A Framework for the Collection, Retention and Use of Human Body Parts

<p>Organ transplantation and biotechnological research depend on the availability of body parts, which necessitates the willing involvement of the public. The rapid development of biotechnology has led to a search for an adequate decision-making framework for the acquisition, retention and utilisation of body parts. It has also lead to disquiet about the commercialisation of research with the source being the only participant who is unable to benefit financially. In developing such a framework it is necessary to conceptualise the nature of the interest that individuals have in their bodies. The principle of autonomy may form a basis for structuring decision-making and weighing conflicting principles. As a society we value autonomy in the sense that a competent adult may make decisions about his or her own health care. The concept is that of an individual separated from others by a wall of rights. This may be of assistance as a basis for formulating competing rights, but this must then be mediated with reference to other principles. In this context this thesis applies the concepts of property interests to the human body. The purpose of this research is to consider selected bioethical issues in an attempt to formulate a principled approach to issues of consent and control over the body and its component parts. It argues that a living person should have a property interest in excised body parts during life. There should also be a property interest in the cadaver that arises at the point of death, which can be passed to the deceased's personal representative, who would be required to deal with the cadaver in accord with the previous instructions of the deceased. However, it does not argue that there are property interests in entire living persons. It does not suggest that property alone is adequate to resolve the issues, but that it should operate alongside existing concepts such as autonomy, informed consent and privacy. It proposes draft legislation to illustrate the operation of the suggested medico-legal framework. It recognises that any framework should be respectful of Maori cultural values, in light of the special position of Maori as tangata whenua, as expressed in the Treaty of Waitangi. It argues that the framework allows Maori the freedom to choose collective or individualistic decision-making, in recognition of the diversity of values within the Maori population. In addition, it considers areas where public policy might determine that the free disposition of this property interest should be restricted to protect vulnerable persons, such as incompetent persons and living organ donors.</p>

A Framework for the Collection, Retention and Use of Human Body Parts

<p>Organ transplantation and biotechnological research depend on the availability of body parts, which necessitates the willing involvement of the public. The rapid development of biotechnology has led to a search for an adequate decision-making framework for the acquisition, retention and utilisation of body parts. It has also lead to disquiet about the commercialisation of research with the source being the only participant who is unable to benefit financially. In developing such a framework it is necessary to conceptualise the nature of the interest that individuals have in their bodies. The principle of autonomy may form a basis for structuring decision-making and weighing conflicting principles. As a society we value autonomy in the sense that a competent adult may make decisions about his or her own health care. The concept is that of an individual separated from others by a wall of rights. This may be of assistance as a basis for formulating competing rights, but this must then be mediated with reference to other principles. In this context this thesis applies the concepts of property interests to the human body. The purpose of this research is to consider selected bioethical issues in an attempt to formulate a principled approach to issues of consent and control over the body and its component parts. It argues that a living person should have a property interest in excised body parts during life. There should also be a property interest in the cadaver that arises at the point of death, which can be passed to the deceased's personal representative, who would be required to deal with the cadaver in accord with the previous instructions of the deceased. However, it does not argue that there are property interests in entire living persons. It does not suggest that property alone is adequate to resolve the issues, but that it should operate alongside existing concepts such as autonomy, informed consent and privacy. It proposes draft legislation to illustrate the operation of the suggested medico-legal framework. It recognises that any framework should be respectful of Maori cultural values, in light of the special position of Maori as tangata whenua, as expressed in the Treaty of Waitangi. It argues that the framework allows Maori the freedom to choose collective or individualistic decision-making, in recognition of the diversity of values within the Maori population. In addition, it considers areas where public policy might determine that the free disposition of this property interest should be restricted to protect vulnerable persons, such as incompetent persons and living organ donors.</p>

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practical Implementation of Bioethical Principles among Dental Professionals

Aim: To analyze the level of awareness, knowledge and attitude towards bioethics among dental professionals and practical implementation of bioethical principles in their dental practice.. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional, pre-validated questionnaire based research was conducted at four dental teaching institutions of Lahore, Pakistan. A non-probability purposive sampling technique was used. Results: Majority of the respondents 167(60.7%) were graduates having desirable knowledge and awareness of term “BIOETHICS”. It was appreciative that contributors had a positive perspective about the role of bioethics and have accepted its worth in their daily lives. A greater proportion 117(50.9%) of the participants gave opinion that full description of risks and benefits should be stated in informed consent. The fact that most of the respondents are dedicated to learn more about bioethics was endured out by present data as 224(81.5%) were of the opinion that bioethics should be a part of curriculum at undergraduate level. The survey specified that organ donation and abortion are considered as most critical bioethical issues. Conclusion: Dental fraternity has a fair knowledge of term ‘Bioethics’ and trend is seen towards practical implementation of principles of bioethics. Many domains of bioethics are still under debate because responses were influenced by cultural and religious norms. There is a dire need of development of innovative educational initiatives of ethics related to clinical/ technical issues, practice management, and social/ civic controversies. Keywords: Bioethics, Practical Implementation, Bioethical principles, Human rights, Confidentiality

