the amount of happiness that results from actions. Treating the disease using stem cells will make the patient recover from the disease, healthier and happier in life.  As Mill said  "The correctness of an action depends on the tendency that the action will lead to happiness”.

Keywords: stem cell, thalassemia, Utilitarainsm, Mill’s