Most Opposition to Abortion Relies Essay Example for Free

Most Opposition to Abortion Relies Essay A Defense of Abortion Author(s): Judith Jarvis Thomson Source: Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Autumn, 1971), pp. 47-66 Published by: Blackwell Publishing Stable URL: http://www. jstor. org/stable/2265091 Accessed: 10/01/2010 00:54 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTORs Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www. jstor. org/page/info/about/policies/terms. jsp. JSTORs Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www. jstor. org/action/showPublisher? publisherCode=black. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [emailprotected] org. Blackwell Publishing is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Philosophy and Public Affairs. http://www. jstor. org JUDITH JARVISTHOMSON A Defense of Abortion Most opposition to abortion relies on the premise that the fetus is a human being, a person, from the moment of conception. The premise is argued for, but, as I think, not well. Take, for example, the most common argument. We are asked to notice that the development of a human being from conception through birth into childhood is continuous; then it is said that to draw a line, to choose a point in this development and say before this point the thing is not a person, after this point it is a person is to make an arbitrary choice, a choice for which in the nature of things no good reason can be given. It is concluded that the fetus is, or anyway that we had better say it is, a person from the moment of conception. But this conclusion does not follow. Similar things might be said about the development of an acorn into an oak tree, and it does not follow that acorns are oak trees, or that we had better say they are. Arguments of this form are sometimes called slippery slope arguments-the phrase is perhaps self-explanatory-and it is dismaying that opponents of abortion rely on them so heavily and uncritically. I am inclined to agree, however, that the prospects for drawing a line in the development of the fetus look dim. I am inclined to think also that we shall probably have to agree that the fetus has already become a human person well before birth. Indeed, it comes as a surprise when one first learns how early in its life it begins to acquire human characteristics. By the tenth week, for example, it already has i. I am very much indebted to James Thomson for discussion, criticism, and many helpful suggestions. 48 Philosophy ; Public Affairs a face, arms and legs, fingers and toes; it has internal organs, and brain activity is detectable. 2 On the other hand, I think that the premise is false, that the fetus is not a person from the moment of conception. A newly fertilized ovum, a newly implanted clump of cells, is no more a person than an acorn is an oak tree. But I shall not discuss any of this. For it seems to me to be of great interest to ask what happens if, for the sake of argument, we allow the premise. How, precisely, are we supposed to get from there to the conclusion that abortion is morally impermissible? Opponents of abortion commonly spend most of their time establishing that the fetus is a person, and hardly any time explaining the step from there to the impermissibility of abortion. Perhaps they think the step too simple and obvious to require much comment. Or perhaps instead they are simply being economical in argument. Many of those who defend abortion rely on the premise that the fetus is not a person, but only a bit of tissue that will become a person at birth; and why pay out more arguments than you have to? Whatever the explanation, I suggest that the step they take is neither easy nor obvious, that it calls for closer examination than it is commonly given, and that when we do give it this closer examination we shall feel inclined to reject it. I propose, then, that we grant that the fetus is a person. from the moment of conception. How does the argument go from here? Something like this, I take it. Every person has a right to life. So the fetus has a right to life. No doubt the mother has a right to decide what shall happen in and to her body; everyone would grant that. But surely a persons right to life is stronger and more stringent than the mothers right to decide what happens in and to her body, and so outweighs it. So the fetus may not be killed; an abortion may not be performed. It sounds plausible. But now let me ask you to imagine this. You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers 2. Daniel Callahan, Abortion: Law, Choice and Morality (New York, 1970), p. 373. This book gives a fascinating survey of the available information on abortion. The Jewish tradition is surveyed in David M. Feldman, Birth Control in Jewish Law (New York, i968), Part 5, the Catholic tradition in John T. Noonan, Jr. , An Almost Absolute Value in History, in The Morality of Abortion, ed. John T. Noonan, Jr. (Cambridge, Mass. , 1970). 49 A Defense of Abortion has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last night the violinists circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own. The director of the hospital now tells you, Look, were sorry the Society of Music Lovers did this to you-we would never have permitted it if we had known. But still, they did it, and the violinist now is plugged into you. To unplug you would be to kill him. But never mind, its only for nine months. By then he will have recovered from his ailment, and can safely be unplugged from you. Is it morally incumbent on you to accede to this situation? No doubt it would be very nice of you if you did, a great kindness. But do you have to accede to it? What if it were not nine months, but nine years? Or longer still? What if the director of the hospital says, Tough luck, I agree, but youve now got to stay in bed, with the violinist plugged into you, for the rest of your life. Because remember this. All persons have a right to life, and violinists are persons. Granted you have a right to decide what happens in and to your body, but a persons right to life outweighs your right to decide what happens in and to your body. So you cannot ever be unplugged from him. I imagine you would regard this as outrageous, which suggests that something really is wrong with that plausible-sounding argument I mentioned a moment ago. In this case, of course, you were kidnapped; you didnt volunteer for the operation that plugged the violinist into your kidneys. Can those who oppose abortion on the ground I mentioned make an exception for a pregnancy due to rape? Certainly. They can say that persons have a right to life only if they didnt come into existence because of rape; or they can say that all persons have a right to life, but that some have less of a right to life than others, in particular, that those who came into existence because of rape have less. But these statements have a rather unpleasant sound. Surely the question of whether you have a right to life at all, or how much of it you have, shouldnt turn on the question of whether or not you are the product of a rape. And in fact the people who oppose abortion on the ground I mentioned do not make this distinction, and hence do not make an exception in case of rape. 50 Philosophy ; Public Affairs Nor do they make an exception for a case in which the mother has to spend the nine months of her pregnancy in bed. They would agree that would be a great pity, and hard on the mother; but all the same, all persons have a right to ife, the fetus is a person, and so on. I suspect, in fact, that they would not make an exception for a case in which, miraculously enough, the pregnancy went on for nine years, or even the rest of the mothers life. Some wont even make an exception for a case in which continuation of the pregnancy is likely to shorten the mothers life; they regard abortion as impermissible even to save the mothers life. Such case s are nowadays very rare, and many opponents of abortion do not accept this extreme view. Moreover, in killing the child, one would be killing an innocent person, for the child has committed no crime, and is not aiming at his mothers death. And then there are a variety of ways in which this 3. The term direct in the arguments I refer to is a technical one. Roughly, what is meant by direct killing is either killing as an end in itself, or killing as a means to some end, for example, the end of saving someone elses life. See note 6, below, for an example of its use. 51 A Defense of Abortion might be continued. i) But as directly killing an innocent person is always and absolutely impermissible, an abortion may not be performed. Or, (2) as directly killing an innocent person is murder, and murder is always and absolutely impermissible, an abortion may not be performed. Because unplugging you would be directly killing an innocent violinist, and thats murder, and thats impermissible. If anything in the world is true, it is that you do not commit murder, you do not do what is impermissible, if you reach around to your back and unplug yourself from that violinist to save your life. The main focus of attention in writings on abortion has been on what a third party may or may not do in answer to a request from a woman for an abortion. This is in a way understandable. Things being as they are, there isnt much a woman can safely do to abort herself. So the question asked is what a third party may do, and what the mother may do, if it is mentioned at all, is deduced, almost as an afterthought, from what it is concluded that third parties may do. But it seems to me that to treat the matter in this way is to refuse to grant to the mother that very status