Bioethics—Problems for Today

Extract

For millennia, all aspects of medicine were viewed as sacred trusts given by the gods for the benefit of humanity. Their word was unquestioned. From Imhotep who was raised to the status of a god in ancient Egypt and Galen whose work was supported by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, physicians and their associates were held in reverence. They brought hope and solace. The loss of scientific thought and the arrival of the black death in medieval Europe caused that comfort to be replaced by fear and quackery.^1,2 With the return of scientific investigation though the work of Erhlich, Pasteur, Gram, Koch, etc., medicine regained much of its former reputation as treatments for infections, diabetes, heart disease and so many more afflictions became possible in the mid-twentieth century. This continued explosive increase in scientific knowledge and medical treatment brought us to the point of asking, “If we can do something, must we?”

Before there was treatment for serious diseases, there was no need for a discussion about the side effects of that treatment. Before there was life after certain diagnoses, there was no need for a discussion about the quality of that life. Before there was large scale experimentation on humans, there was no need for informed consent. Before there was laboratory or medical imaging studies to provide scientific support for diagnosis, there was no need for a discussion of the role of those practitioners in the ethical decision-making process. Before there were medically or scientifically based ethical dilemmas, there was…