MIES biblioteka

     Ethics from Conception to Birth.
     "The Prenatal Person is a welcome contribution to dialogue between adherents of Christian and secular approaches to controversial bioethical issues about the beginning of human life, It is refreshing to find a Catholic scholar addressing these issues in a way that does not rely heavily on religious teachings that only a Catholic could be expected to accept.This is a book I will recommend to my students, so that they can consider a reasoned approach that is very different to my own," - Peter Singer, Princeton University....
      

   A host of ethical questions has arisen recently in response to the development of new reproductive technologies.This text helps students of theology, philosophy, and health studies, as well as lay readers, to find answers to these questions. In order to facilitate an informed discussion of the many delicate ethical issues, the book first provides readers with relevant medical and scientific information, It explains in a clear and simple way, for example, what is involved in human embryo and embryonic cell stem research, infertility and its treatments, and prenatal screening and diagnosis. It also explains how the metaphysical framework, in which both Christian and secular philosophers think, relates to the scientific facts and affects the ways in which they solve ethical problems. Throughout, the author takes a balanced approach, acknowledging his loyalty to Catholicism, yet freely exploring new options indicated by advancing biological science.

X Preface
xiv Acknowledgments
1 Part I: Foundations
3 1 Morality for Persons
1.1 4 Utilitarianism
1.2 7 Contemporary Concept of Person
1.3 9 Traditional Concept of Person
13 Subject-centered approach Human-nature approach
1.4 16 Survival of Traditional Morality
16 Persons, truth, and moral necessity
19 Inadequacy of utilitarianism
20 Criterion of morality
25 Morality and natural law
26 Moral pluralism
28 2 Life, Health, Ethics, and the Bible
2.1 28 Biblical Interpretation and Bioethics
2.2 30 Life, Health, Sickness, and Death: Old Testament
30 Gift of life
32 Sickness and health
33 Death
2.3 34 Life and Healing: New Testament
34 True life
36 Healing miracles of Jesus
2.4 37 Life after Death in the Bible
2.5 39 Relevance of the Bible for Health Ethics
41 3 Ethical Principles for Healthcare
3.1 41 Christian Vision of Human Dignity
3.2 42 Respect for Human Life
42 Theological perspective
43 Philosophical perspective
3.3 44 Duty of Reasonable Care of Health and Life
3.4 46 Doing Good and its Side Effects
3.5 47 Responsibilities of Healthcare Professionals
47 Primacy of the human person
48 Clinicians' responsibilities
48 Need of informed consent for treatment
49 Doctors, community, and the law
3.6 50 Christian and Secular Ethicists in a Democracy
53 Part II: Ethical Issues
55 4 The Human Embryo
4.1 55 Beginning of the Embryo
4.2 56 Research and Clinical Use of Embryos
57 Infertility treatment
58 Medical research
60 Cloning human embryos
61 Preimplantation genetic diagnosis
4.3 62 Respect Due to the Embryo
63 Biblical and theological reasons
63 The embryo as a person
65 The early embryo as a potential person
68 Other reasons
4.4 70 Ethical Evaluation of the Use of Embryos in
Research and Clinical Practice
75 5 The Pregnant Woman and her Fetus
5.1 75 Support for Pregnant Women
5.2 76 Embryonic and Fetal Mortality and Morbidity
5.3 79 Induced Abortion
79 Incidence
79 Reasons
80 Surgical and medical methods
81 Postcoital methods
82 Contraceptives - abortifacients?
5.4 84 Long-term Sequelae of Abortion
5.5 86 Fetus with Anencephaly
5.6 88 Ethical Evaluation of Issues During Pregnancy 88 Reasons in favor of abortion
91 Reasons opposed to direct abortion
93 Treatment of women who have been raped
95 Early delivery of a fetus with anencephaly
100 6 Infertility and Artificial Reproductive Technology
6.1 100 Infertility
100 Incidence and causes
102 Treatment
104 Outcomes of treatment
107 Burdens and costs of treatment
6.2 109 Artificial Reproductive Technology and Ethics
109 Utilitarian perspectives
113 Protection of children's interests
116 Professional ethical guidelines
117 Marriage and procreation in the Catholic Christian tradition
119 Challenges ahead
121 7 Prenatal Screening and Diagnosis
7.1 121 Prevalence of Fetal Congenital Malformations
7.2 123 Pregnant Women's Anxieties
7.3 124 Current Procedures
125 Maternal serum
125 Cystic fibrosis
126 Thalassemia
126 Nuchal translucency
127 Ultrasound
127 Amniocentesis
128 Chorionic villus sampling
129 Testing fetal blood and cells
129 Testing pregnant women for HIV
7.4 130 Sex-selected Insemination
7.5 130 Therapeutic Benefits
7.6 131 Ethical Evaluation of Prenatal Screening and Diagnosis
131 Prenatal screening and diagnosis per se
132 Respect for the life of the fetus
134 Informed consent, counseling, and pastoral care
136 Prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion
138 Genetic screening and responsible parenthood 140 Professional confidentiality
141 Sensitivity for people with disabilities
143 Justice and public policy
144 8 The Fetus
8.1 144 Fetal Therapies
144 Medication
145 Intravascular therapy
145 Fetal surgery
147 Fetal tissue transplants in utero
149 Fetal gene therapy
151 Twin abnormalities
152 Multiple pregnancy
8.2 152 Use of Fetal Tissue
152 Fetal tissue transplants to children and adults
154 Source of fetal tissue
8.3 155 Fetal Pain
8.4 156 Care of the Fetus and Ethics
156 Pregnant woman responsible for her fetus
157 Doctor's duty to the mother and her fetus
158 Fetal surgery
161 Fetal tissue transplants
164 Fetal gene therapy
165 Monochorionic twin abnormalities
166 Multifetal pregnancy reduction
166 Fetal pain
168 9 Newboms
9.1 168 Breastfeeding
9.2 168 Perinatal Mortality
9.3 169 Low Birthweight Babies
169 Terminology
170 Causes
171 Neonatal intensive care
172 Survivors with disabilities
173 Costs
9.4 174 Delivery for HIV Infected Pregnant Women
9.5 174 Neonatal Transplants
175 Heart
175 Liver
176 Kidney
176 Umbilical cord blood
177 Brain death and neonatal transplants
9.6 177 Ethical Issues in the Treatment of Newborns
177 General principles and criteria
181 Delivery options and HIV transmission
182 Artificial nutrition and hydration
182 Treatment of extremely low birthweight babies
185 Neonatal transplants
187 Resource allocation and neonatal treatment
188 Notes
240 Glossary
245 Select Bibliography
250 Index