The information website of bioethicist Dr. M. Sara Rosenthal

Bioethics

Bioethics is the philosophical study of the ethical controversies brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, philosophy, and theology. The following text is a good general introduction to the field of bioethics that was posted to Wikipedia. For the complete entry, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioethics

An Early History

Although bioethical issues have been debated since ancient times, and public attention briefly focused on the role of human subjects in biomedical experiments following the revelation of Nazi atrocities during World War II, the modern field of bioethics first emerged as an academic discipline in the 1960s. Technological advances in such diverse areas as organ transplantation and end-of-life care, including the development of kidney dialysis and respirators, posed novel questions regarding when and how care might be withdrawn. These questions often fell upon philosophers and religious scholars, but by the 1930s, bioethical think tanks and academic bioethics programs emerged. Among the earliest such institutions were the Hastings Center (originally known as The Institute of Society, Ethics and the Life Sciences), founded in 1970 by philosopher Daniel Callahan and psychiatrist Willard Gaylin, and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, established at Georgetown University in 1971. The publication of Principles of Bioethics by James F. Childress and Tom Beauchamp—the first American textbook of bioethics—marked a transformative moment in the discipline.

Purpose & Scope

The field of bioethics addresses a broad swath of human inquiry, ranging from debates over the boundaries of life to the allocation of scarce health care resources (e.g., organ donation, health care rationing) to the right to turn down medical care for religious or cultural reasons. Bioethicists often disagree among themselves over the precise limits of their discipline, debating whether the field should concern itself with the ethical evaluation of all questions involving biology and medicine, or only a subset of these questions. Some bioethicists would narrow ethical evaluation only to the morality of medical treatments or technological innovations, and the timing of medical treatment of humans. Others would broaden the scope of ethical evaluation to include the morality of all actions that might help or harm organisms capable of feeling fear and pain, and include within bioethics all such actions if they bear a relation to medicine and biology. However, most bioethicists share a commitment to discussing these complex issues in an honest, civil and intelligent way, using tools from the many different disciplines that "feed" the field to produce meaningful frameworks for analysis.

Principles

One of the first areas addressed by modern bioethicists was that of human experimentation. The National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research was initially established in 1974 to identify the basic ethical principles that should underlie the conduct of biomedical and behavioral research involving human subjects. However, the fundamental principles announced in the Belmont Report (1979)--namely, autonomy, beneficence and justice--have influenced the thinking of bioethicists across a wide range of issues. Others have added non-maleficence, human dignity and the sanctity of life to this list of cardinal values.

Clinical Ethics

Clinical ethics looks at ethical issues and dilemmas in the patient care setting, which may involve patients, family members, the doctor-patient relationship or clinical colleagues. Examples of clinical ethics issues include: confidentiality in the clinical setting, diminished capacity to consent, informed consent, surrogacy issues, advanced directives, withdrawal or refusal of treatment, and end-of-life decision-making. These issues can be complicated by a variety of socio-economic, cultural or language barriers. The Journal of Clinical Ethics is written for and by physicians, nurses, attorneys, clergy, ethicists, and others whose decisions directly affect patients.

Additonal Information

The following websites provide additional information about the field of bioethics.