Equity and Trusts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Equity and Trusts - Essay Example for the administration of the law of equity.2 The principle of Equity was developed as a result of the hash outcome as a result of rigid application in the common law rules.3 Equity is referred to as fairness and was a powerful source of law because this overcame problems found in the common law. This gives people more appropriate remedies than in common law. Over the years, equity has evolved which brings out the question of it has become more relaxed now than before. This essay takes a look at the development of the law to trust and equity from the common law. It then takes a look at trust, in particular the discretionary trusts, how it has developed and analyzing if the law has become more relaxed now as opposed to before the decision made in the case of McPhail v Doulton. Since the introduction of common law, decisions were applied strictly and they were unfair. During the early days, there were not many remedies for people and the Chancery rule prevailed. Because of the many weaknesses experienced, there was the introduction of equity. Equity is based on the consciousness where the court correct errors found in the law in order to ease the conscience of individuals. Equity is discretionary and acts as a supplement to the common law and therefore, does not contradict it. A trust is an obligation where the property right grows from. Trust can be defined as a creature of equity.4 Trust was developed centuries ago and incorporated different types like discretionary trust and the fixed trust. Under the fixed trust, also known as â€Å"an interest in possession†, the share of a property under trust in which a beneficiary is to receive is fixed into the trust instrument.5 The interests of the beneficiaries are determined at the outset. In this type of trust, the trustee has the obligation to dispose the property under trust as per the terms of the trust which is not the case under the discretionary trust where the trustee may have some discretion on the exact value

Training and Developing Paper Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Training and Developing Paper - Research Proposal Example s training courses; although training courses are important, your training and education will be designed to also encompass in-house mentoring, work-based learning, reflective practice and shadowing. The healthcare industry is constantly evolving as new advances in medicine are discovered. As such, employees should constantly make good use of training and education so as to adequately prepare themselves for these changes (McConnell & Fallon, 2013). The threat of legal action leveled against professionals in the healthcare industry is increasing. It is important for you as newly recruited employees to continually undergo training that will keep you updated on any new legal developments that might be directly affecting you as professionals. Competencies are basically the eventual outcomes of the training and education process. It is important to measure your competences as individual employees in the organization as these measures will be a crucial indicator of your ability to perform definite tasks in a fashion that will eventually yield desirable outcomes. As new employees, it is important for you to understand that having high levels of competency basically implies that you are successfully able to apply skills, knowledge and abilities to new situations. It is important for organizations to assess organizational and individual competencies performance so as to assess the efficiency of the services that we are able to provide to patients. Healthcare organizations are singularly responsible for the overall quality of care they provide, as such, the assessment of competencies helps the organization in the determination of whether there is any need to design and implement new training programs aimed at improving the organization’s performance (Kelly & Vottero, 2014). Reaction: During this stage, participants hand in feedback questionnaires, they are also encouraged to provide any informal feedback that they believe is of importance. This information is

James Hutton - Important Figures in Earth Science Essay

James Hutton - Important Figures in Earth Science - Essay Example But he did not take to geology right at the beginning of his career as he entered legal profession as an apprentice in a law firm. But enamored with chemistry as he was at that stage, he spent more time in trying to find how sal ammoniac could be processed from coal soot. It was only natural that his employers were not amused by this and he was asked to leave. He found refuge in medicine as it bore close affinity with chemistry and at twenty three years of age got an MD degree from Holland. By this time, his forays into manufacturing sal ammoniac became commercially viable and he forsook medicine for this opportunity. He returned to Scotland and started pursuing this venture in full earnest till he earned enough fortune within the next three years to retire from it and settle in Edinburgh for pursuing his scientific interests as a full time engagement. He started reading and travelling extensively and submitted his observations in the form two papers at Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1785. When these papers were published three years later in 1788, they altered forever the face of geological science (Scott, 2009). His theory, commonly referred to as unformitariansim, postulates that all observable geological phenomena of the world have been uniformly repeating themselves over long periods of time.

