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An Introduction To Bioethics

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24 views4 pages

An Introduction To Bioethics

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dane aymen
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An Introduction to Bioethics

BASIC NOTIONS OF BIOETHICS

ETHICS / MORAL
 The oldest scientific and philosophical discipline
 ? Demarcation: science / subject
ethics moral
(gr. ethos = custom, (lat. mos = character,
practice) nature)
- Ethics – discipline about moral or philosophy on moral
- Moral – system of norms or rules, written or not, about human behavior

Ethics is a philosophical discipline about moral problems, deals with art of living
Types of Ethics:
 Professional Ethics: Obligations of the profession
1. Self-regulation
2. Education of self and others

 Medical Ethics:
1. human: medical (in narrow sense) and dental
2. veterinarian
Knowledge, deliberation, understanding of medical practice that should be in perspective of
right, honorable, accurate behavior

Medical Ethics
 a field of applied ethics, the study of moral values and judgments as they apply to
medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical
application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology,
sociology, and anthropology.
Bioethics
 Medical ethics closely related to bioethics (biomedical ethics), but not identical
1. medical ethics focuses primarily on issues arising out of the practice of medicine
2. bioethics: very broad subject, concerned with the moral issues raised by
developments in the biological sciences
3. bioethics does not require the acceptance of certain traditional values that are
fundamental to medical ethics

1
Bioethics
1. branch of applied ethics that studies the philosophical, social, and legal issues arising
in medicine and the life sciences
2. it is chiefly concerned with human life and well-being, though it sometimes also
treats ethical questions relating to the nonhuman biological environment

The term “bioethics” was introduced in the 70’s by Van Rensselaer Potter for a study aiming
at ensuring the preservation of the biosphere.
It was later used to refer a study of the ethical issues arising from health care, biological
and medical sciences.

1. The emergence of this new area of study has been triggered by and a response to the
new scientific/technological developments in biomedical and life sciences.
2. Medical ethics and nursing ethics are more concerned with the ethics of the health
care professionals and their relationship with the patient. Bioethics has a broader
scope.

Some historical examples


1. Abortion
2. Contraception
3. Kidney dialysis machine (Who had the priority?)
4. Organ transplant, artificial ventilator, and brain death
5. In virtro fertilization (IVF)
6. Cloning and stem cell research
7. Genetic engineering

Main topics in Bioethics


1. Death and dying
2. Pre-birth Issues
3. Issues in human reproduction
4. Human cloning
5. Stem cell research
6. The new genetics
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7. Resources allocation
8. Organ transplant
9. Doctor-patient relationships
10.Experimentation with human subjects & animals
11.Human Reproductive Technologies

Ethical considerations in Human Reproductive Technologies:


1. Procreation rights of infertile couples
2. It is unnatural
3. Inequality and exploitation
4. Selling babies?
5. The moral status of extra embryos left over from IVF
6. Definition of parent-child relation
7. Integrity of the family
8. Best interests of the child

Basic Bioethics Principles


 RESPECT for people’s rights
◦ Autonomy (the patient has the right to refuse or choose their treatment.
(Voluntas aegroti suprema lex.)
◦ Dignity (the patient (and the person treating the patient) has the right to
dignity).
 BENEFICENCE: Benefits must be proportionate to risks (a practitioner should act in
the best interest of the patient. (Salus aegroti suprema lex.)
◦ Potential harm = potential good
 JUSTICE: The even distribution of benefits and risks throughout society
 NONMALEFICENCE: Do no harm (primum non nocere)
◦ Experiment must stop if causes harm.

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Decision-making organizations
◦ Internal Review Boards (IRB’s)
◦ President’s Council on Bioethics
 2001
◦ Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee:
 Part of California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)

Hippocrates and Hippocratic Oath

Hippocrates, (born c. 460 BCE, island of Cos, Greece died c. 375 BCE, Larissa, Thessaly),
ancient Greek physician who lived during Greece’s Classical period and is traditionally
regarded as the father of medicine.

With the name of Hippocrates associated idea of high moral character and ethical behavior
pattern doctor.
Hippocratic oath, ethical code adopted as a guide to conduct by the medical profession
throughout the ages and still used in the graduation ceremonies of many medical schools.
In addition to containing information on medical matters, the oath embodied a code of
principles for the teachers of medicine and for their students. This code, or a fragment of it,
has been handed down in various versions through generations of physicians.

Prominent ethical codes


1. Oath of Hippocrates (4th c BC)
2. Nuremberg Code (1947): issue of human experimentation
3. Declaration of Helsinki (1964) (WMA): issue of human experimentation
a. First serious attempt of medical community to regulate itself
4. Declaration of Geneva (1948)
a. Issued as a development on the Oath of Hippocrates
5. CIOMS Guidelines (1993)
a. ‘International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human
Subjects’
6. (CIOMS: the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences)
7. Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (UNESCO; United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation) (2005)

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