Scientist Tackles Ethical Questions of Space Travel

[sukishan]

AS NASA'S CHIEF BIOETHICIST, WHAT DOES YOUR WORK INVOLVE?
I'm an adviser to the chief medical officer for the agency. I don't make decisions. Instead, I analyze situations and policies and offer bioethical perspectives on specific problems.

NASA does hundreds of research studies. Every astronaut who goes into space is, essentially, a human research subject. NASA's looking at the effects of weightlessness, of G-forces and radiation on the human body. One of the things I do is look over the research protocols and make sure they are in compliance with earth-bound regulations about informed consent and health and safety. I also try to help solve some of the thorny ethical problems of medical care for astronauts in space.

WHAT WOULD BE AN EXAMPLE OF THAT?

A. According to OSHA regulations, workers — including astronauts — can only be exposed to a limited amount of radiation at their workplace over their lifetime. Humans in space are subjected to much more radiation than anyone on earth would be. So there was this one case where an astronaut was close to the limit of exposure because of space travel, and then he had medical radiation treatments for cancer.

Astronauts want to fly as much as possible. That's what they do. This one didn't want the medical radiation to count against the lifetime limit because it hadn't happened in the workplace. NASA had to weigh the letter of the law against the intent of the law. I said, "Exposure is exposure." The decision ultimately went that way.

MOST BIOETHICISTS WORK IN HOSPITALS. HOW IS THE NASA JOB DIFFERENT?

A. In an earth-based medical situation, the priority is the health and well-being of the patient. On a spaceship, that has to be balanced with the health and well-being of the other crew members and the success of the mission itself. Ethics in space are more of a balancing act. You need to weigh a series of priorities and figure out which is paramount.

Imagine you had a severely injured astronaut on the surface of Mars — or a dead body. American soldiers will put themselves at great risk to retrieve a dead body. On Mars, you have a different situation. You might be endangering the entire mission by trying to retrieve the body. In that case, you might recommend that it be left behind, even if that is against our ethical traditions.

Or what do you do if someone has a psychotic episode while in space?

I've written that there has to be medication and restraints on the craft. If you have to restrain the person for a long period of time, you have to do it. You can't thank the person for their service to the country and put them out into space. You can't medicate them to insensibility for a year and a half. You have to find a reasonable way to manage the situation.