Issues and help seeking behavior Essay Example for Free

Issues and help seeking behavior Essay According to Fallon and Bowles (1999) the area of adolescent help seeking behaviour is an under-researched area. Since the cognitive and critical thinking of adolescents are still developing, their behaviours toward issues concern them may vary case by case. The purpose of this report was to investigate issues concern adolescents and their help seeking behaviour toward those issues, especially seek professional helps. The report analysis was based on secondary information obtained from various researchers by scholars. The participants in the researchers were students with different demographic background, such as gender, ethnicities. Fallon et al (1999) investigated the major and minor problems concerned the adolescents and their help seeking behaviours toward those problems. The major problems were identified to be more severe and would cause participants distress, while minor problems would not distress the participants. The participants were 1,022 secondary school students from Melbourne Metropolitan area, 585 of them were male, and 419 were female. Total 297 of them were in year 7 and 8, 333 were in year 9 and 10, others were in year 11 and 12. Their ages ranged from 11 to 18 years. Each of the participants completed a survey comprised of three parts to define the adolescents concerns and help seeking behaviours. The first part contained demographic questions. The second part  contained mainly rating and categorizing questions to identify the major problems of concerns, nature of the concerns, and sources of help to the concerns. While the third part focused on the minor concerns. The nature of the both concerns was defined into five categories, family, interpersonal, health, education and others. And the sources of help were in the domain of friends, parents and professionals. The findings show that problems concerns different levels of students were very similar. About 50% of the participants sought help for their major problems, 40% sought for minor problems and 25% would seek help for both problems. The problems associated with family and interpersonal skills were often identified as major issues. For minor issues, family and education problems were frequently reported. Therefore the adolescents would differentiate major and minor problems and react differently toward the problems. For major problems, females were more willing to see k help than males, but there was no gender difference towards minor problems. And males preferred to ask parents and rather than friends, while females were inversely. However, on both minor and major problems, respondents were preferred to seek help from parents and friends over professionals, this may probably due to the easy access to nonprofessional sources. Gim, Atkinson, and Whiteley (1990) conducted an investigation which focuses on the issues concerns Asian-American and the relationship between acculturation and willingness to see a counsellor. The study was down through 816 Asian-American students from West Coast University. 399 of the respondents were male, 417 were female. And 291 of them were freshmen, 191 were junior, 159 were sophomores, 174 were seniors, which ranged in an age group of 16 to 37. The survey questionnaire comprised of three sections. The respondents were asked to report their demographic information and rate the seriousness of 24 issues in eight domains of concern and their wiliness to see counsellors on these concerns. Among the 24 issues, the respondents scaled highly for issues like financial, academic, relationship, conflicts with parents. The results show that for those Asia Americans, they were most willing to seek counsellors for issues like financial, academic, career, but least willing to seek help about concerns such as ethnic identity confusion, roommate, and health. The respondents attitudes towards seeking counsellors would be affected by acculturation, ethnicity, and gender. Asian Americans with higher level of acculturation would be more willing to seek  professional counsellors. In a similar study, Kim and Omizo (2003) generated respondents of 242 Asian American college students from mid-Atlantic and Hawaii universities ,140 of them were female and 102 were male, with an age range of 18 to 57 years. Fifty-nine of the respondents had had sought counselling before. And there were mainly from China, Korea, Philippines, and Japan. Similar conclusion was obtained that Asian Americans who were highly adhered to Asian cultural values, their attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help would be less positive and they were less willing to seek counsellors in general problems. But the sample size of the Kim and Omizo (2003) was relatively small, which may not be a strong support. In another research Eisenberg, Golverstein