of person which is so firmly insisted on for the fetus. For we cannot simply read off what a person may do from what a third party may do. Suppose you find yourself trapped in a tiny house with a growing child. I mean a very tiny house, and a rapidly growing child-you are already up against the wall f the house and in a few minutes youll be crushed to death. The child on the other hand wont be crushed to death; if nothing is done to stop him from growing hell be hurt, but in the end hell simply burst open the house and walk out a free man. Now I could well understand it if a bystander were to say, Theres nothing we can do for you. We cannot choose between your life and his, we cann ot be the ones to decide who is to live, we cannot intervene. But it cannot be concluded that you too can do nothing, that you cannot attack it to save your life. However innocent the child may be, you do not have to wait passively while it crushes you to death. Perhaps a pregnant woman is vaguely felt to have the status of house, to which we dont allow the 53 A Defense of Abortion right of self-defense. But if the woman houses the child, it should be remembered that she is a person who houses it. 1 should perhaps stop to say explicitly that I am not claiming that people have a right to do anything whatever to save their lives. I think, rather, that there are drastic limits to the right of self-defense. If someone threatens you with death unless you torture someone else to death, I think you have not the right, even to save your life, to do so. But the case under consideration here is very different. In our case there are only two people involved, one whose life is threatened, and one who threatens it. Both are innocent: the one who is threatened is not threatened because of any fault, the one who threatens does not threaten because of any fault. For this reason we may feel that we bystanders cannot intervene. But the person threatened can. In sum, a woman surely can defend her life against the threat to it posed by the unborn child, even if doing so involves its death. And this shows not merely that the theses in (i) through (4) are false; it shows also that the extreme view of abortion is false, and so we need not canvass any other possible ways of arriving at it from the argument I mentioned at the outset. 2. The extreme view could of course be weakened to say that while abortion is permissible to save the mothers life, it may not be performed by a third party, but only by the mother herself. But this cannot be right either. For what we have to keep in mind is that the mother and the unborn child are not like two tenants in a small house which has, by an unfortunate mistake, been rented to both: the mother owns the house. The fact that she does adds to the offensiveness of deducing that the mother can do nothing from the supposition that third parties can do nothing. But it does more than this: it casts a bright light on the supposition that third parties can do nothing. Certainly it lets us see that a third party who says I cannot choose between you is fooling himself if he thinks this is impartiality. If Jones has found and fastened on a certain coat, which he needs to keep him from freezing, but which Smith also needs to keep him from freezing, then it is not impartiality that says I cannot choose between you when Smith owns the coat. Women have said again and again This body is my body! and they have reason to feel angry, reason to feel that it has been like shouting into the wind. Smith, after all, is 54 Philosophy Public Affairs hardly likely to bless us if we say to him, Of course its your coat, anybody would grant that it is. But no one may choose between you and Jones who is to have it. We should really ask what it is that says no one may choose in the face of the fact that the body that houses the child is the mothers body. It may be simply a failure to appreciate this fact. But it may be something more interesting, namely the sense that one has a right to refuse to lay hands on people, even where it would be just and fair to do so, even where justice seems to require t hat somebody do so. Thus justice might call for somebody to get Smiths coat back from Jones, and yet you have a right to refuse to be the one to lay hands on Jones, a right to refuse to do physical violence to him. This, I think, must be granted. But then what should be said is not no one may choose, but only I cannot choose, and indeed not even this, but I will not act, leaving it open that somebody else can or should, and in particular that anyone in a position of authority, with the job of securing peoples rights, both can and should. So this is no difficulty. I have not been arguing that any given third party must accede to the mothers request that he perform an abortion to save her life, but only that he may. I suppose that in some views of human life the mothers body is only on loan to her, the loan not being one which gives her any prior claim to it. One who held this view might well think it impartiality to say I cannot choose. But I shall simply ignore this possibility. My own view is that if a human being has any just, prior claim to anything at all, he has a just, prior claim to his own body. And perhaps this neednt be argued for here anyway, since, as I mentioned, the arguments against abortion we are looking at do grant that the woman has a right to decide what happens in and to her body. But although they do grant it, I have tried to show that they do not take seriously what is done in granting it. I suggest the same thing will reappear even more clearly when we turn away from cases in which the mothers life is at stake, and attend, as I propose we now do, to the vastly more common cases in which a woman wants an abortion for some less weighty reason than preserving her own life. 3. Where the mothers life is not at stake, the argument I mentioned at the outset seems to have a much stronger pull. Everyone 55 A Defense of Abortion as a right to life, so the unborn person has a right to life. And isnt the childs right to life weightier than anything other than the mothers own right to life, which she might put forward as ground for an abortion? This argument treats the right to life as if it were unproblematic. It is not, and this seems to me to be precisely the source of the mistake. For we should now, at long last, ask what it comes to, to have a right to life. In so me views having a right to life includes having a right to be given at least the bare minimum one needs for continued life. But suppose that what in fact is the bare minimum a man needs for continued life is something he has no right at all to be given? If I am sick unto death, and the only thing that will save my life is the touch of Henry Fondas cool hand on my fevered brow, then all the same, I have no right to be given the touch of Henry Fondas cool hand on my fevered brow. It would be frightfully nice of him to fly in from the West Coast to provide it. It would be less nice, though no doubt well meant, if my friends flew out to the West Coast and carried Henry Fonda back with them. But I have no right at all against anybody that he should do this for me. Or again, to return to the story I told earlier, the fact that for continued life that violinist needs the continued use of your kidneys does not establish that he has a right to be given the continued use of your kidneys. He certainly has no right against you that you should give him continued use of your kidneys. For nobody has any right to use your kidneys unless you give him such a right; and nobody has the right against you that you shall give him this right-if you do allow him to go on using your kidneys, this is a kindness on your part, and not something he can claim from you as his due. Nor has he any right against anybody else that they should give him continued use of your kidneys. Certainly he had no right against the Society of Music Lovers that they should plug him into you in the first place. And if you now start to unplug yourself, having learned that you will otherwise have to spend nine years in bed with him, there is nobody in the world who must try to prevent you, in order to see to it that he is given something he has a right to be given. Some people are rather stricter about the right to life. In their view, it does not include the right to be given anything, but amounts to, 56 Philosophy Public Affairs and only to, the right not to be killed by anybody. But here a related difficulty arises. If everybody is to refrain from killing that violinist, then everybody must refrain from doing a great many different sorts of things. Everybody must refrain from slitting his throat, everybody must refrain from shooting him-and everybody must refrain from unplugging you from him. But does he have a right against everybody that they shall refrain from unplugging you from him? To refrain from doing this is to allow him to continue to use your kidneys. It could be argued that he has a right against us that we should allow him to continue to use your kidneys. That is, while he had no right against us that we should give him the use of your kidneys, it might be argued that he anyway has a right against us that we shall not now intervene and deprive him of the use of your kidneys. I shall come back to third-party interventions later. But certainly the violinist has no right against you that you shall allow him to continue to use your kidneys. As I said, if you do allow him to use them, it is a kindness on your part, and not something you owe him. The difficulty I point to here is not peculiar to the right to life. It reappears in connection with all the other natural rights; and it is something which an adequate account of rights must deal with. For present purposes it is enough just to draw attention to it. But I would stress that I am not arguing that people do not have a right to lifequite to the contrary, it seems to me that the primary control we must place on the acceptability of an account of rights is that it should turn out in that account to be a truth that all persons have a right to life. I am arguing only that having a right to life does not guarantee having either a right to be given the use of or a right to be allowed continued use of another persons body-even if one needs it for life itself. So the right to life will not serve the opponents of abortion in the very simple and clear way in which they seem to have thought it would. 