Bioethics

Bioethics is the study of the typically controversial ethical issues emerging from new situations
and possibilities brought about by advances in biology and medicine. It is also moral
discernment as it relates to medical policy and practice. Bioethicists are concerned with the
ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine,
politics, law, and philosophy. It also includes the study of the more commonplace questions of
values ("the ethics of the ordinary") which arise in primary care and other branches of medicine.

Contents

1 History
o 1.1 Etymology
2 Purpose and scope
3 Principles
4 Medical ethics
5 Perspectives and methodology
6 Issues
7 See also
8 References
9 Further reading
o 9.1 General bioethics
o 9.2 Jewish bioethics
o 9.3 Christian bioethics
o 9.4 Muslim bioethics
o 9.5 Buddhist bioethics
o 9.6 Hindu bioethics
o 9.7 East Asian bioethics
10 External links

History
Etymology
The term Bioethics (Greek bios, life; ethos, behavior) was coined in 1926 by Fritz Jahr, who
"anticipated many of the arguments and discussions now current in biological research involving
animals" in an article about the "bioethical imperative," as he called it, regarding the scientific
use of animals and plants.[1] In 1970, the American biochemist Van Rensselaer Potter also used
the term with a broader meaning including solidarity towards the biosphere, thus generating a
"global ethics," a discipline representing a link between biology, ecology, medicine and human
values in order to attain the survival of both human beings and other animal species.[2][3]

Purpose and scope

The field of bioethics has addressed a broad swathe of human inquiry, ranging from debates over
the boundaries of life (e.g. abortion, euthanasia), surrogacy, the allocation of scarce health care
resources (e.g. organ donation, health care rationing) to the right to refuse 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.[4]
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.
The scope of bioethics can expand with biotechnology, including cloning, gene therapy, life
extension, human genetic engineering, astroethics and life in space,[5] and manipulation of basic
biology through altered DNA, XNA and proteins.[6] These developments will affect future
evolution, and may require new principles that address life at its core, such as biotic ethics that
values life itself at its basic biological processes and structures, and seeks their propagation.[7]

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 justicehave 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.
Another important principle of bioethics is its placement of value on discussion and presentation.
Numerous discussion based bioethics groups exist in universities across the United States to
champion exactly such goals. Examples include the Ohio State Bioethics Society[8] and the
Bioethics Society of Cornell.[9] Professional level versions of these organizations also exist.

Medical ethics
Main article: Medical ethics
Medical ethics is 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, and sociology.
Medical ethics tends to be understood narrowly as an applied professional ethics, whereas
bioethics appears to have worked more expansive concerns, touching upon the philosophy of
science and issues of biotechnology. Still, the two fields often overlap and the distinction is more
a matter of style than professional consensus. Medical ethics shares many principles with other
branches of healthcare ethics, such as nursing ethics. A bioethicist assists the health care and
research community in examining moral issues involved in our understanding of life and death,
and resolving ethical dilemmas in medicine and science.

Perspectives and methodology

Bioethicists come from a wide variety of backgrounds and have training in a diverse array of
disciplines. The field contains individuals trained in philosophy such as H. Tristram Engelhardt,
Jr. of Rice University, Baruch Brody of Rice University, Peter Singer of Princeton University,
Daniel Callahan of the Hastings Center, and Daniel Brock of Harvard University, medically
trained clinician ethicists such as Mark Siegler of the University of Chicago and Joseph Fins of
Cornell University, lawyers such as Nancy Dubler of Albert Einstein College of Medicine or