and Gollust (20 07) investigated the help-seeking behaviour and access to mental health service. The participants are students from Midwestern, public university. The initial sample size was 5,021 students aged above 18 years. And 2,495 were undergraduates, the remaining were graduate and professional students. Since the survey was web-based, total 2,785 students completed the survey and their demographic profile was similar to national student population. The survey used Patient Health Questionnaire-9(PHQ-9) as the key measure to identify the symptoms of depression. The result shows that 15% of Students obtained psychotherapy or psychotropic medication. About 50% respondents aware that there was free counselling service on campus and where to access the mental health care. Among participants who experienced major depression, only 36% received treatment which demonstrated a low level usage of cheap university medical service. For students who did not seek help, they often held the perception that stress was normal in school, or did not realise there is a need, or having the thou ght that problems would get better as time goes by. Limitations of the research include the reliability of web survey results and the survey ignored the informal sources of help like friends and family. The investigations above all show that female is more open to seek help for issues concerns them, however, comes to the issue of dating violence, male perpetrators and victims were more likely to seek help than female (Ashley Foshee, 2005). Ashley et al investigated the adolescents help-seeking behaviour and helping sources when experienced of dating violence. The analysis was based on secondary data collected in a longitudinal study of adolescent dating violence. A sample size of 365 out  of 1814 survey participants collected in 1996 was chosen in their investigation. There were 225 dating violence victims and 140 perpetrators and all the participants were public school students from rural North Carolina country. The results show that over 60% respondents did not seek help for dating violence, especially perpetrators. Among those w ho sought help, friends and family members were more frequently chosen as their help sources than professionals. But males were more willing to seek professional help than females. The possible reasons are higher social acceptance to male hitting female than female hitting male and male will cause more serious and dangerous consequences in the dating violence than female. The findings also demonstrate that older perpetrators were more likely to seek help than younger ones. Researchers suggested that as the adolescent mature, they may have in-depth cognitive on dating violence and the potential consequences of their behaviour which compelling them to seek help. In conclusion, issues concerns or distress adolescents will vary due to their levels of education, gender, ethicises, age, nationality. And adolescents issues usually fall in the domains of family, interpersonal, education, and health. Most of them are not willing to seek help, especially male. But for certain issues, like dating violence, male are more willing to seek help. Easy accessibility made informal sources of help like friends and family common and popular than professional counsellors when adolescents experienced psychological issues. The other reasons cause low frequency of counselling professional help will be like social norms, lack cognition or unaware of benefits from professional help. So the society should promote more benefits of professional counselling and increase the acceptance of it. For adolescents, they are still at growing stage, abilities like perceptions, cognitions, abstract thinking are also developing. It is very important to guide them have a positive thinking of seeking professional help when facing issues concern them, in the end, may also help them develop a positive attitudes in their lives. References Ashley, O. S., Foshee, V. A. (2005). Adolescent help-seeking for dating violence:prevalence, sociodemographic correlates, and sources of help_. Journal of Adolescent Health 36,_ 25-31. Eisenberg, D., Golverstein, E., Gollust, E. (2007). Help-seeking and access to mental health care in a university student population. _Medical Care. 45 (7)._ Fallon, B. J., Bowles, T. (1999). Adolescent help-seeking for major and minor problems. _Australian Journal of Psychology, 51 (1),_ 12-18. Gim, R. H., Atkinson, D. R., Whiteley, S. (1990). Asian-American acculturation, severity of problems, and willingness to see a counselor. _Journal of Counseling Psychology, 37 (3)_, 281-285. Kim, B. S., Omizo, M. M. (2003). Asian culture values, attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, and willingness to seek a counsellor. _THE COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGIST, 31 (3),_ 343-361.

