Review article
https://doi.org/10.31337/oz.77.2.5
The Theological–Bioethical Problems of Medical Ethics in the Covid–19 Crisis
Damir Šehić
orcid.org/0000-0002-7706-012X
; Department of Theology and Cathechesis, University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia
Abstract
The global public health crisis which arose in the Covid–19 pandemic has inaugurated a “new normal” also in medical ethics, which has always focused on man as the supreme value, rather than on his disease. This pandemic opened a new chapter in medical ethics, and the protocol of preventive and curative medicine redefined the principles thereof. Medical ethics as an applied ethical reflection — which has been characterized by an enviable continuity since the time of Hippocrates — evaluates the moral decisions of people in the medical sphere. A huge discrepancy has been detected in the Covid–19 pandemic between the principles of medical ethics and, on the other hand, research and medical practice. Most scientific papers on medical ethics have focused on the fair allocation of treatment and tools of prevention in the crisis, and many of the problems mentioned in this paper have remained on the margins of scientific discourse. Catholic Bioethics which focuses on man as the image of God, cannot remain unaffected by this situation. The pressure of the public health threat, obligatory mass vaccination with experimental, scientifically unexplored vaccines, and the creation of a value hierarchy of human lives have threatened the sustainability of the principles of autonomy, non– maleficence, beneficence, and justice. These open questions on the sustainability of medical principles in such circumstances has become a challenge for medical ethicists.
Keywords
medical ethics; Covid–19 crisis; principle of autonomy; principle of non–maleficence; principle of beneficence; principle of justice
Hrčak ID:
274687
URI
Publication date:
7.4.2022.
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