Jerry Menikoff of the federal Office of Human Research Protections, political scientists like
Francis Fukuyama, religious studies scholars including James Childress, public intellectuals like
Amitai Etzioni of The George Washington University, and theologians like Lisa Sowle Cahill
and Stanley Hauerwas. The field, once dominated by formally trained philosophers, has become
increasingly interdisciplinary, with some critics even claiming that the methods of analytic
philosophy have had a negative effect on the field's development. Leading journals in the field
include The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, The Hastings Center Report, the American
Journal of Bioethics, the Journal of Medical Ethics and the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare
Ethics. Bioethics has also benefited from the process philosophy developed by Alfred North
Whitehead.[10]
Many religious communities have their own histories of inquiry into bioethical issues and have
developed rules and guidelines on how to deal with these issues from within the viewpoint of
their respective faiths. The Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths have each developed a
considerable body of literature on these matters. In the case of many non-Western cultures, a
strict separation of religion from philosophy does not exist. In many Asian cultures, for example,
there is a lively discussion on bioethical issues. Buddhist bioethics, in general, is characterised
by a naturalistic outlook that leads to a rationalistic, pragmatic approach. Buddhist bioethicists
include Damien Keown. In India, Vandana Shiva is a leading bioethicist speaking from the
Hindu tradition. In Africa, and partly also in Latin America, the debate on bioethics frequently
focuses on its practical relevance in the context of underdevelopment and geopolitical power
relations.[vague] Masahiro Morioka argues that in Japan the bioethics movement was first
launched by disability activists and feminists in the early 1970s, while academic bioethics began
in the mid-1980s. During this period, unique philosophical discussions on brain death and
disability appeared both in the academy and journalism.[11]
Bioethics has also had its critics. Paul Farmer has pointed out that bioethics tends to focus its
attention on problems that arise from "too much care," for patients in industrialized nations,
while giving little or no attention to the ethical problem of too little care for the poor.[12] Farmer
characterizes the bioethics of handling difficult clinical situations, normally in hospitals in
industrialized countries, as "quandary ethics." And he refers to bioethicists as "endlessly
rehashing the perils of too much care."[13] He does not regard quandary ethics and clinical
bioethics as unimportant; he argues, rather, that bioethics must be balanced and give due weight
to the poor.

Issues
Areas of health sciences that are the subject of published, peer-reviewed bioethical analysis
include:

Abortion
Alternative Medicine
Animal rights
Artificial insemination
Artificial life
Artificial womb
Assisted suicide
Biocentrism
Biological patent
Biopiracy
Biorisk
Biotic ethics
Blood transfusion

Body modification
Brain-computer interface
Chimeras
Circumcision
Cloning
Confidentiality (medical records)
Consent
Contraception (birth control)
Cryonics
Disability
Eugenics
Euthanasia (human, non-human animal)
Exorcism
Faith Healing
Feeding tube
Gene theft
Gene therapy
Genetically modified food
Genetically modified organism
Genomics
Great Ape Project
Human cloning
Human enhancement
Human experimentation in the United States
Human genetic engineering
Iatrogenesis
Infertility treatments
Life extension
Life support
Lobotomy
Medicalization
Medical malpractice
Medical research
Medical torture
Mediation
Mitochondrial donation
Moral obligation
Moral status of animals
Nanomedicine
Nazi human experimentation
Ordinary and extraordinary care
Overtreatment
Organ donation
Organ transplant
Pain management
Parthenogenesis
Patients' Bill of Rights
Placebo
Pharmacogenetics
Political abuse of psychiatry
Population control
Prescription drug prices in the United States
Procreative beneficence
Professional ethics

Psychosurgery
Quality of Life (Healthcare)
Quaternary prevention
Recreational drug use
Reproductive rights
Reprogenetics
Sex reassignment therapy
Sperm and egg donation
Spiritual drug use
Stem cell research
Suicide
Surrogacy
Transexuality
Transhumanism
Transplant trade
Vaccination controversy
Xenotransfusion
Xenotransplantation

See also

Bioethics (journal)
Cytoplasmic transfer
Eugenics
Feminist Approaches to Bioethics
Hastings Center Report (journal)
Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics
Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal
Medical law
Neuroethics
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis
Resources for clinical ethics consultation
The Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine
Yeshiva University Medical Ethics Society