4. There is another way to bring out the difficulty. In the most ordinary sort of case, to deprive someone of what he has a right to is to treat him unjustly. Suppose a boy and his small brother are jointly given a box of chocolates for Christmas. If the older boy takes the box and refuses to give his brother any of the chocolates, he is unjust to -him, for the brother has been given a right to half of them. But 57 A Defense of Abortion uppose that, having learned that otherwise it means nine years in bed with that violinist, you unplug yourself from him. You surely are not being unjust to him, for you gave him no right to use your kidneys, and no one else can have given him any such right. But we have to notice that in unplugging yourself, you are killing him; and violinists, like everybody else, have a right to life, and thus in the view we wer e considering just now, the right not to be killed. So here you do what he supposedly has a right you shall not do, but you do not act unjustly to him in doing it. The emendation which may be made at this point is this: the right to life consists not in the right not to be killed, but rather in the right not to be killed unjustly. This runs a risk of circularity, but never mind: it would enable us to square the fact that the violinist has a right to life with the fact that you do not act unjustly toward him in unplugging yourself, thereby killing him. For if you do not kill him unjustly, you do not violate his right to life, and so it is no wonder you do him no injustice. But if this emendation is accepted, the gap in the argument against abortion stares us plainly in the face: it is by no means enough to show that the fetus is a person, and to remind us that all persons have a right to life-we need to be shown also that killing the fetus violates its right to life, i. e. , that abortion is unjust killing. And is it? I suppose we may take it as a datum that in a case of pregnancy due to rape the mother has not given the unborn person a right to the use of her body for food and shelter. Indeed, in what pregnancy could it be supposed that the mother has given the unborn person such a right? It is not as if there were unborn persons drifting about the world, to whom a woman who wants a child says I invite you in. But it might be argued that there are other ways one can have acquired a right to the use of another persons body than by having been invited to use it by that person. Suppose a woman voluntarily indulges in intercourse, knowing of the chance it will issue in pregnancy, and then she does become pregnant; is she not in part responsible for the presence, in fact the very existence, of the unborn person inside her? No doubt she did not invite it in. But doesnt her partial responsibility for its being there itself give it a right to the use of her 58 Philosophy ; Public Affairs body? 7 If so, then her aborting it would be more like the boys taking away the chocolates, and less like your unplugging yourself from the violinist-doing so would be depriving it of what it does have a right to, and thus would be doing it an injustice. And then, too, it might be asked whether or not she can kill it even to save her own life: If she voluntarily called it into existence, how can she now kill it, even in self-defense? The first thing to be said about this is that it is something new. Opponents of abortion have been so concerned to make out the independence of the fetus, in order to establish that it has a right to life, just as its mother does, that they have tended to overlook the possible support they might gain from making out that the fetus is dependent on the mother, in order to establish that she has a special kind of responsibility for it, a responsibility that gives it rights against her which are not possessed by any independent person-such as an ailing violinist who is a stranger to her. On the other hand, this argument would give the unborn person a right to its mothers body only if her pregnancy resulted from a voluntary act, undertaken in full knowledge of the chance a pregnancy might result from it. It would leave out entirely the unborn person whose existence is due to rape. Pending the availability of some further argument, then, we would be left with the conclusion that unborn persons whose existence is due to rape have no right to the use of their mothers bodies, and thus that aborting them is not depriving them of anything they have a right to and hence is not unjust killing. And we should also notice that it is not at all plain that this argument really does go even as far as it purports to. For there are cases and cases, and the details make a difference. If the room is stuffy, and I therefore open a window to air it, and a burglar climbs in, it would be absurd to say,Ah, now he can stay, shes given him a right to the use of her house-for she is partially responsible for his presence there, having voluntarily done what enabled him to get in, in full knowledge that there are such things as burglars, and that burglars 7. The need for a discussion of this argument was brought home to me by members of the Society for Ethical and Legal Philosophy, to whom this paper was originally presented. 59 A Defense of Abortion burgle. It would be still more absurd to say this if I had had bars installed outside my windows, precisely to prevent burglars from getting in, and a burglar got in only because of a defect in the bars. It remains equally absurd if we imagine it is not a burglar who climbs in, but an innocent person who blunders or falls in. Again, suppose it were like this: people-seeds drift about in the air like pollen, and if you open your windows, one may drift in and take root in your carpets or upholstery. You dont want children, so you fix up your windows with fine mesh screens, the very best you can buy. As can happen, however, and on very, very rare occasions does happen, one of the screens is defective; and a seed drifts in and takes root. Does the person-plant who now develops have a right to the use of your house? Surely not-despite the fact that you voluntarily opened your windows, you knowingly kept carpets and upholstered furniture, and you knew that screens were sometimes defective. Someone may argue that you are responsible for its rooting, that it does have a right to your house, because after all you could have lived out your life with bare floors and furniture, or with sealed windows and doors. But this wont do-for by the same token anyone can avoid a pregnancy due to rape by having a hysterectomy, or anyway by never leaving home without a (reliable! army. It seems to me that the argument we are looking at can establish at most that there are some cases in which the unborn person has a right to the use of its mothers body, and therefore some cases in which abortion is unjust killing. There is room for much discussion and argument as to precisely which, if any. But I think we should sidestep this issue and leave it open, for at any rate the argument certainly does not establish that al l abortion is unjust killing. 5. There is room for yet another argument here, however. We surely must all grant that there may be cases in which it would be morally indecent to detach a person from your body at the cost of his life. Suppose you learn that what the violinist needs is not nine years of your life, but only one hour: all you need do to save his life is to spend one hour in that bed with him. Suppose also that letting him use your kidneys for that one hour would not affect your health in the slightest. Admittedly you were kidnapped. Admittedly you did not give 6o Philosophy Public Affairs anyone permission to plug him into you. Nevertheless it seems to me plain you ought to allow him to use your kidneys for that hour-it would be indecent to refuse. Again, suppose pregnancy lasted only an hour, and constituted no threat to life or health. And suppose that a woman becomes pregnant as a result of rape. Admittedly she did not voluntarily do anything to bring about the existence of a child. Admittedly she did nothing at all which would give the unborn person a right to the use of her body. All the same it might well be said, as in the newly emended violinist story, that she ought to allow it to remain for that hour-that it would be indecent in her to refuse. Now some people are inclined to use the term rightin such a way that it follows from the fact that you ought to allow a person to use your body for the hour he needs, that he has a right to use your body for the hour he needs, even though he has not been given that right by any person or act. They may say that it follows also that if you refuse, you act unjustly toward him. This use of the term is perhaps so common that it cannot be called wrong; nevertheless it seems to me to be an unfortunate loosening of what we would do better to keep a tight rein on. Suppose that box of chocolates I mentioned