Each area of professional activity of a person has its own types of professional ethics. Moreover, they all have certain specific features.
Ethics is a discipline that considers the moral aspects of human behavior. Her study introduces us to the whole variety of norms and relations between people. All types of professional ethics are specific rules. They consider the order and patterns of human internal regulation. At the same time, ethical ideals are taken. One of the types of this discipline concerns the medical field.
Medical ethics
This teaching introduces us to the high moral character that a person should have in whose hands is the life of his patients. To date, all the basic rules of this discipline are contained in a document called the Code of Ethics of a Russian Doctor. It was adopted in 1994. The traditional ethics of the doctor is designed to address the issues of personal qualities and the relationship of the doctor and the patient.
Bioethics
Life does not stand still. At the present stage of development of society, the need arose to create a certain form of professional medical ethics. This teaching is intended to outline the permissible boundaries within which the manipulation of human life and death is permitted. All these actions must certainly respect the morality and health of the patient. And here bioethics comes to protect human life.
History of development
Bioethics is a complex phenomenon that has a place in modern culture. It originated in the United States in the 60s-70s of the last century. The term “bioethics” was proposed by the American oncologist Potter in 1970. It was he who called on doctors and biologists to combine their efforts to ensure decent living conditions for people. According to Potter, bioethics is not just a science of survival. This is a new wisdom, combining the knowledge of the biological industry and existing universal values.
As for the term “bioethics” itself, the concept, more precisely, its content, has changed significantly after some time. Interdisciplinary research on moral,
anthropological, legal and
social problems came to the forefront
, the emergence of which was facilitated by the latest reproductive genetic and transplantological biomedical technologies.
In the seventies of the last century, the first educational and research centers were created in America where bioethics was studied. This attracted attention to the issues studied by this discipline of religious figures, journalists, and politicians. Interested in some issues and the general public.
The development of bioethics in the next decade allowed her to gain recognition in Western Europe. In the nineties, the study of this discipline was given great attention in Eastern Europe (including Russia), as well as in Asia (primarily in China and Japan).
The main task
Bioethics is a doctrine designed to identify differences in positions regarding the most complex moral problems that arise in connection with the development of progress in biomedical practice and science. This discipline is designed to answer the following questions:
- Is it possible to engage in human cloning?
- Is it possible to create by genetic methods a special “breed” of a person who has high intellectual and physical qualities?
- Is the consent of relatives necessary if the deceased is planning to take organs for transplantation for seriously ill people?
- Do I need to tell the patient that he is terminally ill? Etc.
The task of bioethics is to find socially acceptable and morally justified solutions to such issues. Of course, there is a legitimate doubt about whether medical bioethics is needed at all? After all, there is an oath of Hippocrates. For many centuries she has been teaching morality to doctors. In the preservation of life on our planet, many leading physicists play an active role. They are organizing a movement calling for a ban on nuclear weapons tests. The lessons of morality are taught to humanity and biologists, fighting to protect our environment.
However, hippocratic ethics and bioethics have certain differences. The first of these two exercises is purely corporate in nature. For many centuries, it considers the doctor as a moral subject, called upon to fulfill his duty to the patient. The patient is considered a suffering individual. He is passive and does not participate in making important decisions for his life. The subject of bioethics is the patient as an active moral subject. At the same time, he is able to enter into dialogic or even competitive relations with scientists and doctors.
Features
The new discipline does not abolish traditional values, including mercy and charity, the moral responsibility of doctors and the principle of non-harm to the patient. Only in today's cultural and social situation do all these moments get a new sound and meaning.
The subject of bioethics is the uniqueness and uniqueness of the personality of each individual. This discipline recognizes the right of each person to independently make the most important decisions that relate to his life.
It is worth noting that biologists or doctors as experts have knowledge of the way human cloning. However, they cannot allow such actions. This is beyond their professional competence. That is why one of the features of bioethics is its development with the participation of specialists from various disciplines. This list includes biologists and psychologists, doctors and philosophers, politicians and lawyers, etc. And it is not surprising, because the problems that arise in connection with the development of medicine and biology are so diverse and complex that their solution is possible only with the joint efforts of people with certain knowledge and experience.
