The Birth of Bioethics

The field of "bioethics" represents a dramatic revision of the centuries-old ethics that governed the behaviour of physicians and their relationships with patients. Those ethics were challenged in the years after World War II by remarkable advances in biomedical science and medicine that raised questions about the definition of death, the use of life-support systems, organ transplantation and reproductive manipulation. In response, philosophers and theologians, lawyers and social scientists joined with physicians and scientists to rethink and revise the old standards. Governments established commissions to recommend policies. Courts heard arguments and legislatures passed laws. This book is a broad history of the growing field of bioethics. Covering the period 1947-1987, it examines the origin and evolution of the debates over human experimentation, genetic engineering, organ transplantation, termination of life-sustaining treatment and new reproductive technologies. It assesses the contributions of philosophy, theology, law and the social sciences to the expanding discourse of bioethics.