Argumentative Essay: Daniel Keyes Flowers For Algernon

Flowers for Algernon Argumentative essay Intelligence is a valued aspect to many people, but it can be achieved in options that aren’t labeled “intelligence-altering surgery”. The doctors, Dr.Nemur and Dr. Strauss do not follow the ethics of fieldwork. They chose the wrong person, Charlie Gordon, to do the surgery on, and didn’t wait to find out that the side-effects include death. In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, the doctors made a bad choice by choosing Charlie Gordon for the intelligence-altering surgery. The first and least important reason is that Dr.Nemur and Dr.Strauss did not follow the ethics of fieldwork. Dr.Strauss spells it out for himself, “reassuring” Charlie about the surgery, “Dr. Strauss says don’t be supersitis

Charlie Gordon starts to catch on to the symptoms of his operation and knowing that included on the list is death. He begins to catch on after Algernon dies, stating “I have become absent minded. Algernon died two days ago.” (Keyes) Charlie now understands that this will soon become his reality, too. Once something that had been a fantasy and only a dream, now turned into a nightmare, haunting Charlie, mentally exhausting him. “I’ve given up using the typewriter completely. My coordination is bad. I feel that I’m moving slower and slower. Had a terrible shock today.” (Keyes 206) Charlie now is completely certain that he will die, seeing all side-effects and the bad side of the operation. Last, the doctors were not supposed to harm him, even though that they probably knew about the outcome of the surgery, written in the Belmont Report, states “Two general rules have been formulated as complementary expressions of beneficent actions in this sense: 1. Do not harm and 2. Maximize possible benefits and minimize possible harms.” (The Belmont Report 28) Doctors Nemur and Strauss do not follow these written expectations, and possible harms are not