References
1.
Rini, I., Muzur, A.: Fritz Jahr i raanje europske bioetike (Fritz Jahr and the Birth of
European Bioethics). Zagreb: Pergamena, 2012., page 141 (Croatian)
Lolas, Fernando (2008). "Bioethics and animal research: A personal perspective and a
note on the contribution of Fritz Jahr". Biological Research (Santiago) 41 (1): 119123.
doi:10.4067/S0716-97602008000100013. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
Goldim, J. R. (2009). Revisiting the beginning of bioethics: The contributions of Fritz Jahr
(1927). Perspect Biol Med, Sum, 377-380.
Muzur, Amir (2014). "The nature of bioethics revisited: A comment on Tomislav
Bracanovi". Developing World Bioethics 14: 109110. doi:10.1111/dewb.12008.
PMID 23279218.
"Astroethics". Retrieved 21 December 2005.
Freemont, P. F.; Kitney, R. I. (2012). Synthetic Biology. New Jersey: World Scientific.
ISBN 978-1-84816-862-6.

 Mautner, Michael N. (2009). "Life-centered ethics, and the human future in space" (PDF).
Bioethics 23: 433440. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8519.2008.00688.x. PMID 19077128.
"The Bioethics Society of Ohio State". Thebioethicssociety.org.ohio-state.edu. Retrieved
2013-09-17.
"Bioethics Society of Cornell". Cornell University. Archived from the original on 17 June
2012.
Cf. Michel Weber and Will Desmond (eds.). Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought
(Frankfurt / Lancaster, Ontos Verlag, Process Thought X1 & X2, 2008) and Ronny Desmet &
Michel Weber (edited by), Whitehead. The Algebra of Metaphysics. Applied Process
Metaphysics Summer Institute Memorandum, Louvain-la-Neuve, Les ditions Chromatika,
2010.
See Feminism, Disability, and Brain Death
Farmer, Paul. Pathologies of Power. pp. 196212.
13. Farmer, Paul. Pathologies of Power. p. 205.

Further reading
General bioethics

Andre, Judith (2002), Bioethics as Practice, Chapel Hill and London: University of
North Carolina Press, ISBN 0-8078-2733-9
Appel, Jacob (August 9, 2009), "A Supreme Court for Bioethics", Huffington Post
Aulisio, Mark; Arnold, Robert; Younger, Stuart (2003), Ethics Consultation; from theory
to practice, Baltimore, London: Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 0-8018-7165-4
Faden, Ruth (2004), Bioethics: A field in transition, Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
Caplan, Arthur Smart Mice Not So Smart People Rowman Littlefield 2006
Glad, John (2008), Future Human Evolution: Eugenics in the Twenty-First Century
(PDF), Hermitage Press, ISBN 1-55779-154-6
Emanuel, Ezekiel; Crouch, Robert; Arras, John; Moreno, Jonathan; Grady, Christine
(2003), Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Clinical Research, Baltimore, London: Johns
Hopkins University Press, ISBN 0-8018-7813-6
Crowley, Mary (ed) (2008), From Birth to Death and Bench to Clinic: The Hastings
Center Bioethics Briefing Book, Garrison, New York: The Hastings Center
Beauchamp, Tom; Childress, James (2001), Principles of Biomedical Ethics, Oxford,
New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-514332-9
Hyry, Matti; Tuija Takala; Peter Herissone-Kelly; Gardar rnason (Eds.) (2010).
Arguments and Analysis in Bioethics. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi. ISBN 978-90-4202802-9
Jonsen, Albert; Veatch, Robert; Walters, leRoy (1998), SourceBook in Bioethics,
Washington: Georgetown University Press, ISBN 0-87840-685-9
Jonathan, Baron (2006), Against Bioethics, The MIT Press, ISBN 978-0-262-02596-6
Kaldis, Byron (2011). "Bioethics". Sage Encyclopedia of Green Technology. Thousand
Oaks: CA, Sage http://www.academia.edu/2026131/BIOETHICS_full_version
McGee, Glenn (2003), Pragmatic Bioethics, Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of
Technology Press, ISBN 0-262-63272-1
Khushf, George (ed) (2004), Handbook of Bioethics: taking stock of the field from a
philosophical perspective, Dordrecht, Boston, London: Kluwer Academic Publishers,
ISBN 1-4020-1893-2
Luna, Florencia, (2006) Bioethics and Vulnerability: A Latin American View. Edited by
Peter Herissone-Kelly. Translated from Spanish by Laura Pakter. Amsterdam/New York:
Rodopi. ISBN 978-90-420-2073-3

