Change Over Time
First, the Nuremberg Codes...
Bioethics, a relatively new field of study, is constantly dealing with change; finding ways of adapting and implementing, due to the advancement of medicine, science and technology. The study of moral, ethical, and controversial choices in medical research, bioethics was established as a result of the Nuremberg Doctors’ Trial in 1946-47. Out of the trial came The Nuremberg Code, the first international document to set ethical standards for human research, with its first principle being ‘informed consent’.
Then the World Follows...
With an enlightened international audience more human rights regulations and laws followed such as the World Health Association’s Declaration of Helsinki in 1964 and the United States National Research Act in 1974, both setting basic ethical guidelines for human research. As medicine, science and technology advance, the ethical debate escalates. Controversial issues such as stem cell research, patient-assisted suicide, and abortion have bioethicists constantly studying, questioning, and debating. Bioethicists, scientists, physicians, lawyers, judges, religious leaders and society are confronted with the questions: What is the meaning of life?; When does it begin?; Are we allowed to help one die peacefully?; Who should be allowed to choose these rights? These questions and more are asked in newspapers, on television, in social media and in the courtrooms. The bioethics field will continue to be an important part of upholding the rights of patients and responsibilities of biomedical personnel.
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