Charlie Gordan

To begin, one of the biggest reasons that Charlie would’ve been better off having never gotten the surgery is so he wouldn’t have to deal with knowing what great intelligence is like, but then having to go back to being naïve and dumb again. In the story Flowers for Algernon, Keyes says, “I learned so much so fast. Now my mind is deteriorating rapidly. I won’t let it happen. I’ll fight it. I can’t help thinking of the boy in the restaurant, the blank expression, the silly smile, the people laughing at him. No- please- not that again…” (303) This shows that Charlie realizes his mental capabilities are deteriorating and

It is possible to live without intelligence. Intelligence is important but if you don't have it, then it is fine. You can try to become intelligent by being yourself, but there is no need for getting surgery to get smarter. Charlie shouldn’t have gotten the surgery. He was living happily. He wasn't sad about anything, so he wouldn't need to go through any stress.

Charlie got smarter after the surgery, because Algernon was experimented on during the surgery and was really smarter than Charlie

Charlies doctors acted unethically when they asked if Charlie wanted to do the operation. The doctors didn’t ask Charlie these questions. "Has the patient been informed of benefits and risks, understood this information, and given consent? Is the patient mentally capable and legally competent, and is there evidence of incapacity? If mentally capable, what preferences about treatment is the patient stating? If incapacitated, has the patient expressed prior preferences? Who is the appropriate surrogate to make decisions for the incapacitated patient? Is the patient unwilling or unable to cooperate with medical treatment? If so, why?"(Siegler). The doctors just told Charlie that the operation will make him smarter. This was very unethical by the doctors who kind of took advantage of Charlie just for research.

Once Charlie is at the peak of his intelligence, he starts regressing. He then writes a report to try and figure out what went wrong with the operation, so maybe he can fix it and stay a genius, or maybe if he can’t help himself, at least know what went wrong so he can prevent future operations from failing, too. He writes the Algernon-Gordon Effect, which states that human-made intelligence deteriorates at a rate of time directly proportional to the quantity of the increase. On page 333, he says, “These and my people. Let me use my gift to do something for them.” Charlie mentions that he is the only person who had both been smart and dumb in the world. Therefore, he is more knowledgeable than everyone who is working in this field. He will now be able to work out problems with the procedures so they can use it for many people, and make other people in Charlie’s predicament smarter. Other people may say, “Charlie just became stupid again, so what’s the point in the procedure? They just gave him what he wanted his whole life, only to have it forcefully taken away from him, and he could do nothing.” This is a valid point, but I believe that Charlie gets what he wants, so who cares if he becomes stupid again. All of his life, he wants to become smart, and he gets this chance through

Daniels Decisions are made by people every day across the world. Some are even made by thousands of doctors across the world. Some of these decisions are considered ethical decisions. Ethical decisions are well-founded standards of right and wrong, and development and study of standards. In the book, Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon-the main character-has an IQ (intelligence quotient) of 68. Since Charlie has an extremely low IQ, his one wish for him is to be smart. Charlie's doctors, Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss, have come up with a special operation that will help Charlie become smarter. But did they act ethically in a way? No. Charlie Gordon's doctors did not act ethically when they performed the surgery to make him smarter, and here's why.

Charlie Gordon's doctors did act ethical when they performed the surgery to make him smarter. States in Flowers for Algernon, "A week since I dared to write again. It's slipping away like sand through my fingers. Most of the books I have are now too hard for me now. I get angry with them because I know that I read and understood them just a few weeks ago." (Keyes 82). Symbaloo research evidence, "When Charlie went to sleep, he had to sleep with music on."

Even though it was Charlies idea to do the operation it was not an ethical decision perform the experiment to enhance his intelligent by 3. the doctors knew about the all the risks of doing the experiment but still the did it any way without informing Charlie. That is the reason that the doctors ruined Charlies life. And that is the reason that Charlies doctors did not make an ethical

In my own words, the definition of ethics is the moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior. Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old with a 68 IQ. He works in a factory and lived in New York City. Charlie took adult learning classes since he wanted to become normal like all of his friends at the factory. After some time, two neurosurgeons confronted him and wanted to do an intelligence experiment. Charlie enthusiastically agreed, and they did the operation. Charlie would grow to have an IQ of over 200 in a matter of a few weeks, and outsmarted even his doctors. He learned every language ever and did his own experiments. Eventually Charlie lost it all and became angry at everything and everyone before finally going away to a society where no one would know his past. Charlie's doctors did not act ethically when they performed the operation to make Charlie smarter.

