When apotemnophilia is being viewed as a neurological
disorder due to right parietal lobe damage(s) I do not think that it is necessarily
wrong to amputate an otherwise healthy limb. I do however find it to be an
extreme solution and hope that other measures are being taken before amputation
is performed. It seems very important
that doctors, surgeons and other professionals get to the bottom of cognitive
and behavioral issues first. If and when
all other therapies and medications have been exhausted, then amputation may be
the next step of therapy and wellness for someone. Another problem to consider is that there is
nothing to say for sure that a specific individual will feel relief and
otherwise be happy. But studies have
shown this to be the case.
It would
seem easy for someone who is not suffering with this condition to view it as
morally and ethically wrong for a surgeon to remove an otherwise healthy individual’s
limb. Again this is another example
where the individual needs to make a decision on what’s going to be best for
them.
In Daniel Gilbert's book "Stumbling on Happiness", he examines evidence that shows that people will disabilities and other misfortunes are actually a lot happier than the average person percieves them to be (decreasing in effect with worse disabilities. According to this claim, it would actually seem moral to amputate a body part to relieve somebody of the emotional distress associated with body dysmorphic disorder, a distressing condition that often accompanies apotemnophilia. Of course, this treatment is extreme and should only be employed as a last resort, and only after extremely careful medical consideration.
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