McGee, Glenn (2003), Pragmatic Bioethics (2nd Edition), Cambridge: The MIT Press,
ISBN 978-0-262-63272-0
Korthals, Michiel; Robert J. Bogers (eds.) (2004), Ethics for Life Scientists, Springer,
ISBN 978-1-4020-3178-6
Kuczewski, Mark G.; Ronald Polansky (eds.) (2002), Bioethics: Ancient Themes in
Contemporary Issues, The MIT Press, ISBN 978-0-262-61177-0
Murphy, Timothy (2004), Case Studies in Biomedical Research Ethics, The MIT Press,
ISBN 978-0-262-13437-8
Ravitsky, Vardit; Fiester, Autumn; Caplan, Arthur (eds.) (2009), The Penn Center Guide
to Bioethics, New York: Springer, ISBN 978-0-8261-1522-5
Singer, Peter A.; Viens, A.M. (2008), Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-69443-8
Sugarman, Jeremy; Sulmasy, Daniel (2001), Methods in Medical Ethics (Confessions of
a Medicine Man), Washington: Georgetown University Press, ISBN 0-262-70072-7
Tauber, Alfred I (2005), Patient Autonomy and the Ethics of Responsibility, Cambridge:
MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-70112-X

Jewish bioethics

Bleich, J. David. (1981). Judaism and Healing. New York: Ktav. ISBN 0-87068-891-X
Dorff, Elliot N. (1998). Matters of Life and Death: A Jewish Approach to Modern
Medical Ethics. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society. ISBN 0-8276-0647-8
Feldman DM. (1974). Marital relations, birth control, and abortion in Jewish law. New
York: Schocken Books.
Freedman B. (1999). Duty and healing: foundations of a Jewish bioethic. New York:
Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92179-1
Jakobovits I. (1959). Jewish Medical Ethics. New York: Bloch Publishing.
Mackler, Aaron L. (ed.) (2000). Life & Death Responsibilities in Jewish Biomedical
Ethics. New York: JTS. ISBN 0-87334-081-7.
Maibaum M. "A 'progressive' Jewish medical ethics: notes for an agenda" in Journal of
Reform Judaism 1986;33(3):27-33.
Rosner, Fred. (1986). Modern medicine and Jewish ethics. New York: Yeshiva
University Press. ISBN 0-88125-091-0
Conservative Judaism Vol. 54(3), Spring 2002 (contains a set of six articles on bioethics)
Zohar, Noam J. (1997). Alternatives in Jewish Bioethics. Albany: State University of
New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-3273-4

Christian bioethics

Colson, Charles W. (ed.) (2004). Human Dignity in the Biotech Century: A Christian
Vision for Public Policy. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 0-83082783-8
Demy, Timothy J. and Gary P. Stewart. (1998). Suicide: A Christian Response: Crucial
Considerations for Choosing Life. Grand Rapids: Kregel. ISBN 0-8254-2355-4
Pope John Paul II. (1995). Evangelium Vitae: The Gospel of Life. New York: Random
House. ISBN 0-8129-2671-4
Kilner, John et al. (1995). Bioethics and the Future of Medicine: A Christian Appraisal.
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8028-4081-7
Kilner, John F., Arlene B. Miller, and Edmund D. Pellegrino (eds.). (1996). Dignity and
Dying: A Christian Appraisal. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co.; and
Carlisle, United Kingdom: Paternoster Press. ISBN 0-8028-4232-1
Meilaender, Gilbert (2004). Bioethics: A Primer For Christians. Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8028-4234-8

