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Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Life sciences: general issues > Bio-ethics
As the field of bioethics has matured, increasing attention is being paid to how bioethical issues are treated in different moral and religious traditions and in different parts of the world. It is often difficult, however, to get accurate information about these matters. The Bioethics Yearbook Series provides interested parties with analyses of how such issues as new reproductive techniques, abortion, maternal-fetal conflicts, care of seriously ill newborns, consent, confidentiality, equitable access, cost-containment, withdrawing treatment, active euthanasia, the definition of death, and organ transplantation are being discussed in these different traditions and different parts of the world. The first volume, and every second succeeding volume, will discuss developments in the Anglican, Baptist, Buddhist, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Hindu, Jewish, LDS, Lutheran, Methodist, Muslim, and Presbyterian Traditions. The second volume, and every second volume succeeding it, will discuss official governmental and medical society policies on these topics throughout the world.
In the past few years, an increasing number of colleges and universities have added courses in biomedical ethics to their curricula. To some extent, these additions serve to satisfy student demands for "relevance. " But it is also true that such changes reflect a deepening desire on the part of the academic community to deal effectively with a host of problems which must be solved if we are to have a health-care delivery system which is efficient, humane, and just. To a large degree, these problems are the unique result of both rapidly changing moral values and dramatic advances in biomedical technology. The past decade has witnessed sudden and conspicuous controversy over the morality and legality of new practices relating to abortion, therapy for the mentally ill, experimentation using human subjects, forms of genetic interven tion, and euthanasia. Malpractice suits abound, and astronomical fees for malpractice insurance threaten the very possibility of medical and health-care practice. Without the backing of a clear moral consensus, the law is frequently forced into resolving these conflicts only to see the moral issues involved still hotly debated and the validity of the existing law further questioned. Take abortion, for example. Rather than settling the legal issue, the Supreme Court's original abortion decision in Roe v. Wade (1973), seems only to have spurred further legal debate. And of course, whether or not abortion is a mo rally ac ceptable procedure is still the subject of heated dispute."
Two ofthe most important notions concerning the rights of people with mental illness are among the most neglected: the first is that human rights and duties are complementary and that both must be considered in constructing a framework for mental health care. The second is that we must strive for equity and not only for equality in developing mental health programs. The first ofthese notions is complex. It refers to the duties ofpeople with mental illness and to the duties ofthose who surround them. Mental illness does not liberate the person who has it from civic obligations. The most basic ofthese is to give support to others and to refuse to harm them Their carers, society and the patient's self-respect all gain through their recognition, even though the fulfilment of these obligations might be difficult or impossible in certain periods ofillness. The duty of those surrounding the patients is to recognise and respect their existence and to make the necessary arrangements to respond to their needs, protect their rights and compensate for their temporary or permanent inability to fulfil their civic duties. A society's social capital is the public good that results from the mutual supportofmembers ofa society: iffor one reason or another, some or all members ofa society fail to offer such support the social capital will diminish and the society will cease to be civic.
1.1 Goals 1.1.1 I have two main goals in this book. The first is to give an account of the moral significance of merely possible persons - persons who, relative to a particular 1 circumstance, or possible future or world, could but in fact never do exist. I call that account Variabilism. My second goal is to use Variabilism to begin to address the problem of abortion. 1.1.2 We ought to do the best we can for people. And we consider this obligation to extend to people who are, relative to a world, existing or future. But does it extend to merely possible people as well? And, if it does, then does it extend to making things better for them by way of bringing them into existence? If we say that surely it doesn't, does that then mean that our obligation to do the best we can for people does not, after all, extend to the merely possible - that the merely p- sible do not matter morally? But if the merely possible do not matter morally, then doesn't that mean that it would be permissible for us to bring them into miserable existences - and even obligatory to do just that - in the case where bringing the merely possible into miserable existences creates additional wellbeing for existing 1 References to merely possible persons and, later on, to persons who do exist - existing persons
Many debates about the moral status of things-for example, debates about the natural rights of human fetuses or nonhuman animals-eventually migrate towards a discussion of the capacities of the things in question-for example, their capacities to feel pain, think, or love. Yet the move towards capacities is often controversial: if a human's capacities are the basis of its moral status, how could a human having lesser capacities than you and I have the same "serious" moral status as you and I? This book answers this question by arguing that if something is human, it has a set of typical human capacities; that if something has a set of typical human capacities, it has serious moral status; and thus all human beings have the same sort of serious moral status as you and I. Beginning from what our common intuitions tell us about situations involving "temporary incapacitation"-where a human organism has, then loses, then regains a certain capacity-this book argues for substantive conclusions regarding human fetuses and embryos, humans in a permanent vegetative state, humans suffering from brain diseases, and humans born with genetic disorders. Since these conclusions must have some impact on our ongoing moral and political debates about the proper treatment of such humans, this book will be useful to professionals and students in philosophy, bioethics, law, medicine, and public policy.