earlier had not been given to both boys jointly, but was given only to the older boy. There he sits, stolidly eating his way through the box, his small brother watching enviously. Here we are likely to say Youought not to be so mean. You ought to give your brother some of those chocolates. My own view is that it just does not follow from the truth of this that the brother has any right to any of the chocolates. If the boy refuses to give his brother any, he is greedy, stingy, callous-but not unjust. I suppose that the people I have in mind will say it does follow that the brother has a right to some of the chocolates, and thus that the boy does act unjustly if he refuses to give his brother any. But the effect of saying this is to obscure what we should keep distinct, namely the difference between the boys refusal in this case and the boys refusal in the earlier case, in which the box was given to both boys jointly, and in which the small brother thus had what was from any point of view clear title to half. A further objection to so using the term rightthat from the fact that A ought to do a thing for B, it follows that B has a right against A 6I A Defense of Abortion that A do it for him, is that it is going to make the question of whether or not a man has a right to a thing turn on how easy it is to provide him with it; and this seems not merely unfortunate, but morally unacceptable. Take the case of Henry Fonda again. I said earlier that I had no right to the touch of his cool hand on my fevered brow, even though I needed it to save my life. I said it would be frightfully nice of him to fly in from the West Coast to provide me with it, but that I had no right against him that he should do so. But suppose he isnt on the West Coast. Suppose he has only to walk across the room, place a hand briefly on my brow-and lo, my life is saved. Then surely he ought to do it, it would be indecent to refuse. Is it to be said Ah, well, it follows that in this case she has a right to the touch of his hand on her brow, and so it would be an injustice in him to refuse? So that I have a right to it when it is easy for him to provide it, though no right when its hard? Its rather a shocking idea that anyones rights should fade away and disappear as it gets harder and harder to accord them to him. So my own view is that even though you ought to let the violinist use your kidneys for the one hour he needs, we should not conclude that he has a right to do so-we should say that if you refuse, you are, like the boy who owns all the chocolates and will give none away, self-centered and callous, indecent in fact, but not unjust. And similarly, that even supposing a case in which a woman pregnant due to rape ought to allow the unborn person to use her body for the hour he needs, we should not conclude that he has a right to do so; we should conclude that she is self-centered, callous, indecent, but not unjust, if she refuses. The complaints are no less grave; they are just different. However, there is no need to insist on this point. If anyone does wish to deduce he has a ight from you ought, then all the same he must surely grant that there are cases in which it is not morally required of you that you allow that violinist to use your kidneys, and in which he does not have a right to use them, and in which you do not do him an injustice if you refuse. And so also for mother and unborn child. Except in such cases as the unborn person has a right to demand it-and we were leaving open the possibility that there may be such cases-nobody is morally required to make large sacrifices, of health, of all other interes ts and concerns, of all other duties 62 Philosophy Public Affairs and commitments, for nine years, or even for nine months, in order to keep another person alive. 6. We have in fact to distinguish between two kinds of Samaritan: the Good Samaritan and what we might call the Minimally Decent Samaritan. The story of the Good Samaritan, you will remember, goes like this: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him he had compassion on him. And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. (Luke I0:30-35) The Good Samaritan went out of his way, at some cost to himself, to help one in need of it. We are not told what the options were, that is, whether or not the priest and the Levite could have helped by doing less than the Good Samaritan did, but assuming they could have, then the fact they did nothing at all shows they were not even Minimally Decent Samaritans, not because they were not Samaritans, but because they were n ot even minimally decent. These things are a matter of degree, of course, but there is a difference, and it comes out perhaps most clearly in the story of Kitty Genovese, who, as you will remember, was murdered while thirtyeight people watched or listened, and did nothing at all to help her. A Good Samaritan would have rushed out to give direct assistance 63 A Defense of Abortion against the murderer. Or perhaps we had better allow that it would have been a Splendid Samaritan who did this, on the ground that it would have involved a risk of death for himself. But the thirty-eight not only did not do this, they did not even trouble to pick up a phone to call the police. Minimally Decent Samaritanism would call for doing at least that, and their not having done it was monstrous. After telling the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus said Go, and do thou likewise. Perhaps he meant that we are morally required to act as the Good Samaritan did. Perhaps he was urging people to do more than is morally required of them. At all events it seems plain that it was not morally required of any of the thirty-eight that he rush out to give direct assistance at the risk of his own life, and that it is not morally required of anyone that he give long stretches of his lifenine years or nine months-to sustaining the life of a person who has no special right (we were leaving open the possibility of this) to demand it. Indeed, with one rather striking class of exceptions, no one in any country in the world is legally required to do anywhere near as much as this for anyone else.

The Effects of Early Childhood Intervention

The Effects of Early Childhood Intervention When children and young peoples development is monitored and assessed, it enables practitioners and professionals to notice when children and young people are not progressing as expected. Therefore, if necessary checks can be made to see why children are not developing as expected may be due to impairment. When practitioners and professionals intervene in early years of the children, they will able to get appropriate support they need and their development and their welfare is promoted. Children and young peoples overall outcomes will be promoted significantly when professionals carry out early intervention. There are several methods of monitoring childrens development explained below:- Assessments frameworks Practitioners are required to carry out on going assessments through observations on a diary basis as its integral part of development and learning. Any learning and development needs of children and young people must be addressed by the practitioners with the parent/ carer and relevant professionals. Parents/ carers should be updated regularly with their childrens progress and development. Progress check at two: Practitioners should carry out a progress check when the child is aged between two and three. It should be carried out in the setting where the children spend more time and discuss how childrens learning is supported using the summary of development at home. It is a written summary of the childs development in the prime areas. The practitioner must discuss with the parents and / carers on how to support childrens learning at home using the summary of development. It must reflect on going, regular observation of childrens development. The progress check at two enables practitioners and any other professionals to identify development needs early on in the childs life in order he/she gets the additional support needed. Assessment at the end of the EYFS the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP). EYFSP must be completed for each child in the final term when he/she turns five years old and should be before the 30th of June in that term. School must share profile results with the parents / carers and relevant professionals. The profile provides details of the childs abilities and understanding, knowledge, their progress against expected levels and how ready they are for year 1. Observations. In settings, practitioners watch children play and watch how they are behaving. Some observations do not need the practitioner to interact with the children while in others it may be more appropriate for the practitioner to be involved in order to support learning and development. Observations play a very important part in assessing the childrens development. When practitioners carry out observations, they are able to get information about the childs development, interests and their interactions with friends and adults as well their level of concentrations. Standard measurements Different professionals use various standardized measurements to monitor and assess the childrens development. Growth / healthy assessments. These are used to measure and assess the childrens height, weight and head circumference. Auditory assessments. These assessments are used to monitor and assess the childrens levels of response. Reasoning assessments. These assessments are used to monitor and assess the childrens reasoning and they are carried out by educational psychologists. Cognitive aptitude