Chance encounter in the library

Well, I'm here to report that I am now full of tetanus, diptheria (still haven't figured out how to spell that one correctly) measles, mumps, rubella, and hepatitis B serums. Any type A+'s want a blood transfusion? I've got everything in me that you could want. I was sort of expecting to have a sore arm from the Td, but so far there is just a little of bit of pain that isn't even worth mentioning, which obviously isn't going to stop me from saying that my left biceps hurt.
On to a more serious note, I have started studying bioethics during my time off of school this summer. I recently started going to the public library again since I have some time on my hands, figuring it would be nice to do some recreational reading for a change. My exact and meticulously planned library excursions go something like "walk into the library, close my eyes and spin around 5 times, stop, extend my hand in front of me, open my eyes, walk to wherever my finger is pointing and explore that particular aisle." This method generally has interesting results as I find myself reading about things I normally don't think about and finds me leaving with a stack of titles ranging from meteorology to farming to classic literature to philosophy to motorcycles and so on. The only aisle that I laugh and walk away from is the one that has all the tax code books. Somehow I don't think my self-education will suffer extreme neglect from this.
During last week's trip, the first aisle I walked down contained a number of books on bioethics. A light bulb clicked on in my brain and I thought to myself "hey, maybe we should learn about this and develop a thought framework on it since we are going to be a nurse and work in the medical field for the rest of our life!" (in case you are wondering, I reserve the right to refer to me as a we whenever we want to).
I have extremely passionate and firm beliefs regarding the more normal (how sick is it that I can use the word "normal" here, as if they are nonchalant and run of the mill?) topics such as abortion and assisted suicide and have no problem discussing them with anyone who has a mind to. When it comes to other issues in bioethics, like cloning, genetic modifications, etc, my lack of knowledge is evident by the presence of mere shallow opinions that are all I have to offer when questioned. With this in mind, I picked a few books that looked promising and started reading them almost immediately upon arriving home. Wow. My mind is exploding over the entire arena of humanity that has been opened and explored by these authors. Let me preface my initial thoughts about this subject by saying that: I know I still have a ton to learn, I wrote this in the middle of the night, and some of my reasoning more than likely has holes in it. This is a raw and unedited viewpoint and I know there are large amounts of information that need to be filled in to complete many of the thoughts that are presented here. In other words, these are my reading notes....just a work in progress.
The current trend in the world today seems to be one that removes moral absolutes from medical decision making-absolutes which guarantee the moral value of each individual-and replaces them with a set of subjective values (which, being subjective, are obviously determined by another person).
Rabbit trailing for a moment, I've also been reading "Reading Lolita in Tehran", in which the author makes the point that works of fiction that are told from a narrator's subjective viewpoint always color the reader's opinions of the other characters in the story. The narrator's subjective opinions cause the other characters to be loved or hated by the readers; the rules and beliefs of the narrator accordingly determine the fate of the other characters.
Resuming my original train of thought now...while reading my other book, "Culture of Death",
and learning about the transformation of bioethics in the United Sates during the last 40 years, I was caught up in how similar the two books I am reading are, though they are found on opposite sides of the library. The leaders in the bioethics community, be they doctors, lawyers, college professors, or politicians, are narrating the stories in which hundreds of thousands of unborn babies, severely disabled human beings, and elderly suffering from Alzheimer's play silent roles. The subjective guidelines written by their fellow human beings, those who supposedly know what is in the best interests for the "good of the whole" are applied to these individuals who are unable to stand for themselves.
Ok, that's all I have for now. More to come soon, hopefully something that will explain the framework of ideology that the bioethics community (in general) operates from. Btw, I know I titled this post "a chance encounter", but now that I am learning about this vast subject, I know it was more than coincidence or chance or luck that I wound up on that particular part of the aisle.