Practical Bioethics

Bioethicists ask and try to answer or solve the often difficult moral and ethical questions and dilemmas arising from the practice of medicine and life sciences research. When I ask people about bioethics, they often think of the hot button issues like human cloning, stem cells, and euthanasia/physician-assisted suicide. But there are lots of other issues that bioethicists study. Consider health care access, research priorities, health disparities, distributive justice, and more.

Here are a few issues bioethicists are tackling, and some ways you may choose to respond:

***Issue: The shortage of donated organs leads to long transplant waiting lists and difficultly deciding who will receive scarce organs.
Response:Donate life. You may be able to donate blood (every 56 days), platelets (every 3 days), bone marrow, organs, or umbilical cord blood. Talk with your family about your decisions and call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or 1-888-USBLOOD to find a blood donation center near you.

***Issue: Development and testing of new drugs, medical equipment and medical treatments requires voluntary participation in research and clinical trials.
Response:Support and participate in research programs. Learn more about the purpose of biomedical research, and clinical trials, and decide whether you want to be a subject. You may or may not receive direct medical benefits but you will help improve medical care. If you choose not to participate, you may want to support research programs financially.

***Issue: End-of-life care and decision-making can be difficult and contentious given complicated medical, familial and legal environments.
Response:Get a living will. This legal document makes clear your wishes about certain aspects of your own end-of-life care, and will help your family, your physicians (and the courts) make decisions about your care that, ideally, respect your wishes. Make sure you talk with your family about your decisions.

***Issue: Health care workers need to respect the privacy of their patients while protecting public health, but doing both is not always possible.
Response: Get tested for sexually transmitted diseases and other communicable diseases for which you are at risk. Get counseling so that you understand how the results will impact you, your family, your loved-ones, and others. Act responsibly.

If these topics pique your interest, you may want to learn more about bioethics, moral reasoning and decision-making in health care and research in today's world. To start, check out the Women's Bioethics Project, the Tuskegee National Center for Bioethics, the Center for American Progress' discussion on progressive bioethics, and the American Journal of Bioethics.

And remember that many other issues, like violence, hunger, homelessness, environmental damage, economic injustice, prejudice and more, are involved in health status, health care, and biomedical research decision-making. So consider the ethical and bioethical implications of your actions, then revise them as necessary. It's the right thing to do.

"Old bioethicists never die, they just lose autonomy." - Karama Neal, bioethicist and writer