assessments. These assessments are used to monitor and assess the childrens intelligence and they are widely carried out in schools. All the above tests help professionals to see how a child is performing compared to the large group/ population of other children in the same age group. Information from parents/ carers, colleagues and others. Practitioners should collect as much information as possible from parents/ carers when monitoring and assessing childrens development as the parents/ carers spend more time and are more attune with their children. They see the child in a variety of different situations hence have a lot to contribute and they are aware of their learning and behaviour outside the setting. They always have a different perspective. It is very important to also involve the child whenever possible. Although key workers are the ones mainly responsible to monitor and assess their key children, all practitioners working with them should but consulted as they may have different in put towards the childrens development. CYP 3.1: 3.2 EXPLAIN THE REASONS WHY CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLES DEVELOPMENT MAY NOT FOLLOW THE EXPECTED PATTERN. Children encounter issues in their lives that have a positive or negative influence on their life and hinder them from following the expected pattern of development. As practitioners, we have the duty of care towards the children and young people to ensure that we improve their life chances by following the Every Child Matter outcomes, which are be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being. Physical factors The childrens/ young peoples genetics affects their development, which includes their physical growth and physical strength. Sometimes professionals may be unable to identify why a child is not following the usual development pattern even after thorough investigations on the influences of development. This may possibly be to the fact that it in the genetic makeup of the child to have a slow start or delayed learning. The social, economic and cultural factors Personal choice Families may decide to live in a different way example travelling families. The children/ young peoples education may be affected if their families travel a lot and they may not settle in. This may stop children from following their expected development pattern. Some families bring up their children differently and some bring up boys differently from girls and this can affect the childrens development. Poverty Families live in poverty mostly due to unemployment and low income. Due to lack of money, families may fail to provide enough food to eat, clothes to wears, educational resources outside school and heat for winter for their children, which may affect their health and that of the parent. This might hinder the children/ young people to reach their full potential Housing and Community Children and young peoples development is greatly affected negatively if they live in poor housing conditions like living in a damp condition may cause health problems to the children that may affect their learning. Children and young people living in neighbourhood with anti-social behaviour may be affected negatively as they may be isolated or they may decide to join in and their development will be affected. Poor parental supervision/ neglect Children need guidance to learn how to behave well. If they do not get the guidance from their parent, they will misbehave at school because they do not understand the boundaries. Lack of boundaries may result in the children and young people being involved in crime and anti-social behaviour. Educational Environment If the setting does not reach the statutory requirement, this will affect the children and young peoples development and they will not achieve their full potential therefore they might be un able to follow the expected development pattern. Health status and Disability Children and young people with existing health condition or with disability may find it hard to fit in and if they are discriminated against, this will have a negative impact on their lives. Learning needs. Children and young people with learning difficulties and those with specific learning needs may not follow the expected development pattern as they may need a range of additional support with their learning and development, for example with writing , reading or maths. Children with Dyslexia they need support with their learning and development. Bereavement and loss Losing a loved one or pet can have a great impact on emotional and physical health. Children/ young people may find it hard to cope with the grief and this may affect their well-being. Religious beliefs and customs Children may be excluded from setting to attend specific settings due to their religious beliefs and customs therefore the children may miss out on some activities and this might have a negative impact on their live. Ethnic beliefs Children might feel isolated and discriminated against due to their ethnic belief and this will have a negative impact on their lives. Communication skills. Children and young people who have trouble with their communication, their learning and development will be impacted on and this leads to the children not following their expected development pattern. Communication development is linked closely to social, emotional and behaviour and intellectual/cognitive development. 3.3 EXPLANATION OF HOW DISABILITY MAY AFFECT DEVELOPMENT Practitioner should have a good knowledge of particular impairments and understand that the same impairment can affect each child differently. Therefore, practitioners must understand the children they are working with, how the impairment is affecting them in order to meet their needs appropriately. Practitioners should look for ways of increasing learning and development opportunities for children with disabilities. Social model of disability When society is not set up to meet the needs of people experiencing impairment, this implies that impairments give rise to disability. The society disables them, rather than enabling them (Walker 2011 p.285). There is consideration in the social model of disability that people with disabilities have rights and choices and the change has to be made by the society. Children with learning difficulties and impairment that affect their social and emotional development may find it had to interact with others and they will be unable to make friends and positive relationships. Society should change to give the children with disability an opportunity to participate in society and ensure that it meets the children and young peoples needs so as to achieve positive outcome. Medical model of disability In this model of disability people without a disability, they see the impairment of disabled people as a problem that needs solved or cured whereas some impairments have no cure. Medical model limits the opportunities for children and young people and this impact negatively on their learning and development. The children with long term medical conditions or physical disabilities may not achieve their full potential as they may miss educational opportunities due to their health, having to stay in hospitals and attending medical appointments. Low expectations When people/ societies have low expectations for children and young people with disability, they will be denied the opportunities they need to achieve their full potential. If children and young people with disability have low expectation of themselves they may not want to get involved and they will feel isolated and unable to fit in. Stereotyping. Children with disabilities may develop low self-confidence and self-esteem due to the stereotyping, discrimination and if the family members see them as a burden or have negative attitudes due to their lack of ability to cope with their disability. Cultural differences Children and young people may miss out on the chance to learn, play and work due to discrimination because of their disability as well as their background, hence unable to achieve a positive outcome. People from different cultures should be more understanding, accepting and encouraging to children and young people with disabilities. Due to lack of funds and resources, can hinder the children with disability having opportunities to experiences activities and achieve their full potential as meeting the needs of a child with disability can be very expensive and funded services vary from one local area to another. The benefits of positive attitudes to disability. Positive attitudes to disability helps children with disability develop a positive attitude towards themselves and they will have high expectations for their life. The children and young people will have increased self-esteem and self-confidence, gain their independence and have a purpose in life. They will be able to achieve a positive outcome with their learning and development. Positive attitude to disability will help children/young people with disability be more resilience and handle the negative attitudes towards them from others like discrimination and stereotyping. 