Originally published in: Bolet'in de la Oficina Sanitaria Panamericana, v. 108, no. 5-6, 1990.

A multi-authored analysis of the many sensitive ethical and moral issues created by advances in medicine and technology. The book features 25 original contributions presented in four main parts. Contributions in the first part, which is devoted to the theory of bioethics, review the historical development of modern bioethical views and discuss relationships with other spheres of inquiry, including philosophy, religion, law and technology. Topics covered range from the reasons why technology is so often abused, through limits on the patients claim to integrity, to religious perspectives on the artificial prolongation of life. The practice of bioethics is explored in the second part, which considers several techniques, such as hospital ethics review committees and informed consent, that have been developed to apply the principles of bioethics to concrete moral problems. Contributions in the third part discuss the application of bioethics in four sensitive areas: organ transplantation, the act of dying, the reporting of AIDS cases and warning of third parties, and research on human subjects. The final and most extensive part brings together a collection of articles dealing with current ethical controversies as experienced in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Spain, the United States, Mexico and Peru. The book also includes a round table discussion of what constitutes a just health services system and how scarce resources should be allocated. The book concludes with reprints of selected international codes of ethics, research codes of ethics, patients bills of rights, and international texts relating to health as a human right.

eng spa.

WHODOC

WHO monograph

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