The Worst Clinical Ethics Textbook Ever?

This post is going to be a great deal more vulgar than my usual fare. I apologize, but I've been having a great deal of difficulty in restraining myself over this matter, and I really need to vent.

Moreover, I literally lack the words to adequately express my revulsion. Sometimes, "Ugh" doesn't cut it.

You see, I'm taking my program's clinical ethics class this semester. Our textbook is Corey, Corey, & Callanan's Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions, eighth edition. In other words, this book.

As the title of this blog entry suggests, I don't like it very much. It's just... incredibly bad. To be honest, "bad" doesn't really cut it here. I mean, the book even says that I'm not human.

No, I'm not joking. The relevant quote is at the bottom of Page 93:

Spirituality is an essential quality of being human, and Allen Weber believes it must be addressed in whatever form is appropriate in counseling [Emphasis added].

An "essential quality" is a defining quality. Something without an essential quality of X isn't X -- and something which has all of the essential qualities of X is X. To say that spirituality is an essential quality of being human is to say that anyone or anything lacking spirituality is not human.

It would be far less offensive if the authors had written that spirituality is an essentially human quality (i.e. that only humans are spiritual), but the context makes it abundantly clear that this is not what they mean: in Corey et al.'s view, apparently, atheists aren't human.

No, I'm not an atheist (at least by the most common definitions), but I share an atheistic lack of spirituality (and, in fact, go a great deal further than many, as an upcoming Symphony of Science video helps illustrate). As such, I'm apparently not human.

I regard this sort of statement as blatantly unethical conduct in the writing of a clinical ethics textbook. How the hell did this get past the editors?

Of course, this is just one line in a 587-page book. If this was just an isolated problem, I wouldn't be nearly so frustrated. Unfortunately, however, it's not. The problems start far earlier... with the book's very definition of ethics.

"Ethics" is defined on Page 14. There are three statements which can be considered defining:

... ethics pertains to the beliefs we hold about what constitutes right
conduct.

Ethics are moral principles adopted by an individual or group to provide rules
for right conduct.

And, finally:

Ethics represents aspirational goals, or the maximum or ideal standards set by the profession, and they are enforced by professional associations, national certification boards, and government board that regulate professions. Codes of ethics are conceptually broad in nature and generally subject to interpretation by practitioners. Although these minimum and maximum standards may differ, they are not necessarily in conflict.

I've shown these quotes to several actual ethics professors. "What the fuck?" was the most common response.

You see, that's not what ethics is. Ethics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the evaluation of human conduct. Ethics is the study of what is right and wrong, the study of how we should act and how we should treat our fellow human beings.

By contrast, this book defines "ethics" as "following the rules set by your profession". What the Hell?

I could go on and on about the flaws in this book. These include its "discussion" of the issues surrounding proxy consent (it doesn't exist), its discussion of the issues surrounding involuntary committment (which boils down to, "consult with your colleagues and follow the law"), and many, many others. I just wouldn't be able to post this review in a reasonable timeframe if I did.

All of this raises a very important overarching issue, however: this book is being used to educate clinical professionals (who often likely never get much education beyond what's in the book). A substandard clinical ethics textbook promotes substandard and unethical treatment of clients -- meaning that it hurts and even kills people. As such, I have to conclude that both the publication and use of this textbook (qua textbook) is highly unethical.

In conclusion, however, I suppose I should revisit the headline of this post and ask the inevitable question: is this the worst clinical ethics textbook ever?

I don't know. I sincerely hope I am never in a position to test that hypothesis.

Edit: Corrected a couple of typos.

An Open Letter to Buzz Aldrin

Today is Autistics Speaking Day. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the event, it's an autistic reaction to the highly-misguided "Communication Shutdown Day", a day in which we autistic people make as much online "noise" as possible... on the day in which hordes of people are voluntarily abstaining from our preferred means of communication.

I won't discuss why the whole idea is a bad one. Others have already done so -- far better than I ever could. Instead, I'm going to post an open letter to one of the major participants in this farce.

