主題：
Doctors as Moral Pioneers:
Improvising Ethics and Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Colombian Infertility Centers
講者：Dr. Malissa Kay Shaw（臺北醫學大學醫學人文研究所助理教授）
時間：2019/06/12 Wed. 15:00-17:00
地點：清華人社院C304
摘要：
New biotechnologies such as assisted conception (e.g. in vitro fertilization, donor insemination, etc.) are socially embedded artifacts that raise context specific moral, ethical, and social anxieties. In contexts where the legislation pertaining to these profitable biotechnologies are limited or ambiguous, and competition between private facilities is high, individual doctors become morally and socially responsible for determining the boundaries of administering such therapies. Ethnographic research at two private infertility centers in Colombia reveals that doctors do not determine boundaries based on monetary gain but rather personal morals, social norms, and professional obligations. Medical professionals have diverse perceptions of assisted reproduction, and often struggle to make decisions regarding who should access such therapies, who are ideal gamete donors, and the fate of embryos leftover after an IVF cycle. The complexity of these perceptions applied in a context with limited regulation and high competition between private medical facilities shapes the praxis of assisted conception. As doctors determine the limits of their practice they not only create variation between clinical practices, but also make moral decisions regarding who should be parents, how families should be formed, and the significance of embryos. Thus, in navigating their everyday medical practice, doctors also shape the social world.