Ethical Dilemmas Faced by Nurses and Other Healthcare Professionals Ess

The role of ethics in organizational behavior is the underlying factor to the success and longevity of any organization. A set of rules and guidelines focusing on promoting safety, trust, and responsible practice within the workplace must be established internally. Organizations develop code of ethics that center upon the promotion of good. Ethics are vital in developing trusting relationships between employees and administration within. A code of ethics highlights the responsibility and accountability standards of each and every employee within the organization. These codes are also motivating factors that guide the employees’ behavior, set the standard regarding ethical conduct, and build an organizations trustworthiness within their surroundings. (McShane, Gilnow, 2012). The role of ethics in organizational behavior can negatively or positively impact an entire healthcare entity. If employees are educated on the importance of practicing ethically at all times, and the organization as a whole operates unethically displayed values of an organization are then in question. Before employees can begin to practice ethically the organizational foundation of standard must be rooted. Every individual regardless of position should be held accountable for their actions. Healthcare organizations are very influential and play an active role within the community. The decisions of a healthcare organization can easily sway the community’s perspective and damage developed relationships. The community is the heart of any healthcare organization. Consumers come from within the community, and if they seek elsewhere a healthcare organization can falter. Employees may feel better connected to an organization that values and appreciates their... ...are. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Retrieved November 14, 2013. Lin, M. Chuen-Teng, H. Hsien-Hsein, C. Ching-Huey, C. (2012). Exploring ethical aspects of elective surgery patients’decision-making experiences . Nursing Ethics. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy024.nclive.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9be8d4ae-586e-4f0b-8ab4-bec5ae12910b%40sessionmgr13&vid=3&hid=115. Retrieved November 17, 2013. McShane, S. Von Glinow. (2013). Organizational Behavior 6th Edition. McGraw Hill. New York, NY. Field, M; Lo, B. (2009). Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice. The National Academies. . Retrieved November 1, 2013.

The Character of Pearl in Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter Essay

The Scarlet Letter:   Pearl  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Children are incredibly sensitive and can sense almost any emotion of an adult by observing body language and facial expressions. Such is the case with the youthful Pearl from the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. As the daughter of the adulteress Hester Prynne, the townspeople view Pearl as a demon in an angel’s clothing; who not only knows exactly what the letter "A" signifies on the bosom of her mother, but as the demon who placed it there, as well. The townspeople believe that Pearl uses this information against Hester by constantly mentioning the letter in order to make Hester extremely uncomfortable. This belief of the townspeople is certainly not supported by the following dialogue. " ‘Nay, mother, I have told all I know,’ said Pearl more seriously than she was wont to speak†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢But is good earnest now, mother dear, what does this scarlet letter mean?- and why dost thou wear it in thy bosom?- and why does the minister keep his hand over his heart?’ She took her mother’s hand in both her own, and gazed into her eyes with an earnestness that was seldom seen in her wild and capricious character." (Hawthorne 164)    This dialogue does not seem to be the words of a demon, but of a child who is utterly curious about what the letter "A" on her mother’s bosom means. One should not underestimate Pearl’s intelligence. Pearl is not the demon many townspeople consider her to be; instead she is intelligent and sensitive towards her surroundings and can understand much about the scarlet letter Hester wears. "The neighboring townspeople†¦ had given out that poor little Pearl was a demon offspring; such as ever since old Catholic times had occasionally bee... ...tions lead a reader to realize that she does see a link between Hester’s letter and Dimmesdale’s habit of covering his heart with his hand, although she does not know what this connection is. Pearl is an amazing child and perhaps one of the few many-sided characters in the novel. Although some readers of this novel may not care to read between the lines and see beyond the labeling of demon, the true Pearl is completely different from this stereotype. The real Pearl, the inquisitive, intelligent, and beautiful creature that she is, becomes the symbol for salvation in this novel. Pearl may be the product of sin and "filthiness", yet she possesses traits that make her an amazing child. Indeed, Pearl is the rosebush which grows near the prison door: she is the one bright spot the prisoners of this novel see as they peer through the small windows of their confinement.