Dear Mr. Aldrin,

When I was a child, the Apollo missions were a great inspiration to me. They truly stand out among the achievements of mankind as a spectacular triumph of science and a shining example of what man is capable of if we truly try. You, along with the other Apollo astronauts, were my childhood heroes. Your triumphs fanned the flames of my love of science, helping raise it from the bare embers of a childhood interest into a lifelong passion. Your successes comforted me when things seemed hopeless, helping to reassure me that even the seemingly impossible was often within reach.

Today, I am a graduate student in Nova Southeastern University's M.S. Counseling program and working towards board certification as a behavior analyst. My dream is to go into psychological research and to help raise the standards of the discipline to the point where psychology and the other "soft" sciences can be legitimately compared to the "hard" sciences in terms of methodological rigor... and to come, bit by bit, closer to the countless truths I seek. This is not to say, however, that I do not face substantial challenges in reaching my goal.

The worst of these challenges are prejudice and fear. You see, I have a disability. One of my professors flat-out told me (in writing, no less) that having it was unprofessional... in a course where a third of the course grade was participation and professionalism. My clinical ethics textbook states that I am not human. Fear-driven efforts to create a world without people like me in it have already claimed countless lives throughout the world, including at least ten innocent babies in California... this year alone. There's even a clinic within easy driving distance of my house dedicated to chemically castrating people like me.

My disability is most commonly called "autism".

This is why it hurt me so incredibly much to hear that you, one of my childhood heroes, has been raising money for a fear-mongering antivaccine group dedicated to the goals I mention above. I can only hope that you did this out of ignorance; the thought of you having done so knowingly just hurts far too much.

As you may or may not know, the proceeds from Communication Shutout Day go to the program's "global partners". In America (outside Colorado), this means Giant Steps, the Hollyrod Foundation, and the National Autism Association. It's this last which is the most concerning.

The National Autism Association is an anti-vaccine group dedicated to promoting untested, unproven, and often dangerous "treatments" for autism. They praise intravenous chelation (which risks death and brain damage, and, more importantly, involves pumping an irritant into a child's veins for at least two hours at a time). Their 2009 conference, which was held within walking distance of my house, featured a keynote presentation by Andrew Wakefield (whose unethical conduct and Mengele-like "experiments" were largely responsible for major measles outbreaks throughout Europe), a presentation blaming my neurology on MSG in vaccines, and a presentation on why my neurology should be considered a disease (among countless other things). One of their past conferences even involved a keynote from an infamous quack who makes his living chemically castrating autistic children (and who is responsible for the clinic near my home). They recently were involved in a concentrated effort to effect legislation here in Florida which would have effectively banned the flu vaccine. I am perfectly willing to provide references and further information on any of these assertions on request.

Mr. Aldrin, you are old enough to remember many of the diseases which vaccines prevent. For instance, with polio alone... the iron lungs, the countless children who were crippled for life... to groups such as the NAA, bringing back these things is worth it if it means not having people like me or my friends around. You should also remember Jonas Salk and his heroic dedication to the welfare of the children of the world. To groups such as the NAA, Jonas Salk and countless others like him are villains. I find it difficult to express the sheer perversity of this.

I will admit that the NAA has also campaigned against the more "classic" abuse of children with disabilities in the forms of seclusion and restraint. This, however, mainly serves to help legitimatize them and to help them lend support to other, wackier anti-vaccine organizations such as Generation Rescue, SafeMinds, and the National Vaccine Information Center. In a recent conference presentation on the NAA, I referred to them as a "gateway organization" because of their function in such groups' recruitment tactics.

I won't pretend that this is the only thing wrong with Communication Shutout Day. I strongly encourage you to read what Ari Ne'eman of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network has written about the matter ( http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=122 ) and to peruse the various online writings relating to Autistics Speaking Day and the reasons for it.

In the meantime, however, I have to go to bed tonight knowing that one of my childhood heroes has chosen to raise funds for a group whose dedication to creating a world without people like me in it is so strong that they are perfectly willing to sacrifice the lives of countless innocents to create it.

Sincerely,

Alexander Cheezem