ABSTRACT
The Chilean House of Representatives is discussing the bill on "Dignified death and palliative care", which regulates the so-called medical assistance in dying or euthanasia. This paper will critically analyze the different aspects of the bill, particularly concerning four main dimensions, namely, the patient's condition at the time of requesting euthanasia; the doctor-patient relationship and respect for the autonomy of both parties; the idea of medicine involved in it; and the possible therapeutic alternatives to euthanasia. This critical analysis raises the need to discuss in more depth a project that has to do with such important decisions about our lives and that implies a radical change in the way of thinking and practicing medicine.
Subject(s)
Euthanasia , Palliative Care , Chile , Humans , Physician-Patient RelationsABSTRACT
The Chilean House of Representatives is discussing the bill on "Dignified death and palliative care", which regulates the so-called medical assistance in dying or euthanasia. This paper will critically analyze the different aspects of the bill, particularly concerning four main dimensions, namely, the patient's condition at the time of requesting euthanasia; the doctor-patient relationship and respect for the autonomy of both parties; the idea of medicine involved in it; and the possible therapeutic alternatives to euthanasia. This critical analysis raises the need to discuss in more depth a project that has to do with such important decisions about our lives and that implies a radical change in the way of thinking and practicing medicine.
Subject(s)
Humans , Palliative Care , Euthanasia , Physician-Patient Relations , ChileABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The idea of video recording (VR) in the operating room (OR) with panoramic cameras and microphones is a new concept that is changing the approach to medical activities in the OR. However, VR in the OR has brought up many concerns regarding patient privacy and has highlighted legal and ethical issues that were never previously exposed. AIM: To review the literature concerning these aspects and provide a better ethical and legal understanding of the new challenges concerning VR in the OR. CONCLUSIONS: There is a disparity between the two main legal models concerning VR in the OR, namely the European legal system (General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)) and the American legal framework (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)). This difference mainly deals with two distinct bioethical paradigms: GDPR places a strong emphasis on protecting patients' privacy to improve the public health system, whereas HIPAA indicates the need to generate protocols to safeguard the risks connected to medical activity and patient privacy. Following from this point, we may argue that, at the ethical and bioethical level, GDPR and HIPAA depend mainly on two different ethical models: a perspective based on moral acquaintances and weak proceduralism, respectively. It is worth noting the importance of developing additional guidelines concerning different world regions to avoid the ethical problems that may emerge when simply applying a foreign paradigm to a very different culture.
