[Bioethics in contemporary medicine]

Abstract

Bioethics arose in a delicate social and political moment in the United States of America. With time, it has become a social and perhaps political movement. Its scope is wider and different than that of medical ethics. Bioethics appeared in the second half of the twentieth century, in the middle of a spectacular advance in biological knowledge and technology. Meanwhile, medical ethics was formulated in the fifth century B.C. in relation to medical care. This defines the main focus of their respective interests. Anglo-Saxon philosophers, deriving from moral philosophy, applied the principles of beneficence, no maleficence, justice and autonomy to medicine. The Hippocratic oath refers specifically to the first three and to a number of other ethical principles. Nothing in its contents, contradicts the principle of autonomy. The emphasis in the principle of autonomy that some specialists in bioethics pose, even over the principle of beneficence, is determined, according to our judgment, by inherent factors of the North American culture. We believe that medical ethics should be distinguished even though not separated from bioethics. Physicians should go back to the Hippocratic oath as the fundamental guide for their professional activity.