Monthly Archives: September 2012

UNESCO: Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights

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The reading for this week was the Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). I want to first focus on the actual definition of Bioethics, which I deduced from the reading. Bioethics is a study of the moral and ethical responsibilities that all human beings have in all medical, scientific and research fields. This is the simple, elementary definition of bioethics, but reading through this declaration gave me a realization that it is much more involved and complex. One part of the realm of bioethics that interested me was the Aim presented in Article 2, part g, which stated “to safeguard and promote the interests of the present and future generations. Now the idea of safeguarding and promoting the interests of the present are expected, but the concept of preserving the future has only come up recently. Within the last 10 years, the preserving of the environment and of the world has been of utmost importance so that the generations after us can enjoy the faculties of this planet and the innovations we have brought into this world. For me, this created a whole new spectrum of bioethics because it broadened the reach of its importance.

Another aspect of Bioethics that surprised me in the Declaration was Article 13. This article basically is calling for a sort of worldwide unity and cooperation between all nations. It initiates another angle of equality socially and medically across the world for all people. Now due to many political, religious, and other numerous factors, many nations can not come to an agreement on many issues. Even within nations, such as ours, certain issues are divided almost right down the middle with two different sides, such as with abortion. I do not want to go on a tangent on the abortion issue, but I felt like this declaration does not hinder nor help either side of the issue. It was something that I was looking for as I read and found that through this document conclusion can be drawn for both pro-life and pro-choice sides. I noticed that the declaration did not want to make arguments or statements for certain controversial issues, but rather took an angle to provide a guideline to every nation and organization of how to proceed on protecting everyone’s rights and lives, but still allowing them to push for more innovations. With the coming election in this country I feel that bioethics must play an important issue, more so than it ever has in the past. We must take in consideration so much and I am not asking for an answer to this question, but just for everyone to think about, What candidate will help this country follow these guidelines as best as possible and is it even possible to follow every single one? These are just two questions that I thought about as I read this document.

Thinking about Health Care Reform

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This weekend, while reading the “Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights,” my mind kept turning back to the various speeches I’ve seen. Between the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention, it seems like anything I read somehow turns into politics or government speech.

I guess the easiest link that my mind keeps making is that between bioethics and the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obama Care). According to Healthcare.gov, the key to what Obama Care does is “offers clear choices for consumers and provides new ways to hold insurance companies accountable.” In other words, health care is supposedly available to more people and is more affordable, and covers more kinds of doctors, etc. I’m sure I am completely oversimplifying all of this, but the talk around Health Care Reform is really what this post is about.

In the reading we did for this week, UNESCO states that we must be “aware that human beings are an integral part of the biosphere, with an important role in protecting one another…” But, what does it really mean to protect someone? I guess making sure that we take care of each other is a central way–that people who need medical attention get it and are not financially ruined because of it. I’ve luckily never been in a situation where I’ve had to live without health insurance, but I do have friends who do. And it is scary.

Romney mentioned that he would keep some parts of Obama Care–ensuring that people with pre-existing ailments can get insurance and allowing younger adults to remain on their parents’ health care plan. Michelle Obama reflected on her husband’s health care reform also:

When it comes to the health of our families, Barack refused to listen to all those folks who told him to leave health reform for another day, another president.

 

He didn’t care whether it was the easy thing to do politically – that’s not how he was raised – he cared that it was the right thing to do.

 

He did it because he believes that here in America, our grandparents should be able to afford their medicine…our kids should be able to see a doctor when they’re sick…and no one in this country should ever go broke because of an accident or illness.

 

And he believes that women are more than capable of making our own choices about our bodies and our health care…that’s what my husband stands for.

I guess the real question here is one of ethics–who deserves to get the care he/she needs? Doesn’t everyone deserve to have that privilege? Since medicine as a field has advanced so far, shouldn’t everyone get to reap those benefits? Who gets to make decisions?

I don’t mean to ask these questions as a reflection of my own opinion. I’m purposely not stating my opinion and trying to figure out a way to think through the connections between bioethics and health care. What are the major tenets of bioethics (or issues that fall under bioethics) that health care reform also deals with?

What is Bioethics

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Bioethics is the reflection of issues in medicine, life sciences and health policy. It is also the decision making whether a procedure or advancement should be allowed or not. Bioethics are influential in everyday life, from questioning whether abortion is legal, to if the surgery you require is morally right to perform. Bioethics regard everyone and everything and gives them rights medically speaking.

The General Conference of UNESCO has written and published a text regarding the ethics of certain procedures in  “medicine, life sciences and associated technologies” that describe a set of rules and situations that are meant to preserve life in general.  The rules they created are centered in helping humans by giving them medical rights, including everyone being equal. It generally states how medical issues should be handled and what is ethically correct when regarding another person.