Date: September 21st, 2120
Officiator: Ethics Committee Liaison Atlas Keystone
Case Request By: Doctor Ariane Aloices
<BEGIN LOG>
Keystone: The Ethics Committee will now hear the case of Doctor Aloices regarding SCP-4206 and SCP-4206-1. Case number is EC-1298-ZR. Doctor Aloices, please take the podium.
[Multiple members of the council speak amongst themselves.]
Keystone: Silence, please. Allow Doctor Aloices to present her case.
Aloices: Good afternoon, Mr. Keystone, and members of the Ethics Committee. You already know why I am here, so I will cut to the chase. This is just unsustainable. By the year 2200, they aren't going to be able to grow organs back at any rate that comes even close to keeping up with what the demand will be. Last time I was here you told me that the current 10-year plan involved researching body augments. Here we are. I still don't see augments everywhere. What's the new plan?
Keystone: Transhumanism is the only long-term solution in this scenario. If there is no further need for organs, there is no further need to keep subjecting the objects to repeat invasive surgery. Anderson Robotics have made astounding advancements in their Buteo Suits, and until we can fully replicate and mass produce that technology, things will have to continue as they are.
Keystone: Ugh, you all have your eyes set so far in the future you don't see what's happening in the present. I know we can't euthanize them but we can at least make their miserable lives slightly less miserable by not cutting into them every five minutes.
Keystone: They provide the Foundation a valuable resource, one that will help the individuals on the full-body augment suit program healthy until-
Aloices: They can't keep up with this! Their scars aren't even healed by the time we have to cut them open again, and we can't even put them under!
Keystone: I understand your outrage, Doctor. It is not easy to see a patient in pain, much less one as endearing as a canine. I know anesthesia doesn't work, but local anesthetics do their job well, correct?
Aloices: But they're still awake. They start kicking and screaming the moment they smell their own blood. Do you know the torment this is putting them through? Do you know the torment this is putting my staff through?
Keystone: Psychiatric personnel are readily available in the Site's medical wing. From what I understand, you and your team have frequently used their facilities. I wish we had the means to supply the objects with similar care, but… We simply do not have them.
Aloices: And I keep coming back here. Shouldn't that tell you something is ethically wrong here? Shouldn't you be doing your god damned jobs?
Keystone: Doctor Aloices, rest assured that the Ethics Committee is doing its job. We are ensuring that the short term needs of the Foundation and its personnel are met with as little negative impact to said personnel while at the same time not compromising our longterm goals. We have analyzed every possible solution to this problem.
Aloices: And sti—
Keystone: I am not finished speaking. We have analyzed every possible solution to this problem ever since you first laid this before us and deem the current circumstances the most ethical. It is not pretty, it is not pleasant, but it is this the unfortunate truth.
Aloices: If this is the most ethical, what the hell are your other options?
Keystone: Well, Doctor Aloices, let's examine your very own suggestion.
[Aloices scoffs.]
Keystone: Let's see here. If I am understanding your proposal, you are suggesting we clone the specific body parts necessary on an as-needed basis. Is this correct?
Aloices: What's the point? You're just going to brush me off without an answer.
Keystone: No, no. I figured you would be bringing this same point up again today. I keep track of these things, you know. This is the third time you've brought this exact same proposal. I know this because there is a misspelling in the second paragraph on the first page. Anyways, as for your answer. Though the Foundation currently possesses the means by which to clone living organisms, creating organs from nothing is an unreliable practice.
Aloices: But it can be done.
Keystone: It would require extraneous human testing and a living host to properly create. Plus, do you know how long it would take to grow a fully functioning adult human organ in a controlled environment?
Aloices: Elucidate me.
Keystone: Years, Doctor. We may have all the time in the world, but putting two people through suffering for the better part of a decade just to spare your wolves and surgical staff a few hours of pain is not ethical.
Aloices: But the technology to make it faster and easier can be achieved if you would just focus funding into researching it!
Keystone: That is a possibility, yes.
Aloices: Is it not worth pursuing then?
Keystone: What we would be pursuing is the possibility of it being achievable. There is no guarantee. We know SCP-4206-1 work. That is why we have decided to continue their use despite the unfortunate implications.
Aloices: That's hardly ethical.
[15 seconds of silence.]
Keystone: I hate to be curt with you, but you were not hired to worry about what is and what is not ethical. You were hired to oversee the organ harvesting process of SCP-4206-1, a duty I suggest you busy yourself with. Furthermore, I would suggest you no longer attempt to file further cases regarding this same topic, as it is eating away at the Committee's time. I don't want to threaten disciplinary action, but I'm afraid I have few means left of discouraging you. I am sorry we cannot help you further at this time.
Aloices: You know, I remember when one would have to sign a document and get it approved by a medical doctor and an ethics committee liaison before an organ harvest request could be scheduled. What makes it okay to disregard prior procedure?
Keystone: You and I both know this isn't the same world anymore. Things change, and things will continue to change.
Aloices: Unbelievable.
Keystone: Oh, one more thing. Happy 153rd birthday, Doctor Aloices.
[Aloices leaves the podium.]
<END LOG>
