Bioethics and profession of Medicine / Bioethics and the Medical Profession

The present work aims to discuss some crucial contemporary ethical questions the profession of medicine has to face in order for it to be true to its vocation and its very reason of existence. The commodification that has been impimging in all areas of the globalized world and the conservative waves stemming from the attitude of some religious authorities who put abstract principles before people´s well-being (as is the question of abortion) throw the profession of medicine in an unprecedented crisis that can threaten its very survival. A "professional" is by definition one who makes a public promise to do work for others considered crucial to society and because of this all professional of medicine have a serious responsability regarding the oposition to this unjust state of affairs. As every serious responsability requires a serious commitment, the paper urges all medical professionals, both indiviaduality and collectively, to take a unswering responsability of defending the bioethical principles of beneficence and non-maleficence - the very crux of the profession of medicine.

La ética como carácter y la investigación médica / The ethics character and medical research

Con este artículo pretendo volver a llamar la atención hacia la conexión histórica entre el significado originalde la palabra griega ethos y la disciplina de la ética, como el ser interior, el espíritu humano o carácter. La ética de la investigación debe incluir la dimensión interna de la ética, así como incluye las normativas y directrices del comportamiento. La historia de la ética de la investigación nos dice que las transgresiones se han producido no por falta de normas, sino por ignorar la dimensión interna de la ética. Actualmente, los investigadores médicos se ven sometidos a tentaciones de autopromoción, asociadas a narcisismo y avaricia, que les puede llevar a ignorar esta dimensión. Los investigadores de hoy no cederán a las presiones de sus propios intereses, si toman ejemplo del origen de los CaballerosHospitalarios de la Edad Media y de investigadores como Henry K. Beecher.

Aging and dying: medical and ethical considerations

The idea of writing a chapter on aging seems particularly appropriate. I'm at the right age to address this topic. As I did the preparatory reading and research, I had anunusual experience. For the first time in my life, I felt like an expert. I could judge what people were saying about aging by my own experience. Besides facing aging myself, I work mainly with rural hospitals and nursinghomes and hospice organizations where most of the patients are elderly. Both in my personal life and in my work, I am surrounded by the realities of aging and dying.In a recent book entitled Gray Dawn on the economics and politics of aging, the author, Peter Peterson used a gripping metaphor to describe the challenge of anincreasing aging population. Global aging, he said, is like a massive iceberg which very well could destroy even the most powerful economic vessels in the world. The agingpopulation worldwide, according to this author, threatens human survival and is the most important challenge we face in the 21st century. His iceberg metaphor highlights the danger of global aging and the fact the all human beings are exposed to this danger.