Cuadernos de Bioetica最新文献

Values, a topic of permanent relevance, especially in the field of Education, permeate and guide it so that their study makes it possible to describe and evaluate its quality. The main objective of this article is to study and analyse the axiological reality in terms of Ethics in the Organic Law 3/2020, of 29 December (LOMLOE). This has been done in order to treat the results descriptively, as well as to draw conclusions from a critical reflection, and to show the way LOMLOE addresses ethical values, referring to human dignity in particular. Our research shows to what extent and in what way the LOMLOE addresses ethical values, and in particular human dignity. The results obtained have profound educational implications and, as a general conclusion, we draw attention to the virtual absence of the word dignity in the sections analysed. Our study shows that the law focuses more on the social consequences of dignity than on its foundation. The values of equality, rights and duties, peace and non-violence, non-discrimination, respect, justice and solidarity stand out above all. But if there is one value that the law is frankly concerned about, it is the one related to gender issues. However, it is surprising that other values, such as the promotion or respect for freedom, are barely mentioned.

Post-trial access (PTA) for participants in clinical trials subsequent to research emerged as an important consideration during the work for the first antiretroviral drugs for AIDS. It evolved into a stringent ethical mandate in the 2000 iteration of the Declaration of Helsinki. The recent version of this Declaration (October 2024) places greater demands on this aspect of research, in part because over the past two decades tangible progress in actualizing PTA, particularly in developing nations, has been scant, notwithstanding the presence of PTA-related information on numerous pharmaceutical company websites. This article presents recent empirical data underscoring the limited availability of PTA in practice. It scrutinizes the guidelines put forth by prominent international benchmarks in clinical research. We highlight the intricacies associated with mandating universal compliance and advocate for an approach transcending mere normative ethics toward a virtuous ethics paradigm, one that fosters more equitable and supportive research endeavors.

The present study addresses the importance of human dignity in bioethics, highlighting its intrinsic value and relevance to health professionals. It focuses on designing and validating a questionnaire to evaluate the perception of human dignity among first-year students in Health Sciences degrees. The methodlogical process is described, including a literature review, expert consultation, questionnaire development and validation, and piloting for the final version. The ultimate goal is for the questionnaire to provide valid information to identify modes of argumentation and educational gaps in order to improve the teaching of bioethics in Health Sciences programs. The value of this work lies in the creation of a unique and validated instrument to measure perceptions of human dignity, thus filling a gap in educational evaluation in Bioethics and providing a crucial resource to strengthen ethical education in the Health Sciences.

In this second article of the Bioethics and Education Project we carry out the bioethical analysis of the results of the questionnaire answered by university students in the first years of Health Sciences. The great majority of the participants recognize the existence of equal dignity for all people, valuing their intrinsic character and, therefore, opposing discrimination of any kind. They also value positively the feeling of being cared for and well attended to in the case that they personally find themselves in situations of disability and dependency. However, a posteriori, we find that this ontological value of dignity varies to the point of ending up attributing a functional, subjective, and relative meaning to it in those cases in which a third party is the one who must make a decision about their life and health. When faced with a bioethical conflict, they link human dignity, and therefore the ethical value of an action, with the ability to choose freely and autonomously. In this sense, they would support decisions in favor of euthanasia for terminally ill patients, and abortion due to rape if that were the wish of those affected. In relation to the beginning of life, more than half of those surveyed recognize the existence of human life in both the embryonic and fetal phases. The conclusions provided by our research is that for ethical judgement, a majority of young people do not necessarily pay attention to the nature of what they choose. They suspend judgment on the choice so that the legality or illegality of the choice depends on the "consent" of those involved in it. They would reduce the dignity of the person to the freedom to choose.

This essay analyzes from a personalistic bioethics the model of technological progress supported by an autonomy without controls and an imperative that is governed by the maxim: if it can be done, let's do it!, as a necessary and sufficient condition of progress. This puts us on the slippery slope between the technically feasible and the morally lawful. The pioneering work of the philosopher, José Sanmartin Esplugues 2 , urges reflection in the face of a technological profusion that sees the human being as a useful embodied object and offers powers of intervention on human life that were previously unimaginable. The reduction of the person to mere biological-material data opens the door to increasing deshumanization by subordination to the calculations of an instrumental rationalism. Underlying the desire to see ourselves at the top of the world and genetic techniques are the ultimate expression of a longing for human emancipation that aspires to take the reins of evolution through an abstract postbiological imaginary. Sanmartin proposes a model of ethical evaluation and social insertion of technoscientific activity that goes beyond the conventional categories of impact, use and effectiveness to distinguish social, cultural, economic, political and values correlates, in order to embroider a pattern that decides on the means and ends of human life through technologies that are neither innocuous nor neutral. A society without antidotes to manipulation that also teaches us to cultivate utopian dreams about human nature is easily malleable by elites who promise happy worlds and redeem us from our vulnerability.

Within the European Union, EU, a proposal for a Regulation on the recognition of parenthood has been in the pipeline since December 2022. If approved, the filiation of a child will be determined by the law of the country where the pregnant woman habitually resides, even if it is a non-EU Member State. The text obliges States to recognize birth certificates issued by third countries establishing the parentage of a child born from surrogacy agreements. In this paper, we analyze how the proposal interferes with the exclusive competences of EU Member States to regulate parentage and with the rules of international human rights law, including the European Court of Human Rights' case law.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, bioethical concerns were raised and there was even a ″resurgence of bioethics. ″ In this work, we review the scientific articles published by Spanish authors in relation to bioethical issues in the three years following the declaration of the pandemic. Seventy publications have been selected. Of all of them, the topic that lent itself to the most debate was that of prioritization in the use of health resources. A consensus was reached that ruled out that age could be considered as a sole exclusion criterion in healthcare or in a possible admission to the ICU. And the importance of taking special care of the most vulnerable and adapting care to the conditions of each patient without excluding anyone was recalled. Other relevant topics were the contrast between autonomy and the common good, the immune passport, vaccination, rigor in research and the publication of results, the professionalism of health personnel, misinformation, care for nursing homes, telemedicine, and the importance of the exercise of virtues. After the experience of both vulnerability and the need to exercise solidarity, many works raise the desire and the possibility of being able to overcome the pandemic being better.

The digitization of mental health enables significant shifts in clinical practice by harnessing vast amounts of data derived from the use of apps and wearables to enhance medical research, patient care, and health system efficiency. However, this process brings forth pertinent ethical and legal risks. Ethically, concerns primarily revolve around safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of sensitive data, alongside the transformation of the doctor-patient relationship through technological interaction. Within the regulatory realm, issues encompass the classification of these tools as medical products, ensuring normative assurance of effective protection of mental health data, and addressing potential legal risks within this domain. This article aims to provide an overarching view of this landscape, serving as a catalyst for the technological, ethical, and legal discourse necessitated by digital mental health.

This study presents the most representative notions of the transhumanism concept in light of its temporal development, starting from the first time that there is a record of a similar conception, with the aim of drawing a common thread between all of them and elucidating the relationship that these may have. For this, the works of Dante, Julian Huxley, FM-2030, Max More, Nick Bostrom and Raymond Kurzweil will be reviewed. From this analysis it will be extracted that all these different conceptions of transhumanism are united by their search for transcendence in the human being and the longing for a future state of divinity; Likewise, they differ in the way these common elements are understood. Such common and divergent notions allow a deeper understanding of what transhumanism is and promote a new perspective to understand these cutting-edge ideas.