Twenty-three papers review recent advances in experimental studies on microorganisms, plants and animals. They are taken from a symposium organized at Cologne University, in April 1983 by the Committee on Genetic Experimentation (COGENE), a scientific committee of the International Council of Scientific Unions.
Arthur L. Caplan It is commonly said, especially when the subject is assisted reproduction, that medical technology has out stripped our morality. Yet, as the essays in this volume make clear, that is not an accurate assessment of the situ ation. Medical technology has not overwhelmed our moral ity. It would be more accurate to say that our society has not yet achieved consensus about the complex ethical iss ues that arise when medicine tries to assist those who seek its services in order to reproduce. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of ethical opinion about what we ought to do with respect to the use of surrogate mothers, in vitro fertil ization, embryo transfer, artificial insemination, or fertil ity drugs. Nor is it entirely accurate to describe assisted repro duction as technology. The term "technology" carries with it connotations of machines buzzing and technicians scurrying about trying to control a vast array of equip ment. Yet, most of the methods used to assist reproduc tion that are discussed in this volume do not involve exotic technologies or complicated hardware. It is technique, more than technology, that dominates the field of assisted reproduction. Efforts to help the infertile by means of the manipu lation of human reproductive materials and organs date 1 2 Caplan back at least to Biblical times. Human beings have en gaged in all manner of sexual practices and manipulations in attempts to achieve reproduction when nature has balked at allowing life to begin.
Murdering Animals confronts the speciesism underlying the disparate social censures of homicide and "theriocide" (the killing of animals by humans), and as such, is a plea to take animal rights seriously. Its substantive topics include the criminal prosecution and execution of justiciable animals in early modern Europe; images of hunters put on trial by their prey in the upside-down world of the Dutch Golden Age; the artist William Hogarth's patriotic depictions of animals in 18th Century London; and the playwright J.M. Synge's representation of parricide in fin de siecle Ireland. Combining insights from intellectual history, the history of the fine and performing arts, and what is known about today's invisibilised sites of animal killing, Murdering Animals inevitably asks: should theriocide be considered murder? With its strong multi- and interdisciplinary approach, this work of collaboration will appeal to scholars of social and species justice in animal studies, criminology, sociology and law.
The concept 'health' is ambiguous [18,9, 11]. The concept 'mental health' is even more so. 'Health' compasses senses of well-being, wholeness, and sound ness that mean more than the simple freedom from illness - a fact appreci ated in the World Health Organization's definition of health as more than the absence of disease or infirmity [7]. The wide range of viewpoints of the con tributors to this volume attests to the scope of issues placed under the rubric 'mental health. ' These papers, presented at the Fourth Symposium on Philos ophy and Medicine, were written and discussed within a broad context of interests concerning mental health. Moreover, in their diversity these papers point to the many descriptive, evaluative, and, in fact, performative functions of statements concerning mental health. Before introducing the substance of these papers in any detail, I want to indicate the profound commerce between philosophical and psychological ideas in theories of mental health and disease. This will be done in part by a consideration of some conceptual developments in the history of psychiatry, as well as through an analysis of some of the functions of the notions of mental illness and health. 'Mental health' lays a special stress on the wholeness of human intuition, emotion, thought, and action.
Suppose an accountant discovers evidence of shady practices while ex amining the books of a client. What should he or she do? Accountants have a professional obligation to respect the confidentiality of their cli ents' accounts. But, as an ordinary citizen, our accountant may feel that the authorities ought to be informed. Suppose a physician discov ers that a patient, a bus driver, has a weak heart. If the patient contin ues bus driving even after being informed of the heart condition, should the physician inform the driver's company? Respect for patient confidentiality would say, no. But what if the driver should suffer a heart attack while on duty, causing an accident in which people are killed or seriously injured? Would the doctor bear some responsibility for these consequences? Special obligations, such as those of confidentiality, apply to any one in business or the professions. These obligations articulate, at least in part, what it is for someone to be, say, an accountant or a physician. Since these obligations are special, they raise a real possibility of con flict with the moral principles we usually accept outside of these spe cial relationships in business and the professions. These conflicts may become more accentuated for a professional who is also a corporate employee-a corporate attorney, an engineer working for a construction company, a nurse working as an employee of a hospital."