History of Eugenics: How Those in Power Shape the Perfect Human Essay

Eugenics, the study of hereditary traits with the aim of producing an ideal human, and â€Å"on a societal level, programs that control human reproduction with the intent of changing the genetic structureof the population†, (Lewis, 299) are not a new concept. The history of eugenics reaches as far back as 400 B. C. , and extends to dates as recent as 1994. From Athens to Sparta, United States to Germany and China, the quest to improve the human race has spanned the world. ‘Improve’, however, is a highly subjective term. Who decides what an ideal human looks like? And what are the appropriate ways to build a race of such people? The answers to these questions have changed throughout the centuries. People considered ‘ideal’ by the eugenics program in one culture would be scheduled to be euthanized as ‘undesirable’ in another culture a few centuries later. Upon reviewing the history of eugenics, it becomes apparent that the section of a society in power at a particular time in history, usually seeks to eliminate those least like themselves, in order to impose not only their values, but their very phenotype on society at large. The first written accounts of eugenics reach back to 386 B. C. In his work â€Å"The Republic†, a description and plan for an Utopia, or ‘ideal society’, the Athenian philosopher Plato is said to have written that procreation should be controlled by the state. Through a state-sponsored selection of mates, â€Å"race would be strengthened by improved children†. (â€Å"Life of Plato†). Men aged 30-45 would be allowed to reproduce, as well as women aged 20-40. Any child born in violation of these laws would be abandoned outside the walls of the city. Some of Plato’s ideas had already been put into action in Sparta, around 431 BC. In line with the concept of ‘Eunomia’, weak male infants were left to die on slopes of Mt. Taygetus. (â€Å"The true story†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) â€Å"The Spartans practiced an uncompromising genetics programme. Newborn babies were raised only if healthy and perfect, so as not to be a burden to the state and to ensure genetic up-breeding. † (â€Å"Leonidas the Spartan†). It is worthy of noting that the Spartans were Greeks- with olive skin, dark curling hair, and brown eyes. To them, physical fitness was more important than moral virtues: â€Å"Sparta was hardly famous for chaste women,† according to Euripides, a then-contemporary writer. â€Å"Leonidas†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) The ideal person was a strong, fit male, and a woman who could reproduce often, bearing healthy children. This ideal was written into law by the Spartan King Leonidas, and adhered to until the eventual fall of the Spartan city-state. The next worldwide resurgence of eugenics occurred in the Victorian era. In 1863, Britain’s Sir Francis Galton, who was a cousin of Charles Darwin, coined the term ‘eugenics. ’ (Lewis, 300). He theorized that the mating of two talented people would produce better offspring. (â€Å"Eugenics Timeline†). His ideas rapidly spread to the United States and Germany. The concept of selective mating to achieve the elimination of undesirable traits became popular. â€Å"Stanford President David Starr Jordan originated the notion of â€Å"race and blood† in his 1902 racial epistle â€Å"Blood of a Nation,† in which the university scholar declared that human qualities and conditions such as talent and poverty were passed through the blood. † (Black, Edwin. ) Soon after, in 1907, the US state of Indiana passed the world’s first mandatory sterilization law. (Smith, pg. 36-137). The aim of the law was to prevent the birth of children which might inherit such undesirable traits as ‘criminality, mental defects and feeble-mindedness’. In 1911, the â€Å"Preliminary Report of the Committee of the Eugenic Section of the American Breeder’s Association to Study and to Report on the Best Practical Means for Cutting Off the Defective Germ-Plasm in the Human Population†, a venture which was supported by Andrew Carnegie, one of the greatest philanthropists of that era, listed 18 solutions to resolve this problem. Number Eight was euthanasia of undesirables. A gas chamber was suggested as a possible option. (Black, Edwin). In 1918, Paul Popenoe wrote a widely used textbook, â€Å"Applied Eugenics†, which again recommended euthanasia: â€Å"From an historical point of view, the first method which presents itself is execution†¦ Its value in keeping