3.4 AN EXPLANATION OF HOW DIFFERENT TYPES OF INTERVENATIONS CAN PROMOTE POSITIVE OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE WHERE DEVELOPMENT IS NOT FOLLOWING THE EXPECTED PATTERN A number of professional agencies may become involved when children are identified as not following the expected developmental pattern. The professionals will all work together to support children and their families to ensure that children and younger people achieve their full potential. Children and young peoples outcomes can be improved when multi-agency approach is involved and this includes the children and young peoples development. Below are the professionals involved in the interventions with children. Professional/Agency Main area of responsibility Impact Types of intervention Behavioural Support Service (BEST) They work in partnership with provisions within the framework to include everyone. They promote good behaviour and provide support to children and young people, parents and settings. Behaviour impact the childrens and young people achievements. When children have positive behaviour they achieve at school. Recognising and managing their emotions and learn about relations. Improved educational outcome. Training of staff Advice on how to develop and review behaviour policies. Speech and language therapists. They are employed by the local Primary Health Trust. They assess and treat speech, language and communication problem to allow children to communicate to the best of their ability. Children being able to communicate with others. Meeting their individual development needs. Improved language skills. Settling better in settings and will to learn. Improved education outcome. They are referred from the GP or concern from the setting. Therapy Educating parents and staff. Promoting speech and language development through songs and rhymes involving children and parents. Physiotherapists. They help children who have problems as a result of injuries to rehabilitate and increase their movement and coordination, illness or for medical reasons. When the children and young people are rehabilitated. Improved movement. Treatment Range of motion exercise Electrical stimulation Strengthening exercise Soft tissue movement. Psychologists They help and support children with social, emotional problem or learning difficulties. They offer advice and giving counseling to children and parents. Being able to enhance the childs learning and enabling practitioners to be more aware of the social factors affecting childrens learning. Improved education outcome. Counselling Training Health Visitors. They are health professionals who help, support and educate parents on the way of preventing diseases through immunizations, good child nutrition, minor illness and behavior issues. They advice parents on health and child development. They do home visits and sometimes, they can be found in the local medical centre at least once a week. They support parents to ensure that children are protected from illness and they achieve their developmental milestones. Improve education and life outcome for children and young people. Identifying mothers suffering from depression. Reduced post-natal depression. Medical advice Training Home visits Parental training Social workers They are employed by social services. They provide assistance and advice to children, young people and families with health need, housing issues, and poverty. They support young people living care and those facing difficulties of any kind. Keep families together by giving them support. Children from care fulfil their full potential. Families getting the help they need. Crisis intervention Anger management Stress management Relaxation training Mid wives They offer health support to parents expecting a child/ children. Parent has a successful pregnancy and birth. Reduce the number of women smoking during pregnancy. Increased breast feeding. Increased parental confidence. Training Antenatal care. Pre- and post natal care. Birth plans Training Breast feeding training. Play specialist They are employed by the local Primary Health Trust. They make observations and assessments through play with children in hospitals to identify their needs and fears while in hospital. The children get full recover and play freely without any problems. Assessments Introduction of play Voluntary agencies and services These include local and national services like NSPCC. They support and give advice to children, young people and their families experiencing threatening situations. The families feel safe, secure and protected. They have a peace of mind knowing that they can get support and advice if they experience ant threatening behaviour. Training Support and advice Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO). Works in the setting They have the responsibility to organise identification and support for children with special education needs Being able identify that a child has special education needs and the child being able to get the help they need early on in time. Referrals to respective professionals Support Psychiatrist They are doctors trained medically. They specialise in mental health. They diagnose and support children and young people with mental health problems. When the child and young person get all the support and treatment the y need. When they are able to lead a normal life afterwards. Counselling Training Awareness Nurse specialist They give advice and support to children, young people and their families on how to manage chronic conditions. They also measure and assess childrens development. When families are able to handle and manage chronic conditions. When families are able to get help in time if there are any underlining problems with their childrens development. Training Raising awareness Measurements and assessment of children development. Young justice teams. They work with children and young people with anti social behaviour in the community. They work hand in hand with the social workers. When the children and young people get the support they need to be model citizens. Recognising and managing their emotions and learn about relationships. Improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behaviour and academic performance. Target offending behaviour Thorough assessments of children and young peoples individual needs. Offer structured programmes. Offer programmes that can work that meet the families needs. Additional learning support teams They help children with specific educational needs within early years provisions, schools and out of school. Children get the support and education to achieve their development goals. Improved learning outcomes. Training Awareness Support Assistive technology Children and young peoples development can be supported by using a range of technology. A voice activated computer programme will assist children and young people with delayed fine motor skills with writing. Children and young people with difficulties walking may use the latest wheelchairs so as they are able to achieve their development goal and be more independent. Physiotherapists, speech and language therapists and sensory impairment support professionals have the responsibility to choose the right type of assistive technology for children and young people. http://www.ehow.co.uk/socialworkers (16.02.2013) http://www.physiotherapy.notes.com (16.02.2013) http;//www.surreycc.gov.uk/social-careand health (17.02.2013) http://www.nfer.ac.uk/nfer/publications (17.02.2013). Tassoni, P., Beith, K., Bulman, K., Griffin, S. (2010) Children and Young Peoples Workforce. Early Learning and childcare. Level 3 Diploma. Essex: Heinemann. Walker, M. (2011) Children and Young Peoples Workforce. Early Learning and Childcare. Level 3 Diploma. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.

Of Mice and Men :: English Literature

Of Mice and Men The novel is about the American Dream, where America is meant to be a land built on promise and opportunity. It promises independence, land and a decent living through honest work. It also means, in theory, that anyone can become successful. The American Stock Market on Wall Street crashed catastrophically in 1929, this led to a massive economic depression in the 1930s.Poverty and starvation stalked California and other stricken states. The migrants were worst off. All of the suffering was much worse if you were black; America was still a highly racist and segregated society. The bunkhouse conditions were not very basic "what the hell kind of bed you giving us anyways. We don't want no pants rabbits." The ranch was obviously not nice. The boss is a bit aggressive and doesn't like George speaking for Lennie "then why don't you let him answer ?"He thinks George is getting something from lennie because migrant workers don't normally travel together''you takin' his pay away form him?" Curley the boss' son is a mean character , he dislikes Lennie from the beginning "well nex' time you answer when you are spoken to." Curley dislikes Lennie because he's not big himself. George's version of the American Dream is to own his own land "if I was bright , if I was even a little bit smart , I'd have my own place." George always knew the dream would fail " I think I knowed we'd never do her." George was possibly only possibly using the American Dream as an escape.The fact that he was fond of the American Dream is evident in the personification he refers to the American Dream as 'her'. Lennie's version of the American Dream is to have his own place ,dog, rabbits and chickens "we're gonna have a dog an' rabbits an chickens.'' Lennie and George have the same dream but approach it in a different way. Candy overhears George and Lennie's plans for a place of their own and decides to become a part of that dream " maybe if I give you guys my money ,you'll let me hoe in the garden even after I ain't no good at." This is probably the happiest and most optimistic bit of the whole book. You start to believe their dream is possible. You know it's a great idea and forget it's a dream , it seems to be changing into a practical plan. Crooks reminisces about his child hood when he could play with white kids " the white kids come to our place , an' sometimes I went to play with them and some of them was pretty nice.