Bioethics has another important feature: history has long proved that the imposition of one system of national, ideological and other values on society is a very dangerous action. That is why bioethics does not just study the moral problems that arise with the development of society. With her participation, various institutions are created that are characteristic of pluralistic societies. An example of this is the ethical committees working at hospitals and research centers.
What does bioethics pay attention to?
Morality and health - this is the basis that serves to develop appropriate recommendations by modern science of moral relations. She considers such basic problems:
- euthanasia;
- suicide;
- transplantology;
- determination of the fact of death;
- conducting experiments on humans and animals;
- the relationship between the doctor and the patient;
- organization of hospices;
- attitude to people who are mentally disabled;
- childbearing (surrogacy, genetic engineering, etc.).
The problems of bioethics concern the ethical side of such actions as sterilization and contraception, as well as artificial termination of pregnancy. All of them are modern forms of medical intervention in the reproductive function.
Consider, for example, abortion. Does he violate the basic principle of the Hippocratic oath, which says: "Do no harm"? Is it possible to conduct it from an ethical point of view? If so, always or only in certain cases? The answers to these questions depend on the moral principles and professional preparedness of the doctor.
The problems of bioethics also concern artificial insemination. On the one hand, the latest reproductive technologies affect the nature of marriage itself, which is an essential human value. On the other hand, for some spouses this is the only opportunity to have a child. Bioethics in this case calls for adhering to the line where in vitro fertilization helps a desperate woman, without turning this manipulation into a kind of experiment.
A controversial issue under consideration in bioethics is surrogate motherhood. With this method, a fertilized egg from biological parents is introduced into the uterus of a completely different woman. This
surrogate mother is needed for bearing a child. After giving birth, she gives the baby to biological parents. On the one hand, these are manipulations performed on the bodily nature of the child, on the other hand, it is the only chance for some couples to create a full-fledged family.
Fierce debate continues around a problem such as human cloning, which is possible using the latest genetic engineering. Biologists and doctors, politicians and philosophers participate in the discussion of the moral side of this issue. Clergymen do not bypass this problem. Currently, there are two completely opposite points of view. One of them proceeds from the fact that cloning is completely ethical and safe for humans and society. Proponents of this point of view believe that cloning is the path to immortality and the elimination of disease. But there is an opposite opinion. His supporters believe that such a manipulation is immoral. In addition, it carries a potential danger, since science still cannot predict all the possible consequences of this experiment.
Very complex legal and ethical issues are posed by transplantology. Today, the heart and liver, lung and bone marrow, etc. are transplanted. Problems in this area relate to the obligations and rights of the donor, as well as his relatives, medical workers, and the fact of irreversible death.
One of the most hotly debated ethical issues today concerns euthanasia. This is an intentional acceleration of the death of a patient who is considered incurable. Euthanasia is designed to end the patient’s suffering. This action is contrary to the views of all religious denominations, as well as the oath of Hippocrates. But at the same time, this issue is not finally resolved.
Basic principles of discipline
In bioethics, there are basic concepts. They are based on science in solving urgent problems of our time. Basic principles of bioethics:
- respect for human dignity;
- disobedience to evil and the creation of good;
- autonomy of the person;
- observance of justice.
Science adheres to four rules. This is confidentiality and truthfulness, informed voluntary consent and privacy in relation to privacy. The principles of bioethics in conjunction with the rules form a kind of ethical coordinates that characterize the attitude to the patient as a person.
The development of bioethics in Russia
The prerequisites for the development of the discipline in question appeared in our country in the early nineties. However, this does not mean that bioethics in Russia arose only at the end of the last century. On the contrary, most biomedical technologies were first created in our country. An example of this is an apparatus that allows for artificial blood circulation. It was created by S.S. Brukhonenko back in 1926. In the same year, the opening of the world's first Institute of blood transfusion. In addition, in 1931, Yu.Yu. Ravens under clinical conditions underwent kidney allotransplantation. 1937 was also noteworthy. Then they performed the world's first operation to implant an artificial heart muscle. Supervised this experiment V.P. Demikhov, and Christian Bernard was on his internship.
It was in Russia for the first time in the world in 1920 that all the restrictions of legislative acts on artificial termination of pregnancy were lifted. In the twenties of the last century, the Russian scientists of the school A.S. Serebrovsky was carried out a number of fundamental studies, as a result of which it was possible to prove the complex structure of the gene.