This book challenges the unchallenged methods in medicine, such as "evidence-based medicine," which claim to be, but often are not, scientific. It completes medical care by adding the comprehensive humanistic perspectives and philosophy of medicine. No specific or absolute recommendations are given regarding medical treatment, moral approaches, or legal advice. Given rather is discussion about each issue involved and the strongest arguments indicated. Each argument is subject to further critical analysis. This is the same position as with any philosophical, medical or scientific view. The argument that decision-making in medicine is inadequate unless grounded on a philosophy of medicine is not meant to include all of philosophy and every philosopher. On the contrary, it includes only sound, practical and humanistic philosophy and philosophers who are creative and critical thinkers and who have concerned themselves with the topics relevant to medicine. These would be those philosophers who engage in practical philosophy, such as the pragmatists, humanists, naturalists, and ordinary-language philosophers. A new definition of our own philosophy of life emerges and it is necessary to have one. Good lifestyle no longer means just abstaining from cigarettes, alcohol and getting exercise. It also means living a holistic life, which includes all of one's thinking, personality and actions. This book also includes new ways of thinking. In this regard the "Metaphorical Method" is explained, used, and exemplified in depth, for example in the chapters on care, egoism and altruism, letting die, etc.
* How important is national health insurance? * What should a national health insurance plan entail? * What about the welfare of laboratory animals? These important issues form the core of this eighth volume in Humana's acclaimed Biomedical Ethics Reviews series. Interdisciplinary in approach, Biomedical Ethics Reviews * 1990 presents keen insights into these and related problems in chapters by leading experts in ethics and medicine. Each topic is briefly summarized in an introductory chapter, followed by a focused, thought-provoking analysis of specific issues within the topic. The use of technical jargon has been minimized in order to render the articles readily accessible and useful to interested laypersons. Biomedical Ethics Reviews * 1990 constitutes an extremely valuable-as well as timely-resource for everyone concerned with national health insurance or laboratory animal welfare today-topics that have had an undisputed, and sometimes tumultuous, impact not only on healthcare professionals, but also on the public agenda.
The Bishop Bekkers Foundation, devoted to the welfare of those with mental handicap and to the amelioration and prevention of this and related disabilities, is to be warmly congratulated for sponsoring and organizing the 1986 Inter national Workshop from which the present book is derived. With commendable foresight, the Foundation recognized that genetic aspects of mental handicap were a timely focus for the Workshop and that dramatic biomedical developments and prospects in this sphere have highly significant psychosocial and ethical ramifications. The papers of the 23 contributors in each of these areas, together with an introductory essay and discussion summaries, comprise this volume. Much of the subject matter is inevitably concerned with such sensitive issues as sanctity and quality of life and the - sometimes contrasting and even in conflict - rights and needs of the actually and potentially handicapped, their relatives and society in general. Such considerations, not surprisingly, engender different approaches and viewpoints. The papers in this book reflect this, with the editing attempting to achieve, as far as possible, a coherent and consistent format and not an identical outlook. The perceptions and views expressed in each paper are there fore those of the author concerned and not necessarily those of the editors or of the Bishop Bekkers Foundation."
CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVES AND CONTEMPORARY MEDICAL MORALS A Catholic perspective on medical morals antedates the current world wide interest in medical and biomedical ethics by many centuries 5]. Discussions about the moral status of the fetus, abortion, contraception, and sterilization can be found in the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Teachings on various aspects of medical morals were scattered throughout the penitential books of the early medieval church and later in more formal treatises when moral theology became recog nized as a distinct discipline. Still later, medical morality was incorpor ated into the many pastoral works on medicine. Finally, in the contemporary period, works that strictly focus on medical ethics are produced by Catholic moral theologians who have special interests in matters medical. Moreover, this long tradition of teaching has been put into practice in the medical moral directives governing the operation of hospitals under Catholic sponsorship. Catholic hospitals were monitored by Ethics Committees long before such committees were recommended by the New Jersey Court in the Karen Ann Quinlan case or by the President's Commission in 1983 ( 8, 9]). Underlying the Catholic moral tradition was the use of the casuistic method, which since the 17th and 18th centuries was employed by Catholic moralists to study and resolve concrete clinical ethical dilem mas. The history of casuistry is of renewed interest today when the case method has become so widely used in the current revival of interest in medical ethics ll]."