Loudovikos, Nikolaos, Protopresbyter (2002). The Individualization of Death and

Euthanasia, Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, Committee of Bioethics, Scientific
Conference on Euthanasia (Athens, May 1718, 2002), retrieved on February 27, 2009.
(Article in Greek).
Pope Paul VI. (1968). Humanae vitae: Human Life. Vatican City.
Cardinal William Levada. (2008) [1] Instruction 'Dignitas Personae' on certain Bioethical
Questions.
Smith, Wesley J. (2004). Consumer's Guide to A Brave New World. San Francisco:
Encounter Books. ISBN 1-893554-99-6
Smith, Wesley J. (2000). Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America.
San Francisco: Encounter Books. ISBN 1-893554-06-6
Smith, Wesley J. (1997). Forced Exit: The Slippery Slope from Assisted Suicide to
Murder. New York: Times Books. ISBN 0-8129-2790-7
Stewart, Gary P. et al. (1998). Basic Questions on Suicide and Euthanasia: Are They
Ever Right? BioBasics Series. Grand Rapids: Kregel. ISBN 0-8254-3072-0
Stewart, Gary P. et al. (1998). Basic Questions on End of Life Decisions: How Do We
Know What's Right? Grand Rapids: Kregel. ISBN 0-8254-3070-4
Westphal, Euler Renato. O Oitavo dia na era da seleo artificial (See The Eighth Day
(book) Review) . 1. ed. So Bento do Sul: Unio Crist, 2004. v. 01. 125 p. ISBN 8587485-18-0
Archimandrite Adam (Vakhtang Akhaladze)A Human in Bioethical Space and Time.
2010

Muslim bioethics

Hamdy, Sherine. "Our Bodies Belong to God: Organ Transplantation, Islam, and the
Struggle for Human Dignity in Egypt" (2012) Berkeley: University of California Press.
ISBN 978-0-520-27176-0
Al Khayat MH. "Health and Islamic behaviour" in: El Gindy AR, editor, Health policy,
ethics and human values: Islamic perspective. Kuwait: Islamic Organization of Medical
Sciences; 1995. p. 447-50.
Ebrahim, Abul Fadl Mohsin. (1989). Abortion, Birth Control and Surrogate Parenting.
An Islamic Perspective. Indianapolis. ISBN 0-89259-081-5
Esposito, John. (ed.) (1995). "Surrogate Motherhood" in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the
Modern Islamic World (vol. 4). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-5096150
Karic, Enes. "The Ethics of Cloning" in Islamica Magazine Fall/Winter 2004. Issue #11
Islamic Medical and Scientific Ethics (IMSE) Special Collection and Database at
Georgetown University

Buddhist bioethics

Florida, R. E. (1994) Buddhism and the Four Principles in Principles of Health Care
Ethics, ed. R. Gillon and A. Lloyd, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 105-16.
Keown, Damien. (1995) Buddhism & Bioethics. London and New York: Macmillan/St.
Martins Press.

Hindu bioethics

Coward, H. G., J. J. Lipner, and K. K. Young. (1989) Hindu Ethics: Purity, Abortion,
and Euthanasia. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Crawford, S. C. (2003) Hindu bioethics for the Twenty-first Century. Albany, NY: State
University of New York Press.

Crawford, S. C. (1995) Dilemmas of Life and Death, Hindu Ethics in A North American
Context 1995. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Firth, S. (2005) End-of-life: a Hindu view. The Lancet. 366(9486): 682-686.
Lakhan, Shaheen. (2008) Hinduism: life and death. Student BMJ. 16(18):310-311.

East Asian bioethics

Rene C. Fox and Judith P. Swazey. (1984) Medical Morality Is Not Bioethics: Medical
Ethics in China and the United States. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 27(3):336360. PDF
Masahiro Morioka. (2015) Feminism, Disability, and Brain Death: Alternative Voices
from Japanese Bioethics. Journal of Philosophy of Life 5(1):19-41. PDF
Ole Dring. (2006) A Confucian Asian Ethos? Essentials of the Culture of East Asian
Bioethics. East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine 25 (2006):127-149. PDF