Bioethical considerations at times of Zika virus

2012

Health care is developing rapidly. So are its correlates, such as health care technology, research, education, administration, communication, and more. Such change requires ethical deliberation, as change that is not ethically guided poses unnecessary risks. This may be particularly true in relation to health care, which impacts some of the most central domains of human life. Bioethics addresses issues of health care ethics. It consists of approaches that attempt to resolve moral conflicts, viewed as conflicts among moral values that may each be acceptable in some circumstances but that require prioritizing when combined with other moral values in particular circumstances. Such approaches include the application of theories such as consequentialism, which refers to outcomes (such as happiness); deontology, which refers to duties or intentions (such as the obligation not to lie); virtue ethics, which refers to character features (such as honesty); principlism, which refers to the fou...

International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, 2016

The book series International Library of Ethics, Law and the New Medicine comprises volumes with an international and interdisciplinary focus. The aim of the Series is to publish books on foundational issues in (bio) ethics, law, international health care and medicine. The 28 volumes that have already appeared in this series address aspects of aging, mental health, AIDS, preventive medicine, bioethics and many other current topics. This Series was conceived against the background of increasing globalization and interdependency of the world's cultures and governments, with mutual infl uencing occurring throughout the world in all fi elds, most surely in health care and its delivery. By means of this Series we aim to contribute and cooperate to meet the challenge of our time: how to aim human technology to good human ends, how to deal with changed values in the areas of religion, society, culture and the self-defi nition of human persons, and how to formulate a new way of thinking, a new ethic. We welcome book proposals representing the broad interest of the interdisciplinary and international focus of the series. We especially welcome proposals that address aspects of 'new medicine', meaning advances in research and clinical health care, with an emphasis on those interventions and alterations that force us to reexamine foundational issues.

Bioethics in the 21st Century, 2011

utopia.duth.gr

Introduction In the realm of health care, health science and health policy there is definite need for a shared reflection in relation to maintaining an ethical standard of health provision and also most importantly in the area of research and development, the subject of bioethics holds an imperative position (Center for Ethics and Humanities in Life Sciences, Michigan State University 2014). Bioethics involves a reflective process where the existing standard of ethical protocol is deliberated upon by the scientific community, along with the health care recipient population, general public, academia, media, political fronts, civil society groups, religious groups and any other concerned forum or individuals. It should be an inclusive process aiming at achieving the highest standard of ethics possible and the dissemination of knowledge to understand and deal with the nature of an ethical concern or issue becomes preliminary to its objective of achieving the highest standard of ethical practice. The availability of such a neutral space where the deliberation on ethical issues concerning health care, medical research and health policy is mostly a challenge as the authority of the scientific world over the general public usually dominates decision-making processes. Despite such power struggles in determining the highest standard of ethical practice, the discourse on bioethics in the present times have gained currency and the involvement of several pressure groups and vigilant civil society organizations have made the engagement more vibrant and organic with people‘s voices reaching the policy spaces especially through media and

Seishin shinkeigaku zasshi = Psychiatria et neurologia Japonica, 1986

Persona y Bioética, 2016

Clinical ethics refers to an emerging field in clinical medicine that focuses on the process of ethical decision making in the clinical setting. It has developed as a result of a growing awareness that modern medicine – characterized by technological progress, cultural diversity, and social challenges – is posing a range of new “ethical dilemmas” that medical science alone cannot solve. For this reason, clinical ethics is often linked to “ethics consultation”, which consists in services provided by an individual ethicist, ethics team or committee to address the ethical issues involved in a specific clinical case. Although at the beginning clinical ethics mainly developed as a methodological analysis to arrive at justifying clinical ethical decisions, it has quickly become clear that the difficulty in clinical decision making is only one aspect of wider ethical problems pertaining to the doctor-patient relationship as a whole and, probably, to the core value of the medical profession. The principlism method is usually presented as the most popular methodological approach to the analysis of clinical cases. However, strong criticism against this model has been raised, and other alternative approaches are referred to, such as the casuistry model. Recently, significant contributions have been made by the narrative medicine and virtue ethics approaches. According to these methodologies, a sound anthropology as well as a good relationship with the sick person are key elements required of any person engaged in a medical practice that aims to be genuinely appropriate from an ethical perspective. La ética clínica es un prominente campo de la medicina clínica cuyo objeto de estudio es el proceso decisional ético en la práctica médica. En los últimos decenios se ha desarrollado enormemente debido a la toma de conciencia de los dilemas éticos que lleva consigo la práctica moderna, y cuya solución no encuentra respuesta en la sola ciencia médica. La ética clínica está ligada a la “consulta ética”, que se realiza a un experto o a un comité ético. Desde el principio de la ética clínica ha sido claro que el análisis metodológico del proceso decisional es sólo una parte de cuadro más amplio que tiene que considera los aspectos éticos de la relación médico-paciente. El método más utilizado para el análisis del caso clínico es el principialismo, al que sigue por importancia la casuística bioética. Junto a las ventajas de estos modelos, desde su origen han recibido fuertes críticas, lo que ha condicionado la búsqueda de vías alternativas. Recientemente la medicina narrativa y la perspectiva ética de las virtudes han desarrollado una reflexión significativa en este sentido, proponiendo una metodología que apoya en una antropología bien fundada, que propone un modo adecuado de relación con la persona enferma en su singularidad.

A new world has probably emerged through the progression of technology which has led to significant debates on social, cultural, legal, and ethical issues, especially in the biomedical field in this century. Application of physician-patient relationship, principles of pluralism, autonomy, democracy, human dignity, and human rights is being challenged within the medicine and health-care system of today. Development of technology-based remedies has fostered greater degrees of medicalization. Hence, the automatic application of such technologies risks distorting the nature of medicine. To be sure, there is a cultural shift that is affecting the society that is increasingly unable to adapt to traditional legal systems. This cultural shift, perhaps, demands new ethics. This entry aims to evaluate the gap between traditional deontological nature of medicine and the emerging new ethics and assess why bioethical reflection is needed.

Nigerian journal of medicine : journal of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria

Ethical problems routinely arise in the hospital and outpatient practice settings and times of dilemma do occur such that practitioners and patients are at cross-roads where choice and decision making become difficult in terms of ethics. This paper attempts a synopsis of the basic principles of medical ethics, identifies some ethical dilemmas that doctors often encounter and discusses some strategies to address them as well as emphasizes the need for enhanced ethics education both for physicians and patients particularly in Nigeria. Literature and computer programmes (Medline and PsychoInfo databases) were searched for relevant information. The search showed that the fundamental principles suggested by ethicists to assist doctors to evaluate the ethics of a situation while making a decision include respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice. Although the above principles do not give answers as to how to handle a particular situation, they serve as a guide to doct...