Realistic Trolley Problem: Smallpox Test (captioned)

A realistic trolley problem: Should you risk a boy's life to test for immunity?
#Philosophy #trolleyproblem #ethics
Image: A physician inspects the growth of cowpox on a milking maid's hand while a farmer (?) passes another physician a lancet. Coloured etching, c. 1800. By wellcomeimages... wellcomeimages... Collection gallery (2018-03-22): wellcomecollec... CC-BY-4.0, CC BY 4.0, commons.wikime...
Transcript:
You are an English physician in 1796. A colleague believes infection with the harmless cowpox virus may have made his patients immune to the dangerous smallpox virus.
Smallpox is highly contagious and often deadly. If an infection with cowpox really gives immunity against smallpox, many lives could be saved by infecting people with cowpox. You consider testing this theory by infecting a patient first with cowpox and then exposing them to smallpox.
However, doing so would endanger this person’s life. You cannot test the procedure on yourself because you have already survived smallpox and are immune. You search for volunteers, but the only offer is from your gardener who suggests his eight-year-old son.
If you infect the boy with both diseases, you will risk his life but will be able to test the immunization procedure, which might save many lives. If you do not infect the boy, you will not endanger him, but you cannot test the procedure, and people will continue to die of smallpox.
How appropriate is it for you to expose the boy to cowpox and smallpox?

[@brandtgill2601]

Huh this is a difficult one. I mean so long as he deems it likely that the cowpox will stop the infection of Smallpox I would deem the decision justified. The issue lies in that I am trying to reach utility. So if he's wrong he's done a net harm, though one could argue he isn't ethically culpable.
But if he's correct many people are prevented from suffering.
Id say its fairly appropriate to perform the study on the boy.

[@ChristopherAnadale]

Difficult to balance with this unknowns: Whether cowpox grants immunity (in which case exposure is good for the boy and very good for society) or not (bad for the boy, no benefit or harm to society). Also med ethics issue here of doing procedure on patient that is not (just) for the patient's benefit.