Many of the demands being voiced for a "humanizing" of health care center on the public's concern that they have some say In determining what happens to the individual in health care institutions. The essays in this volume address fundamental questions of conflicts of rights and autonomy as they affect four selected, controversial areas in health care ethics: the Limits of Professional Autonomy, Refusing! Withdrawing from Treatment, Electing "Heroic" Measures, and Advancing Reproductive Technology. Each of the topics is addressed in such a way that it includes an examination of the locus of responsibility for ethical decision making. The topics are not intended to exhaustively review those areas of health care provision where conflicts of rights might be said to be an issue. Rather they constitute an examination of the difficulties so often encountered in these specific contexts that we hope will illuminate similar conflicts in other problem areas by raising the level of the reader's moral awareness. Many books in bioethics appeal only to a limited audience in spite of the fact that their subject matter is of deep personal concern to everyone. In part, this is true because they are frequently written from the perspective of a single discipline or a single profession. As a result, one is often left with the impression that such a book views the philosophical, historical, and! or theological problems as essentially indifferent to clinical, legal, and! or policy-making problems.
Tris' request for a leave that interrupted his clinical c1erkships, so that he could undertake his graduate studies in Austin. The field, not just Tris, owes Jim Knight a hearty "thank you" for his decision to approve Tris' request, which was unusual, to say the least, in the conservative world ofmedical education at the time. Whenhereturned toTulane to complete his medical degree, Tris undertook withRichardZanerthe translationofAlfred Schutz'sandThomas Luckmann's 6 The Structures of the Life-World. Tris did this work while on his clinical rotations, including obstetrics and gynecology. In between delivering babies, most of whom were delivered by medical students at New Orleans' Charity Hospital, he worked on this translation. Tris once told me that, as a medical student, he had delivered scores ofbabies alone. Ican see him sitting with a patient in the labor area or maybe in the hall, attending to her, monitoring her progress in labor and the fetus' status, and translating from German, which is his first language, as well as thatofhis children. As this translation indicates, Tris believes in texts and scholarship about texts in a way that is decidedly not post-modem. This is also plain to anyone who has read his work. Forexample, the two editions of The Foundations of Bioethies, whateverelse one might thinkofthem, are monuments ofscholar- ship in the historiesofphilosophy, medicine, theology, and ideas generally, not to mention excellent primers on Texana. These books are packed with re- ferences and footnotes.
Today's news is full of stories about suicide machines, critical
life-and-death decisions, who owns a person's life, death with
dignity, prolonging painful life, and euthanasia as a justifiable
release for terminally ill patients. And this year, California
voters will be faced with a real life-and-death decision: the
Euthanasia Initiative. Other states are expected to follow suit
soon.
This book summarizes the efforts and results of the first international Ifgene conference on presuppositions in science and expectations in society with respect to genetic engineering which was held at the Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland, October 2-5, 1996. The Goetheanum provided a unique opportunity to gather people from diverse disciplines who have opposing attitudes on modern science and technology. It is due to this venue, among other things, that the participants were able to develop an open, power-free dialogue and could focus more on judgement-forming than a polarizing debate. This Ifgene conference could not have happened without the financial support from many private individuals and the following organisations listed in no particular order: Fetzer Foundation; Stichting Triodos; Evidenzgesellschaft; Mahle Stiftung GmbH; Gemeinnlitzige Treuhandstelle e. Y. Bochum; Initiative gegen 'Bioethik'; Verband fur anthroposophische Heilpadagogik - CHi Verband flir anthroposophische Heilpadagogik, Sozialtherapie und Sozialarbeit e. Y. - D; Stichting ter bevordering van de Heilpaeda- gogie; Iona Stichting; Antroposofische Vereniging in Nederland; Stichting Klaverblad; Swissair & Crossair; The Rudolf Steiner Association; The Welcome Association; Anthro- posophische Gesellschaft in Deutschland; Helixor Heilmittel GmbH & Co; Goethea- num Dornach; Verein flir anthroposophisches Heilwesen e. Y. - D; The Oakdale Trust; Unilever Nederland BV; NV Verenigde Bedrijven Nutricia; Migros-Genossenschafts- Bund; Ministerie van Landbouw, Natuur en Visserij; CIBA; Stichting Elise Mathilde Fonds; Anthroposophic Society Australia; Therexsys; COOP Schweiz and selected speakers (G. Stotzky - USA, H. A. de Boer - NL, J. Girard-Bascou - F, P. G.
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has historically been concerned with the protection of human subjects. In July 1977, the NIA sponsored a meeting to update and supplement guide lines for protecting those participating in Federal research pro jects. Although the basic guidelines had been in effect since 1966, it had been neglected to include the elderly as a vulnerable population. In November 1981, the NIA organized a conference on the ethical and legal issues related to informed consent in senile dementia cases. The present volume offers the latest and best thinking on Alzheimer's Dementia to have emerged from the dialog that was first embarked upon at the NIA meeting. Indeed, the issues and concerns it treats now seem even more relevant than they appeared historically because of the vastly greater awareness in the community of the entire spectrum of problems Alzheimer's disease confronts us all with. Our interest and concern is both humanitarian and self serving. Clearly older people must be protected from in appropriate research and careful attention must be paid to the circumstances under which research is conducted on those older persons who have given anything less than full consent. It is equally necessary, however, for the research enterprise to be protected so that today's elderly and those of the future can benefit from the fruits of research."
