Bioethics
Bioethics is a complex concept, which in a broad sense refers to the study of social, environmental, medical and socio-legal problems concerning not only humans, but also any living organisms included in the ecosystems surrounding humans.
In a narrow sense, the term "bioethics" refers to the whole range of ethical problems in the interaction of a doctor and a patient. Ambiguous situations that constantly arise in practical medicine as a result of the progress of biological science and medical knowledge require constant discussion both in the medical community and in the general public.
Initially, bioethics was an attempt to develop standards of conduct for medical professionals and lawyers in controversial issues of modern medicine. Over time, the content of the new term has expanded, and now bioethics is the field of interdisciplinary research of ethical, philosophical and anthropological problems arising in connection with the progress of biomedical science and the introduction of new technologies into healthcare practice.
The development of bioethics is due to the fact that in the modern world medicine is undergoing a process of grandiose transformations. It becomes qualitatively different, not only more technologically equipped, but also more sensitive to the legal and ethical aspects of healing. Ethical principles for the new medicine, although they do not completely cancel, but radically transform the main provisions of the "Hippocratic Oath", which for centuries has been the standard of medical morality. The traditional values of charity, charity, non-harm to the patient and others receive a new meaning and sound in the new cultural situation. This is what determines the content of bioethics.
Problems of bioethics
The following problems can be attributed to the main ones in bioethics:
• protection of the rights of patients (including HIV-infected, psychiatric patients, children and other patients with limited competence);
• equity in healthcare;
• relationships with wildlife (ecological aspects of the development of biomedical technologies);
• abortion, contraception and new reproductive technologies (artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization with subsequent implantation of the embryo into the uterus, surrogacy);
• conducting experiments on humans and animals;
• development of criteria for the diagnosis of death;
• transplantology;
• modern genetics (gene diagnostics, gene therapy and engineering);
• manipulations with stem cells;
• cloning (therapeutic and reproductive);
• assistance to dying patients (hospices and palliative care organizations);
• suicide and euthanasia (passive or active, voluntary or forced).