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August 2016 EACME Newsletter
Contents
Editorial R. Porz
The centre for biomedical ethics and law, KU Leuven C. Gastmans
Report of the Medicine, Markets and Morals Network L. Frith
My experiences in Dutch and Swiss Clinical Ethics Support C. Kröger
Ancrage du conseil éthique dans le quotidien clinique J. Martin
Older persons and options for advance directives H.Y. Chan
The case of home birth in Hungary I. Szebik
Hans-Joachim Schwager-prize for clinical ethics for 2016 goes to Bulgaria S. Aleksandrova-Yankulovska
Deadline next Newsletter
Editorial Board
Editorial
Dear friends, at this year’s EACME conference in Leuven coming September we celebrate “30 years of Bioethics in Europe.” EACME hence exists for 30 years already. On the one hand, this is a long time. On the other hand, biomedical ethics is still a very young discipline – if it can be even called a distinct discipline.
As regards myself, I am working in the field of biomedical ethics since 15 years. 15 years ago, when I just started with my thesis, it was not easy to explain my family and friends that I now specialize in “ethics”. Most of them could not imagine what ethics could be about and with which topics I would have to deal with. Instead, they mixed it up with anthropology, psychology or theology. Today, I think this is different. Ethical issues are more in the focus of social awareness. At family gatherings possible risks of ZIKA-infections are discussed and nearly every week friends ask about pregnancy tests, genetic tests and / or reproductive health. Also, many of my friends and acquaintances are faced with the enormous challenges of their own parents’ aging, including dementia etc. Ethical issues have become socially acceptable, more and more people are aware of ethical difficulties and ambiguities. Of course, this is also related to the increasing challenges or even dangers of globalization and is no longer restricted only to health and health care. The Daily News are full of actual or possible terrorist attacks, and these terrorist attacks question the basic values of our Western world. With this focus on values every news can be seen as an ethics lesson. Ethics is about values.
But what does this development mean for us ethicists? What do the next coming 30 years bring about for us that we all professionally work in ethics and who deal with value analyses all the time? I think it does not mean that we must be those to provide the solutions for all the problems and social tensions. Also, other professionals should not shift their ethical problems to us, e.g. in the healthcare system. Ethicists cannot make the decisions for doctors, just to name one example. I think it should however mean that we provide our expertise more to the public by communicating what we can offer as ethicists and what not. We should not hide at universities or behind research grants and projects. We need to work on the challenges of our time, while always keeping in mind not to get exploited when we realize that all the difficult ethical issues are shifted to us. However, I believe it is our responsibility to offer guidance in times where values are key to social development.
I’m excited and I’m looking forward to the next 30 years, but now please enjoy this newsletter,
yours
Rouven Porz (Editor in chief)
Download the full August 2016 EACME Newsletter
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