The Lilith in Dracula, Carmilla, Christabel, Geraldine and The Hunger

The Lilith in Dracula, Carmilla, Christabel, Geraldine and The Hunger For centuries Lilith, the Queen of the Night, has been blamed when a child or man dies without certain cause or when a woman refuses to be submissive to her husband.   While the Legend of Lilith is not widely known today, it is not difficult to find information about the demoness. However, there are slight variations found from story to story.   Here we will focus on the myth as found in Hebrew mythology, and we will particularly emphasize the similarities seen between Lilith and various vampires seen in literature today.   The Hebrew figure of Lilith was actually borrowed from Babylonian and Syrian myths.   Lilitu was a Babylonian demon and a spirit of the night and of storms.   Lamassu was a Sumerian goddess and the daughter of Anu, the god of Heaven.   It is believed that Lilith is a combination of these two demons from earlier legends.   However, for the purpose of our study, we will focus on the legend of Lilith found in Hebrew scriptures.   According to Hebrew scriptures, Lilith was Eve’s predecessor and therefore, the first wife of Adam. However, there are two variations on the Hebrew creation myth.   The first states that God made man and woman out of the same material (earth or clay), at the same time, thus the two beings were equals in every way.   The alternative version of this myth states that Adam was made of clay while Lilith was made of dirt and filth.   However, regardless of her origin, the remainder of the myth proceeds much the same way.   Legends states when it was time for the two to have sexual intercourse, Adam insisted that Lilith take the more submissive position.   This angered her and in ... ...le from the Garden of Eden, she was doomed to forever prey on newborn children and suck the blood and life fluids from men.   For this reason, she is the earliest known force of evil, thus making her the perfect image of the mother of all vampires.         Works Cited       Begg, Ean.   The Cult of the Black Virgin.   Arkana: Penguin Books, 1996 pp.34-40.    Bunson, Matthew.   The Vampire Encyclopedia.   New York:   Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1993.    Coulter, Charles Russell, and Patricia Turner.   The Encyclopedia of Ancient   Deities.   London:   McFarland and Company, Inc., 2000, pp. 285-86.    Masters, Anthony.   The Natural History of the Vampire.   London:   Rupert   Hart-Davis, 1972, pp. 170-71.    THE GNOSIS ARCHIVE: Gnostic Studies on the Web.   Accessed on May 1,   2003. http://www.webcom.com/~gnosis/lilith.html   

Theories of Psychology Essay -- Psychology

1. Theories of Multiple Intelligences: Howard Gardner proposed the theory of multiple intelligences in his book, "Frames of Mind" in 1983 (Smith, 2006). Initially, Gardner spoke of seven intelligences and later added two. The first two are considered fundamental and most revered in the public school system, they are Linguistic intelligence and Logical-Mathematic intelligence. Linguistic intelligence includes the capability to use, speak and learn languages and words. Logical-Mathematic intelligence is the skill of working proficiently with numbers. Musical intelligence is the ability of performing, recognizing, and writing music. Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence is utilizing the mind and the body together to solve problems. Visual-Spatial intelligence recognizes patterns of space. Interpersonal intelligence is the ability of understanding people. Intrapersonal is the ability to understand self. The final two that Gardner added in 1999 are, Naturalist, the ability to observe patterns in the way things are organized and Exi stentialist, the ability to understand spiritual and philosophical issues. Gardner also claims ?intelligences rarely operate independently?. (Smith, 2006) Interpersonal intelligence applies best to me because I am a very good listener and I have the ability to identify and respond accordingly to various moods and temperaments. I am often referred to as the peacekeeper or mediator. The feelings of others are foremost in my thoughts and actions. I enjoy contributing to others personal development and well-being. (Smith, 2006) 2. Problem solving: Algorithm is a systematic approach such as formulas used in math. (Roberts, 2006) Representative Heuristics or a rule of thumb is when information matches prev... ...al and half environmental. Our environment was always a happy go lucky one, I never heard my parents argue or raise their voices to each other and I think that played a huge role in the way that I have viewed life and dealt with different situations over the years. (Roberts, 2006) Reference: American Heart Association., (2008). retrieved April 26, 2008 from: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4545 Smith, Mark., (2006). Howard gardner, multiple intelligences and education, introduction to psychology (pp.120-126). Kaplan University. United States, Copley. Roberts, Melinda Ph.D., (2006). Personality, introduction to psychology (ch.11). Kaplan University. United States, Copley. Roberts, Melinda Ph.D., (2006). Thinking and intelligence, introduction to psychology (ch.10). Kaplan University. United States, Copley

Health and social care setting Essay

My health and social care setting is an under 5’s nursery, within my setting there may be many incidents or emergencies. There could be incidents within my setting such as bumping their heads, falling over, tripping over toys. An emergency within my setting could be things such as fire’s or severe injuries such as being knocked unconscious. In this assignment I will cover two incidents or emergencies, the ones I will be covering are actual and suspected abuse and exposure to infection, I will start of with my P4; explaining possible priorities and responses when dealing with these incidents, I will then go onto D2; justifying why I am making those responses, finally I will go onto my M3;; where I will discuss the health, safety and security of individuals within my setting when the incident or emergency occurs. In a case of actual abuse your priority is the children, you should make sure there is trusted members of staff to listen to them at all times and take what they are saying seriously, it is vital that staff do not just brush it off as a silly comment or something they’ve â€Å"heard on TV†, they should do this because although they may be unsure about what the child is telling them, it is most likely true, children of this age do not fabricate things such as this, they should not just shrug it off and take any notice because they have to relay as much detail to their supervisor as possible.In the case of a child expressing to an adult about abuse, they should listen carefully, don’t walk away from the child or disrupt them whilst they are telling you, you should feel privileged as a child confiding in you about their abuse must mean they trust you, they should not do this because it will make the child feel although they are completely alone and isolated and alth ough they are not being heard, they will lose the trust they had in them.Whilst the child is confiding in you you should make sure you try to maintain professionalism, you should do this because if you start to get  personally involved and staff see you are getting personally involved, it may be hard for them to 100% trust everything you are relaying to them! it may be hard for the child to also understand what is acceptable within your relationship. Listen carefully to them, try get them to sit with you in a quiet environment, you should do this because there is less distraction for the child, meaning they wont just run off and play, it is also easier for you to hear everything the child is saying to you in depth, this also protects the child’s dignity and stops other children hearing what they are saying, or other children trying to grab your attention away from the situation. Don’t not be afraid of awkward silences either and definitely don’t try to fill them, you shouldn’t do this because it can be seen as your trying to push the child for answers, which should never be done. You shouldn’t really ask the children questions, the reason you should not do this is people can assume you are trying to put things in their heads or pushing them for answers they don’t feel comfortable giving, it’s also vital you don’t ask them questions as different people are going to be doing a lot of that. Try to sit at the children’s level and try to maintain eye contact with them, be aware of your body language. You should be aware of this because if you are too close to them or try to touch their hands to comfort them, this may make them shut down due to the abuse they are experiencing, being touched is uncomfortable to them. Once the child has expressed to you the abuse they are experiencing you should tell your line manager, if the child asks you to promise not to tell anyone, which they probably will you have to maintain your professional head and tell them you cannot promise this. You should never make promises to them, especially things such as â€Å"don’t worry we will sort this out, things will be better†, you should never do this because you should never make a promise to a child you cannot keep, you can say reassuring things like â€Å"I promise it is not your fault† but you cannot promise things like not telling anyone, as this is dishonest, you will have to relay what the child has said to the staff and the child will end up shutting of from you and not confiding any other information to you. In a case of suspected abuse your priority should be making sure that if you  have any suspicions you should report them and follow them through, you should do this because even if you are unsure whether they are ex piercing a use, you should not just let it slide as you may be covering up abuse if you do. if you look on the accidental and non accidental bruising chart and you think you see bruises where it states on the non accidental chart but