Preface

Bioethics is a relatively new discipline of ethics dealing with ethical problems arising from medicine and medical research. Healthcare professionals are being confronted daily with ethical dilemmas that arise from their relationships with patients, clinical institutions, the pharmaceutical industry, biotech firms, and so on. These ethical issues encompass medical futility, genetic engineering, stem cell research, organ transplantation, nanotechnology, allocation of scarce resources, inequalities in healthcare, beginning-of-life issues, and end-of-life issues. To analyze these issues, bioethicists use various ethical theories to assist them in finding clarity and consistency in their decision-making. These theories may differ in approach, but they all utilize established ethical rules and principles to assure prudent and coherent solutions in clinical situations where different people's interests or priorities conflict. These ethical principles include autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, confidentiality, justice, and so on. These principles serve as the backbone for these ethical theories, and they assist us in applying a holistic approach and coming to well-reasoned positions.

The various chapters in this book present ethical dilemmas that healthcare professionals confront today and will confront in the future. Various perspectives are presented by the authors, which not only can assist healthcare professionals but also challenge them to explore and rethink some of the basic ideas in medicine and medical research and pave the way into new and uncharted territories. Technological and medical developments are happening at a very fast pace in bioethics and we are being called to process our progress at a warp speed. The speed of progress is sometimes outpacing our ability to ethically discern the rightness or wrongness of our actions. As a result, we are seeing the potential for depersonalization and dehumanization of people who are the most vulnerable in society. The central issue is that scientists are not going to stop the speed of progress. Therefore, bioethicists must answer the call to balance risks and benefits and the nature of the human person and determine where to draw lines between treatments that are therapeutic versus those that involve enhancement and how to distribute our limited medical resources in a just manner globally. To accomplish this task, dialogue and transparency must continue to be enhanced and encouraged among bioethicists, researchers, scientists, and clinicians. The issues confronting us now and in the future in medicine and research are only going to become more complex, comprehensive, and challenging. It is the role of the bioethicist today to engage in a constructive dialogue with their colleagues in medicine, scientific research, law, and the biomedical industrial complex so that new procedures and techniques are completely vetted from all vantage points to preserve and defend the very dignity and respect of the human person. This job may appear to be daunting at first glance, but unless those trained in philosophical and theological ethics take the lead, the future of humanity will become compromised. This book is an attempt to encourage a dialogue with

our colleagues in various disciplines to examine these critical bioethical issues from all sides so that the best interest of patients, families, and society as a whole will be protected in the future.

> **Peter A. Clark, S.J., Ph.D.** Professor of Medical Ethics, John McShain Chair in Ethics, Director-Institute of Clinical Bioethics, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