Η βιοτρομοκρατία και η σύγχρονη αναγκαιότητα της βιοάμυνας

Introduction: Scientific progress has considerably increased the risk of unexpected bioterrorist attacks. In accordance comes the necessity for a potent “shield” of protection, known as “biosecurity” and widely referred as “biodefense”. However, ethical challenges and concerns, arising along with bioterrorism, are inevitable to address.Methods: COVID-19 outbreak immerged the significance of preexisting powerful biodefense systems. Primary factors to consider are theirs efficacy, the availability of capable emergency plans, adequate personal protective equipment, and sufficient funding. Least but not last comes the proper comprehension of risk assessment and the promotion of prevention, which contributes fundamentally in avoiding the outbreak, even before the harmful biological agent has begun spreading itself among the community.Results: Meticulous data recording will promote our knowledge of effectively constructive biodefense systems and will contribute in identifying crucial bioethical issues, as well to legislate accordingly, nationally, and internationally, in order to duly address the emerging threats. Conclusion: Drastic measures against bioterrorism are inevitable to take, so is the foundation of sufficient biodefense systems, which should lay on scientific knowledge that drives from relevant research, and general consent. Ultimately is, the establishment of international laws, to propel collaboration among nations and eliminate future bioterrorist attacks.

Digital bioethics: introducing new methods for the study of bioethical issues

The online space has become a digital public square, where individuals interact and share ideas on the most trivial to the most serious of matters, including discussions of controversial ethical issues in science, technology and medicine. In the last decade, new disciplines like computational social science and social data science have created methods to collect and analyse such data that have considerably expanded the scope of social science research. Empirical bioethics can benefit from the integration of such digital methods to investigate novel digital phenomena and trace how bioethical issues take shape online.Here, using concrete examples, we demonstrate how novel methods based on digital approaches in the social sciences can be used effectively in the domain of bioethics. We show that a digital turn in bioethics research aligns with the established aims of empirical bioethics, integrating with normative analysis and expanding the scope of the discipline, thus offering ways to reinforce the capacity of bioethics to tackle the increasing complexity of present-day ethical issues in science and technology. We propose to call this domain of research in bioethics digital bioethics.

Genome Editing in Medicine: Tools and Challenges

Studies which seek fundamental, thorough knowledge of biological processes, and continuous advancement in natural sciences and biotechnology enable the establishment of molecular strategies and tools to treat disorders caused by genetic mutations. Over the years biological therapy evolved from using stem cells and viral vectors to RNA therapy and testing different genome editing tools as promising gene therapy agents. These genome editing technologies (Zinc finger nucleases, TAL effector nucleases), specifically CRISPR-Cas system, revolutionized the field of genetic engineering and is widely applied to create cell and animal models for various hereditary, infectious human diseases and cancer, to analyze and understand the molecular and cellular base of pathogenesis, to find potential drug/treatment targets, to eliminate pathogenic DNA changes in various medical conditions and to create future “precise medication”. Although different concerning factors, such as precise system delivery to the target cells, efficacy and accuracy of editing process, different approaches of making the DNA changes as well as worrying bioethical issues remain, the importance of genome editing technologies in medicine is undeniable. The future of innovative genome editing approach and strategies to treat diseases is complicated but interesting and exciting at once for all related parties – researchers, clinicians, and patients.

Ethical aspects of the Internet of Bodies

This article outlines bioethical issues related to the application of the Internet of Body (IoB) technology in health care so-called medical IoB devices. Manufacturers of medical IoB devices promise to provide significant health benefits, improved treatment outcomes and other benefits, but such IoB also carry serious risks to health and life, including the risks of hacking (cyberhacking), malfunctioning, receiving false positive measurements, breaching privacy, deliberate invasion of privacy. In addition, medical IoB products can directly cause physical harm to the human body. As human flesh is intertwined with hardware, software, and algorithms, the IoB will test our social values and ethics. In particular, IoB will challenge notions of human autonomy and self-government as they threaten to undermine the fundamental precondition of human autonomy. Thus, the protection of human autonomy should become the main ethical principle of the use of medical IoB devices.

ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL, BIOETHICAL ISSUES OF XENOTRANSPLANTATION IN UKRAINE

The article is focused on studying administrative and legal, bioethical issues of xenotransplantation in Ukraine. It has been emphasized that transplantation often remains the only alternative for preserving human life and health as the highest social values proclaimed in the Art. 3 of the Constitution of Ukraine. The importance of transplantation as a method of providing medical care is due to the fact that it involves in most cases the presence of two or more entities – a donor and a recipient. This fact stipulates additional requirements on its proper legal regulation, since it concerns the rights of more parties to such relations. It has been defined that xenotransplantation is a perspective vector for the development of medical science, which may compensate for the shortage of donor human anatomical materials in the nearest future. It has been established that the most important issue of xenotransplantation in Ukraine within the legal aspect should be the creation of appropriate legislative provision and appropriate amendments into the current national legislation. It has been emphasized that the main problem of xenotransplantation is the current reluctance of society to such medical innovations due to religious prohibitions, fear of public condemnation, own fears about the possible consequences of such intervention, etc. The authors have concluded that xenotransplantation in Ukraine needs proper legal regulation. It has been substantiated that the most appropriate solution is to approximate national legislation to the principles and guidelines set out in the Recommendations dated from June 19, 2003 No. Rec (2003) 10 “On Xenotransplantation”. The authors have emphasized on the importance of the in-depth discussion on issues related to the ethical aspect of xenotransplantation, in particular the formation of positive public opinion towards the participants of such a procedure and the admissibility of using anatomical materials of animals by human beings in general.