In When Medicine Went Mad, one of the nation's leading bioethicists-and an extraordinary panel of experts and concentration camp survivors-examine problems first raised by Nazi medical experimentation that remain difficult and relevant even today. The importance of these issues to contemporary bioethical disputes-particularly in the thorny areas of medical genetics, human experimentation, and euthanasia-are explored in detail and with sensitivity.
Bioscience ethics facilitates free and accurate information transfer from applied science to applied bioethics. Its major elements are: increased understanding of biological systems, responsible use of technology, and attuning ethnocentric debates to new scientific insights. Pioneered by Irina Pollard in 1994, bioscience ethics has become an internationally recognized discipline, interfacing science and bioethics within professional perspectives such as medical, legal, bio-engineering, and economics. Written for students and professionals alike, the fundamental feature of this book is its breadth, important because bioscience ethics interweaves many diverse subjects in the process of gathering specialist scientific knowledge for bioethical review. It contains chapters which embrace topics affecting human reproduction, end-of-life care and euthanasia, challenge human-dominated ecosystems, and review population growth, economic activity and warfare. A background section describes the evolution of ethical consciousness, explores the future, and proposes that the reworking of ethical boundaries can enhance mature decision-making in harmony with changing technology.
This Festschrift is presented to Professor Hans Jonas on the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday, as affirmation of the contributors' respect and admiration. As a volume in the series 'Philosophy and Medicine' the contributions not only reflect certain interests and pursuits of the scholar to whom it is dedi cated, but also serve to bring to convergence the interests of the contributors in the history of humanity and medicine, the theory of organism, medicine in the service of the patient's autonomy, and the metaphysical, i.e., phenome nological foundations of medicine. Notwithstanding the nature of such personal gifts as the authors' contributions (which, with the exception of the late Hannah Arendt's, appear here for the first time), the essays also transcend the personal and serve to elaborate specific themes and theses disclosed in the numerous writings of Hans Jonas. The editor owes a personal debt of gratitude to many, including Hannah Arendt, who offered their assistance during the preparation of the volume."
This volume inaugurates a series concerning philosophy and medicine. There are few, if any, areas of social concern so pervasive as medicine and yet as underexamined by philosophy. But the claim to precedence of the Proceedings of the First Trans-Disciplinary Symposium on Philos ophy and Medicine must be qualified. Claims to be "first" are notorious in the history of scientific as well as humanistic investigation and the claim that the First Trans-Disciplinary Symposium on Philosophy and Medicine has no precedent is not meant to be put in bald form. The editors clearly do not maintain that philosophers and physicians have not heretofore discussed matters of mutual concern, nor that individual philosophers and physicians have never taken up problems and concepts in medicine which are themselves at the boundary or interface of these two disciplines - concepts like "matter," "disease," "psyche. " Surely there have been books published on the logic and philosophy of medi 1 cine. But the formalization of issues and concepts in medicine has not received, at least in this century, sustained interest by professional phi losophers. Groups of philosophers have not engaged medicine in order to explicate its philosophical presuppositions and to sort out the various concepts which appear in medicine. The scope of such an effort takes the philosopher beyond problems and issues which today are subsumed under the rubric "medical ethics."
The roles of both the consumer and the health advocate professional have become increasingly significant in to day's climate of "rationed" health care. It seems clear that the timely exchange of ideas among seasoned health care advocates is necessary if we are to deal with the complex problems of a technologically advanced so ciety seeking to ration its heath care in a truly humane way. Toward such a timely exchange, the first Confer ence on Advocacy in Health Care was organized by the Health Advocacy Program of Sarah Lawrence College and recently held. Advocacy in Health Care: The Power of a Silent Constituency is the proceedings of the conference and will, we believe, greatly extend our efforts to share both the problems and solutions that effective patient advocacy entails. Never before has the issue of advocating for special population groups by combining the resources of consumers and professionals been the exclusive focus of one volume. This book discusses the power of such an alignment and describes specific organizational techniques that have been effective in bringing about changes in the delivery system. The final section of the book, "Questions, Com ments and Answers," presents a selection of topics of special interest that surfaced during the open disc- vii viii Preface sion at the last conference session. The comments were forthright in their criticism of public policy, and the vigor of the argument underscored the vitality of the co alition between professionals and consumers." |
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