A wide range of work in various areas of medical technology in the USSR was carried out constantly and very successfully. However, the ethics of scientific research in Russia during the years of Soviet rule simply could not be formed. One of the reasons for this was the ideology of the state. Science in the USSR was considered not only the productive force of society, but also the highest human-forming value of culture.
However, despite this, bioethics in Russia gradually began to gain ground. So, the Soviet philosopher I.T. Frolov raised the question of the value of scientific achievements in terms of human welfare. In 1995, the manuscripts of M.K. Perov were first published. This Russian methodologist back in the 60s formulated the idea that science is blind to everything human.
A new stage in the development of bioethics
At the end of the last century, Russia took the path of democratization of society. This became the main premise that bioethics began to develop intensively. The concept of this discipline was constantly fixed not only at the research, but also at the publishing, theoretical and educational levels.
In the organizational system of scientific institutes of Russia at present there are special structural units. These include the bioethics sector, which operates at the Human Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the laboratory of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Axiology of Knowledge and the Ethics of Science” and many others.
In 2000, the state educational standard was adopted in Russia. According to this document, the discipline "Bioethics" has become mandatory in the training of specialists in medical universities of the country. This approach was approved by the Training and Methodological Conference of 1995, which addressed the issues of
humanitarian education in higher pharmaceutical and medical educational institutions of the Russian Federation. An introduction to bioethics was recommended as a separate course in the preparation of senior students.
In 1995, a special program saw the light of day. It was created at the Institute for Retraining and Further Training of Teachers of Social and Human Sciences at Moscow State University. Lomonosov. This program was intended for teaching staff teaching students in the specialty "Biomedical Ethics".
Currently, you can get acquainted with the problems of modern ethical issues of medicine in the special literature. The magazines “Man” (editor-in-chief - B. G. Yudin) and “Medical Law and Ethics” (editor-in-chief - I. Mylnikov) are very popular in this area. For students of medical universities, literature is also published in which bioethics is considered. Yudin and Tishchenko, Ignatiev, Ivanyushkin, Siluyanova, Korotkikh are the authors of some works devoted to this topic.
Philosophical aspects
Currently, the discipline that studies the moral side of the relationship between modern medicine and man covers numerous problems. Thanks to bioethics, the understanding of the individual in his ethical and natural-biological aspects deepens and radically expands. The issues addressed by this teaching are on the verge of two sciences. This is anthropology and biology. The key moment of this science is the moments of the search for the true essence of man.
Recently, the process of the formation of a bioethical worldview of society has been increasingly taking place. Two reasons contribute to this - global and local. The first of them is associated with the probability of dangerous consequences of scientific and technological progress in medicine and biology, which are accompanied by the constant appearance of new problematic situations of a moral and ethical nature. This situation to a certain extent affects the interests of the entire human society. The dynamism of this process is constantly increasing. This is due to the growing democratization of public relations. At the same time, the human right to life, to health, to death, and to receive information is considered one of the fundamental.
The second reason for the development of bioethics, local, is determined by the specific nature of the development of this science. Here, humanization of the life of the whole society and an individual person, a process that causes the transformation of medical and traditional ethics, the technologicalization of medicine, etc. All these factors influence the development of bioethics both positively and negatively.
Today in our country there is no unequivocal attitude to the actualization of this discipline. However, even one who realizes the humanistic significance of bioethical problems recognizes the process of formation of the corresponding worldview that has begun. Sometimes this is perceived as a way of life imposed on us by the West. Moreover, it is believed that this process is capable of undermining the traditions and foundations of our society.
There is a completely opposite opinion.Some believe that bioethics in Russia simply will not take root, and a worldview corresponding to this doctrine is unlikely to form. Everything is explained by the fact that in our country there are different cultural, religious and social traditions, a different mentality and psychology.
However, the process of forming a bioethical worldview is ongoing. It requires a philosophical understanding of some traditional problems. Among them are the definition of the essence of man, his life and death, treatment and recovery, illness and health, etc.
Biomedicine is currently developing at an incredibly fast pace. In many ways, its contradictory successes cause some people to want to somehow sort the achievements of medicine and biology, ranking them according to the degree of risk. This will allow society to be as prepared for all the possible consequences for it.