Ethical issues in denial of church wedding based on couple's hemoglobin genotype in Enugu, south eastern Nigeria

Autor: Pauline E. Osamor, David Wendler, Euzebus Chinonye Ezugwu
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Adult
Male
Health (social science)
Hemoglobin genotype
Adolescent
Debate
media_common.quotation_subject
education
Nigeria
Context (language use)
Disease
Anemia
Sickle Cell
Premarital Examinations
Criminology
0603 philosophy
ethics and religion
Church wedding
Sickle Cell Trait
03 medical and health sciences
Hemoglobins
Young Adult
0302 clinical medicine
Denial
medicine
Humans
030212 general & internal medicine
Meaning (existential)
Genetic Testing
Marriage
Duty
media_common
Premarital screening
Ethics
Sickle cell trait
lcsh:R723-726
Health Policy
Religion and Medicine
06 humanities and the arts
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Ceremony
humanities
Issues
ethics and legal aspects
Philosophy of medicine
Sickle cell anemia
Female
060301 applied ethics
Psychology
lcsh:Medical philosophy. Medical ethics
Zdroj: BMC Medical Ethics
BMC Medical Ethics, Vol 20, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2019)
ISSN: 1472-6939
Popis: Background Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is a major genetic disease with the greatest burden in sub-Saharan Africa. To try to help reduce this burden, some churches in Nigeria conduct premarital sickle cell hemoglobin screening and refuse to conduct weddings when both individuals are identified as carriers of sickle cell trait. Main body This paper explores the ethical challenges involved in such denials. We assess whether churches have the right to decline to marry adults who understand the risks and still prefer to get married, and whether couples should be denied church weddings based on the risk that their child may suffer from sickle cell anemia. We examine the moral and ethical dimensions of such denials and explore the underlying socio-cultural context involving the purpose of marriage and the meaning of the wedding ceremony in societies where premarital screening is one of the few tools available to reduce the risk of having children with SCA. The potential role of the church is also examined against the background of church beliefs, the duty of the church to its members and its role in reducing the suffering of its members and /or their children. Conclusion We argue that the church should impose these burdens on couples only if doing so promotes a sufficiently compelling goal and there is no less burdensome way to achieve it. We then argue that the goal of reducing the number of individuals in Nigeria who have SCA is compelling. However, testing earlier in life offers a less burdensome and potentially even more effective means of achieving this goal. This suggests that, advocating for earlier screening and helping to support these programs, would likely better promote the church’s own goals of helping its parishioners, increasing the number of church weddings, and reducing the burden of SCA in Nigeria.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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