Ethical concerns of Autism

Ethical concerns of Autism

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Introduction

Autism disorder has been a very challenging disorder to most patients. This is because it affects both children and adults. The disorder also takes so long to heal which makes it very difficult to treat. Patients with autism feel out of place as they are not able to socialize with others. Some have communication problems which makes it even more dangerous for children to start school. There are those severe cases where children are not able to carry out personal activities on their own making it difficult to learn even the most basic roles (Bjork & Gallagher, 2011). Autism has been known to be caused by genes and environmental factors like complications during pregnancies. However there has been other factors of medical negligence where some specialists administer vaccinations that are known to affect the brain development thus causing autism. There has been negligence even by the government when they fail to stop this vaccination and compensate to the affected patients.

Autism disorder

Autism disorder involves a condition that is characterized with problems in communication, repetitive behaviors and difficulties in social skills. Some children and adults with ASD are fully able to perform all their activities while others have to be assisted (Ozonoff & Miller, 2000). The disorder can be identified at early stage of a child. Mostly children have poor learning skills and appear disinterested in social interactions. The degree of severity varies on patients. Some patients may show severe symptoms than others while others only show one of the autism symptoms.

The main cause of the disorder is due to genetic factors which hinder development of the brain in some parts. Autism is also caused by various factors like early pregnancies or complications during pregnancy. When a woman is pregnant there may be cases of complications which may affect the brain development of the baby (Hastings & Remington, 2005). For instance, a baby born underweight or prematurely, there are high chances of the baby having brain development issues. The other cause is from birth of twins and triplets there is a high chance of the child getting brain development problems. Other causes are due to environmental factors and negligence factors which I purpose to investigate.

Autism has been affecting many children over the years. Having lived with my nephew who is autistic I feel passionate to work with autistic patients in order to identify a solution to their problem as well preventing more children from acquiring the disorder. This disorder have interested me in my area of study and I feel I need to specialize on autism to find effective treatment to the patients suffering from this disorder. There have been allegations that in some cases lack of observation of ethical conduct have been major contributors of this disorder to many patients. Through my thesis I will work closely with all the relevant bodies including the doctors and therapists who handle autistic patients. I will also interact with children and adults with autism to identify their perceptions on their conditions and challenges they go through with their conditions. Additionally, I will investigate from the parents of autistic children to identify their perceptions and all that they have to say on the children’s conditions and improvements from birth.

Autism as an autoimmune disorder

Various research findings have identified autism as an autoimmune disorder. This means that the disease is caused by a complex interaction between the immune system and nervous system. More than eighty percent of autism cases are caused by abnormal immune reaction. Some vaccinations leads to development of a myelin which may lead to long time disturbance of the brain hindering learning, communication and memory (Hastings, 2005). A disease is also called autoimmune due to lack of establishment of the pathogenesis. Autism is an autoimmunity that is can be caused by an abnormal reaction of a different immunization.

A disease may become autoimmunity when there is an abnormal reaction where the immune systems react with the body organs. These diseases are caused by the genes that control immune responses of the body like extended haplotypes. Autism is also involved with gender factor in that it affects males three times more than females which confirms it to be an autoimmunity disorder. In some cases also autism is associated from other family history of autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. Autoimmunity of autism is also confirmed by the association of autism with infectious agents like viruses (Ozonoff & Miller, 2000). The viruses when they infect the body may interfere with the brain thus causing lack of normal brain development. Use of a vaccination that will lead to adoption of another disease unethical. It is very wrong for specialists to administer vaccination to the patients which will in turn cause adoption of another disease.

The United States government has all the information on the causes of autism condition. They have knowledge that autism is caused by some vaccination and nothing has been done over the years. There has been no compensation given to the patients who suffer from autism after an infection from a vaccination (Bjork & Gallagher, 2011). Many cases that have been witnessed mostly start with brain disease which then develops to autism disorder due to failure of other activities that are fostered by the brain like communication and movement stability. Additionally, the government has done nothing to illegalize the vaccination that is well known to cause autism. This is a medical negligence that ought to be addressed to reduce cases of autism.

Conclusively, I wish to perform my research on autism that will help me write a very comprehensive thesis that will be useful to many parents who would wish to assist their parents.

References

Hastings, R. P., Kovshoff, H., Brown, T., Ward, N. J., Espinosa, F. D., & Remington, B. (2005). Coping strategies in mothers and fathers of preschool and school-age children with autism. Autism, 9(4), 377-391.

Ozonoff, S., South, M., & Miller, J. N. (2000). DSM-IV-defined Asperger syndrome: Cognitive, behavioral and early history differentiation from high-functioning autism. Autism, 4(1), 29-46.

Pierce, K., Carter, C., Weinfeld, M., Desmond, J., Hazin, R., Bjork, R., & Gallagher, N. (2011). Detecting, studying, and treating autism early: the one-year well-baby check-up approach. The Journal of pediatrics, 159(3), 458-465.