After Charlie’s surgery, he is smart for about three to four weeks and then this brain start deteriorating, I don’t think that surgery was a good idea because the doctors didn’t do enough tests or wait long enough to make sure the operation worked. The doctor’s didn’t wait until Algernon died to see if it would shorten the lifespan. They didn’t do multiple tests on animals to see if the operation was constant. The doctors were also at fault because Algernon died after they already gave Charlie the operation.

The surgery performed, resulted in Charlie’s realization of flaws in humanity that existed. Charlie was not given the surgery to benefit him, but rather as a research tool to fix people with mental incapability. The surgery increased Charlie’s intelligence. As a result, Charlie could then see the impending, detrimental effects that even the neurosurgeons looked over. Along with the physical pain, Charlie was put through social and emotional pains all for the betterment of two greedy doctors and a self-absorbed

Charlie Gordon was a thirty-seven year old that had an IQ of 68. He had a dream to get smart, and an operation he signed up for would help him achieve that dream. He was thrust into the operation without any knowledge of what would happen. He also was not informed of any additional information about the experiment, besides that the experiment would make him intelligent. After the experiment was completed and Charlie's intelligence reversed back to normal, Dr. Nemur and Strauss made little to no effort to make sure his personal life wasn't altered because of the experiment. Charlie Gordon's doctors did not act ethically when they performed the surgery to make him smarter.

One reason why the operation on Charlie was unethical was that he could not fully grasp the concept of the procedure. For example, in Progress Report 1, Charlie wrote that Miss Kinnian, Charlie's teacher, told him about the procedure and he jotted down, "I hope [Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur] use me ... I want to be smart[sic]" (Keyes 514). To receive the operation was Charlie's dream because he wanted to enhance his intelligence, however, that was all he knew about the procedure. Since Charlie had a low intelligence, he could not see the pros and cons of the surgery, only what he wanted, which was to become smart, making the operation unethical. Also, in Progress Report 3, Charlie recorded his past on how people would ask him why he wanted to become smart. "I told them becaus all my life I wantid to be smart and not dumb ... I dont care if it herts[sic]" (Keyes 515). Being born with low intelligence made Charlie yearn to get smarter. However, because getting smarter

So, without the surgery he probably would not have gotten where he was with an IQ of 204 starting at only 68 in a matter of weeks. “What a dope I am! I didn’t even understand what she was talking about. I read the grammar book last night and it explanes the whole thing.”(Keyes page 192). People tend to think that this dream come true does not override the fact that a side effect of his decreasing intelligence is that he died. While dying is not a good thing alone it does not strain from the fact that he died finally achieving something that he spent his whole life trying to reach. So, instead of dying from a life searching but never really achieving. He died a life where he succeeded his dream. Other people say that this human sacrifice was unsafe and that no one knows about it since even the doctors told Charlie not to tell anyone that he was getting the surgery. Well, that is not true. “All human exposure studies conducted by EPA scientists are independently evaluated for safety and ethics, and the results are peer-reviewed. EPA is committed to ensuring the protection of study participants.” (Watchdog: EPA human test subjects not always told about lethal risks of studies, page 32). So not only was it safe but, it was also evaluated by other

His intelligence and memory towards the end was worse then when he started. While Charlie's intelligence was increasing, he started to lose respect and trust of Dr. Strauss and Prof. Nemur. One of the goals that psychologist have is to create trustworthy relationship with their clients, and I feel like Dr. Strauss and Prof. Nemur both failed at this because they didn’t wait long enough to see the results on Algernon to see if the procedure was effective and permanent. They did not resolve Charlie’s problem with little or no harm. They put him through some very intense emotional and mental changes throughout the three months that Charlie went through.