up the standard of the race should not be underestimated. â€Å"(Black, Edwin). We may be tempted to believe that euthanasia as a form of genetic control never came to be used in the United States, but this is not the case. At the ame time Popenoe propagated his ideas, a mental institution in Lincoln, Illinois had a policy of feeding incoming patients milk from tuberculosis-infected cows. It was thought that an ‘eugenically strong’ individual would be immune. The institution had a 30-40% death rate of incoming patients. (Black, Edwin. ) But those deemed insane were only the first on the long list of people considered ‘genetically inferior’. They were closely followed by those deemed ‘feeble-minded’ or ‘licentious’. Most recent immigrants fell into the first group- IQ tests of the time determined that the average immigrant had a â€Å"moron-grade† intelligence level. Smith, John David. pg. 161) IQ was considered an innate characteristic, something that was definite, unchangeable and inheritable. Nevermind the fact that the IQ tests were administered in what usually the immigrants’ second language, by untrained secretaries or other flunkies , and skewed to favor Americans of ‘Nordic’ descent. Because of economic hardship during those times, many people in power sought to limit the tide of immigrants- which were coming mostly from Eastern European countries, as well as Italy. Eugenecists and their wealthy supporters shared an antipathy for [†¦] class struggle†, and considered ‘poverty’ another inheritable trait. In this way, they could successfully â€Å"blame the victims for their own problems†. (Allen, Garland E. â€Å"Social Origins of Eugenics†. ) Jews and Gypsies, in addition to African-Americans, were also considered of inferior genetic stock, because they did not represent the Nordic phenotype ideal that was most similar to those in the ‘ruling class’. Eugenic tests were conducted to support this agenda. The results were mostly skewed, and sometimes, as in the now-infamous Kalikak study, altogether manufactured. The Kalikak study was the basis of a book written in 1914 by Henry Goddard, titled â€Å"Feeblemindedness: Its Causes and Consequences. † The book became very influential, and led to many states adopting laws for the forcible sterilization of ‘feebleminded’ individuals, and other undesirable traits shuch as being ‘passionate’ or ‘sexually wayward’. In Sonoma, California, some women were sterilized because of ‘abnormally large clitoris or labia’, which doctors thought may lead to licentious behavior! Black, Edwin. ) Rapists and similar criminals were generally not subjected to sterilization; instead, most of the sterilized were women. It quickly becomes apparent that the less-than-ideal traits in the United States in this age were: being promiscuous, socially dependent, or from a non-Nordic country. These qualities are quite different from those considered undesirable a few centuries earlier, by the Athenians and Spartans. The spread of eugenics continued, from the United States to Germany. Germany was undergoing great economic hardship after WWI, and Hitler’s proclamation that they were of a superior ‘Germanic’ or ‘Aryan’ race and thus entitled to more of the world’s resources was very well received. In 1924, Hitler espoused his version of eugenics in his book ‘Mein Kampf’. Hitler even wrote a fan letter to US eugenics leader Madison Grant, calling Grant’s book ‘The Passing of the Great Race’ his ‘bible’. (Black, Edwin. ) Hitler’s ideas corresponded to the American eugenecists concepts of the superiority of a White Race. In the US, marriage between Whites and Blacks was forbidden by law in many states, with the aim of keeping the ‘superior’ White race ‘pure’. In fact, inter-racial marriage did not become universally legal in the United States until 1967. Because of their similar outlooks, American and Nazi eugenicists often corresponded and shared research. John D. Rockefeller even donated $410,000 ($4 million by today’s standards) to German researchers for eugenics research. The ‘research’ was done on Jews, Gypsies and others. In 1932, the Rockefeller Foundation gave additional funds for the Germans’ research on twins and â€Å"substances toxic to germ plasm†. In other words, human testing of lethal substances, or those causing infertility. As eugenics research continued, so did the collaboration of German and American scientists- in 1934 there was even a Nazi display in LA, for the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. (Black, Edwin). The Germans seized upon the American idea of sterilization of undesirables, and by 1934, were sterilizing 5,000 people per month. By 1939, they had moved on to euthanizing 5,000 children with birth defects or mental retardation, followed by 70,000 ‘unfit’ adults. (Lewis, Ricky. pg 300) As WWII swept over Europe and Hitler gained control of more lands, his armies and his doctors embarked on a quest of purging the lands of their native, ‘inferior’ populations. