Bioethics after the terror

Bioethics as a field has been fortunate that its values and concerns have mirrored the values and concerns of society. In light of the September 11th attacks, it is possible that we are witnessing the beginning of a transition in American culture, one fraught with implications for bioethics. The emphasis on autonomy and individual rights may come to be tempered by greater concern over the collective good. Increased emphasis on solidarity over autonomy could greatly alter public response to research abuses aimed at defense from bioterrorism, to privacy of genetic information, and to control of private medical resources to protect the public health.     

优巴斯关于国际生命伦理学的宣言

生命科学和医学科学提出了许多有关教育、伦理、法律和社会的重要问题,这些问题需要从本地、本国、国际等不同层面加以考虑。在第七次及以前历次筑波国际生命伦理学圆桌会议的讨论结束之后,在《优巴斯亚洲及国际生命伦理学杂志》陈述了其目标之后,在该杂志上的不同观点争论了十年之后,优巴斯伦理研究所和在本宣言上签名的人士,希望对国际生命伦理学强调下述原则：     

人本主义与生命伦理学

任何社会、任何历史阶段 ,人性论都是医学伦理观建立的基础 ,这应该是毋庸置疑的。我国古代医学伦理观的基础是儒家的性善论 ,西方近代医学伦理观的基础是西方近代人性论 ,现代西方生命伦理学的基础就是现代西方人本主义文化思想。因为任何时代的医学家、伦理学家都是在受一定社会文化环境的影响而成长起来的 ,他们对医德伦理问题的思考或多或少受当时人文文化的熏陶 ,而有其所处时代的文化烙印。正如西方著名文化学学者兰德曼所说 :任何时代、任何人都不可能不受其文化环境的影响 ,“文化如同人体内的血管系统是属于人的一部分 ,而血管里流…     

Bioethics reformation style

The Hippocratic model is inadequate because it is too paternalistic, argues Rebecca D. Pentz in her response to Cameron. Instead, we would do well to think of the patient/doctor relationship in Reformation terms, using the pastor/congregation relationship as a model. Rejecting Hippocratic paternalism is not tantamount to an assertion of absolute autonomy; it entails patient responsibility, shared with the physician.     

Honoring the Bios in Lutheran Bioethics

Abstract:  A Lutheran bioethic honors the body by being anti‐Gnostic (and finding moral wisdom in the body's limits), by being anti‐Pelagian (and requiring the reshaping of our disordered desires), and by being anti‐Sadducean (in affirming that the new creation, though continuous with and fulfilling the old, also transforms and perfects it in ways that go beyond the earthly life we know). Such an approach to bioethics is illustrated here through discussion of the way in which new reproductive technologies may distort our understanding of the relation between the generations, thereby losing sight of the bios in bioethics.     

Bioethics and the marginalization of mental illness

This paper explores why ethical issues associated with mental illness have been generally neglected in the literature and texts of the discipline of bioethics. I argue that the reasons for this are both philosophical and structural, involving the philosophical framework of principlism in bioethics, in particular the privileging of the principle of autonomy, and the institutional location and disciplinary boundaries of bioethics as a profession. Other contributing factors include developments outside of bioethics, in medicine and law and in the delivery patterns and funding sources of mental health services, and above all the pervasive stigma that attaches to mental illness. My goal is to show both how the attention bioethics could bring would benefit this neglected area of health care, and why attending to the issues surrounding mental illness would benefit bioethics in meeting its professional obligations as the public voice on matters of ethical significance in health care.