the parents have not mentioned it, you should report it, don’t just brush it off because you are embarrassed that you may be wrong, you should do this because even if you are wrong, you have done your job in the well being of the child within you’re care. If you are suspicious of a child’s behaviour, if they are awkward when it comes to a certain sex, show sexual advances I.e. Pull their underwear down continuously even after being told it’s wrong or isolate themselves when playing you should report your suspicions. It is vital that if a child’s under 16 and you have even a slight suspicion they are beings abused, you should report it immediately. You should voice your concerns to the child protection appointed officer, who can then deal with the concerns, you should report it to them straight away as they are the best person to report it. This is a delicate incident, if a child reports abuse to you, their safety could be at risk, especially if the abuser finds out the child has confided in someone about the abuse, they could hurt them further physically and remove the child from the care of the nursery. The child’s safety could be at severe harm if they were to do this, as although it has been reported the child is not in a safe environment during the day any longer, potentially being subject to more abuse. If the abuse is suspected, reported and found to be irrelevant, the parents may find it uncomfortable to send their child back to the nursery, thinking they have been â€Å"accused† of abuse. The child may not want to come back or may show bad behaviour towards the nursery assistants as the child does not understand why they had to go through they ordeal. P4;explain possible priorities and responses when dealing with two particular incidents or emergencies in a health or social care setting & M2; discuss, health, safety or security concerns arising from a specific incident or emergency in a health and social care setting&D2;Justify responses to a particular incident or emergency in a health or social care setting. In my setting, exposure to infection is high, children are always picking up bugs, colds etc. they also sometimes have accidents, this means the staff are exposed to bodily fluids. You should always protect yourself and those around you from infections. Infections are able to enter the, tyo body in several different ways, these are inhalation- breathing in, ingestion- swallowing and inoculation-a break in the skin. When working in my setting, it is vital to have strict hygiene standards. When dealing with changing children’s nappies, staff should wash their hands thoroughly with soap and warm water, then apply gloves and proceed to change them or help the children with the toilet, they should do this when dealing with accidents also, they should wash their hands before they apply gloves because if they have any germs already on their hands, putting the gloves on will only make them multiply, this is why they should also wash them afterwards also although they are using gloves which stop the body fluids getting onto their hands they could have missed germs the first time washing them. Staff should thoroughly clean cutlery used and when severing food,make sure they have again washed their hands and applied gloves, staff should do this because if a child has a cold or infection of any kind, if their cups they’ve used have not been washed thoroughly, germs could easily be missed and handed to another child with a low immune system which could multiply in no time. They should make sure when they are serving food they wash their hands and put gloves on again, because of germs multiplying and if they have a cut using a blue wash-proof plaster they should do this because it is easy to spot within food and is wash-proof, so it will not come unstuck easily when in contact with water, it will also be noticeable if it becomes loose or falls of within food, as it is blue if it does fall off within food, the food should be correctly disposed of, they should do this because the food is then classed as contaminated and no good. They should make sure that the children always thoroughly wash and dry their hands after using the bathroom as this can pass on infection quickly, they should make sure of this as if the children do not wash their hands then go and play, they are transferring the germs from their body fluids to other children and other toys, they could touch another child and easily pass it on, they could even give themselves more germs by putting their hands in  their mouthes etc. When the children have snack time it is vital that they wash their hands, or use hand sanitiser before and after eating, they should do this because before they eat they could have lots of germs on their hands from picking up toys etc. they want to ensure they are eradicating as many germs as possible, they should also wash their hands afterwards as they have touched food and probably touched the table etc, they could have sneezed and things such as this. They should encourage children to sneeze into tissues or their elb ow and make sure when they have sneezed or blown their nose, they dispose of the tissue correctly and wash their hands afterwards, they should do this because this will minimise the spread of they infection via inhalation, I.e. Air born infections and it will minimise the amount of germs they transfer from toy to toy, then toy to child. They should also clean tables before they use them for snack time, I feel they should do this because if a child has sneezed coughed or put their fingers I n their mouths and run their hands all over the table, their germs will be all over them, the tables will also have had toys all over them which most under 5 year olds would have put in their mouthes, so theoretically the tables should be disinfected, as should the toys, the toys should be disinfected because if a child has touched them or put them in their mouthes with infection, the chance of the germs spreading to all the other toys when they are crammed into a box in a dark cold cupboard is hi gh. Children within the nursery could be at great risk of catching infections from one another, they frequently sneeze and do not cover their mouth’s and nose’s, sneezing onto toys and in the air meaning children can catch they infection they may have by simply breathing around them. One typical thing children do with toys is put them in their mouthes, if another child has previously sneezed on this or put it in their mouth whilst they have an infection, this is automatically spread from one to the next. If the child has an infection such as conjunctivitis and is in nursery without undergoing treatment this could be spread via the child touching and itching their eyes, then touching toys or other children. If a child has an infection such as impetigo, they would only have to have skin to skin contact with someone who has a cut on their skin, this will pass it onto them,these two examples although seem small, are high risk infections. Within my setting the health  of indiv iduals is at risk here, because people’s immune systems react differently to infections, so an infection such as a minor flu that has not affected someone too severely, may affect someone else quite severely, resulting in hospitalisation etc. this type of infection could result in their being an epidemic of flu within the nursery, resulting in everyone become infected unable to attended nursery/work. For example, if a child or worker has asthma or a form of lung disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease also known as COPD (this could be in a worker) then what we see as a simple bout of flu or a nasty cold, could cause these individuals more serious illness’ such as a chest infection, it could also cause irreversible damage to their lungs.

Harbor Chemicals

Assignment 5 Sheet Harbour Chemicals Sheet Harbour Chemicals (SHC) manufactures chemicals used in the paint industry. The process involves three departments. Chemical A, which is purchased for $3 per liter, is processed through Department 1 in batches of 100 liters. Each batch of chemicals processed through Department A produces 70 liters of chemical B and 30 liters of chemical C. Chemical B is sold for $10 per liter. Chemical C is used in Department 2 to produce chemicals D, E, and F. Department 2 processes chemical C in batches of 200 liters.Each batch processed through Department B produces 100 liters of chemical D, 60 liters of chemical E, and 40 liters of chemical F. Chemical D is sold for $12 per liter. Chemical E is a waste product that is donated to the local municipality to be spread on gravel roads to keep down dust. Chemical F is a hazardous waste product that must be disposed of at a cost of $6 per liter. Alternatively, chemical F can be processed through Department 3 to produce chemical C. Department 3 processes chemical F in batches of 40 liters.For each batch of chemical F processed, 20 liters of chemical C are produced. In the past, this operation has had a tendency to build up stocks of chemical C. The maximum storage capactiy for chemical C is 1,000 liters. The accompanying diagram summarizes the production activities at SHC. The sales manager indicates that sales of chemical B cannot exceed 35,000 liters in the upcoming period, and sales of chemical D cannot exceed 10,000 liters. The production manager advises that 7,000 labor-hours are available for the upcoming period. Workers are paid $10 per hour worked.The production manager indicates that the labor-hours required for each batch in Departments 1,2, and 3 are 10, 15, and 10, respectively. Moreoever, because of constraints relating to the mixing vats and storage, the maximum number of batches in Departments 1, 2, and 3 are 600, 80, and 40, respectively. The estimated variable overhead cost s per batch in Departments 1, 2, and 3 are estimated as $250, $750, and $100. 2 Required: 1. Formulate an LP to determine the optimal production plan at SHC for the upcoming period. 2. Using Excel, solve the LP formulated in requirement 1 to determine the optimal plan.