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, â€Å"in 1933, there were approximately 9 million Jews in Europe. By 1945, the Nazis had reduced that number to about 3 million. Roma (Gypsies) were also sent to the concentration camps, resulting in about 200,000 Gypsy deaths. Physically and mentally handicapped, homosexuals, and Polish intellectuals accounted for at least another 200,000. This totals about 6,400,000 victims of the concentration camps. The Nazis also killed between 2 and 3 million Soviet prisoners in labor camps or executions. Added to this toll should be the non-Jewish Poles and Soviets sent to forced labor who died due to malnutrition, unsafe work conditions, disease and â€Å"experimentation. † The experimentation in question was most notably conducted by Josef Mengele, an eugenicist who arrived in 1943 in Auschwitz. His aim was to conduct ‘anthropological testing’, which involved gruesome torture of his subjects. (Black, Edwin. ) Once again, the prerogatives of the class in power influenced the eugenics movement, by seeking ways to eliminate those not fitting the ‘Aryan’ ideal, which included men and women who were tall, blonde and blue-eyed, and of the ‘pure’ Germanic stock. After World War II, eugenics was declared ‘a crime against humanity’. (Black, Edwin. ) The American eugenics movement was renamed â€Å"human genetics† in 1949, and many of the same scientists continued their research. Meanwhile in Germany, Mengele’s boss and mentor became a dean of a university, and a member of the American Society of Human Genetics. The eugenics movement, though renamed, was not extinct. Eugenics laws were passed as recently as 1994 in China. â€Å"The Maternal and Infant Health Care Law’ proposed to â€Å"ensure the quality of the newborn population† and forbid procreation between two people if physical exams show ‘genetic disease of a serious nature’† including mental illness, seizures and other conditions that were ill-defined and not necessarily inherited. (Lewis, Ricky. g. 300) Given the oppression, infanticide, forced sterilization and genocide that resulted from humans’ attempts at eugenics over the course of history, it is difficult to see any positive aspects of the concept. Because the ruling class determines the ‘desirability’ of superior traits, any benefit to mankind in general is doubtful- the perceived benefit to some comes at the price of the suffering and death of many. Overall, eugenics seems to seek to negatively impact genetic diversity, which has long been a quality that has facilitated the survival of mankind. The presence of eugenics in modern times is the subject of much debate. Some interpret the assistance given to infertile couples in modern times as a form of eugenics, but this is hardly the case. These are merely the attempts of individual people to have a baby which looks like them, to fulfill their dreams of having a family. No one is paying them to reproduce any supposedly-superior genes (‘positive eugenics’), or trying to limit their reproductive rights (‘negative eugenics’), (Lewis, Ricky. g. 299) There is also the matter of the genetic research into the Human Genome, and by extension, into inherited genetic diseases. However, this research aims to limit human suffering, is non-invasive for the patient and leaves all decisions to the parents of the potentially-affected offspring. None of the aspects of ‘negative eugenics’, such as sterilization of the parents or the abortion of the fetus are mandated by any law, and any government at this time. Nonetheless, human rights activists and all citizens must remain alert, lest the ghost of eugenics should rear its ugly head again. Genetic history should never be a matter of public record, and a person’s genes should never be the basis of discrimination against them. Federal genetic anti-discrimination legislation was finalized in the US in 2008, and it is hoped that other countries will follow suit. We must always remember the injustices committed in the past, in the name of ‘creating the ideal human’, and strive to prevent them in the future.