bioethics

bioethics in philosophy, a branch of ethics concerned with issues surrounding health care and the biological sciences. These issues include the morality of abortion , euthanasia , in vitro fertilization , and organ transplants (see transplantation, medical ). In the 1970s bioethics emerged as a discipline with its own experts, often professional philosophers, who developed university courses on the subject. Many hospitals now employ experts on bioethics to advise on such issues as how to treat terminally ill patients and to allocate limited resources. Advances in health care, the development of genetic screening , and the new research in genetic engineering , including gene therapy , have also given rise to questions in bioethics.

Bibliography: See W. T. Reich, ed., Encyclopedia of Bioethics (4 vol., 1978); H. T. Engelhardt, The Foundations of Bioethics (1986); R. Macklin, Mortal Choices: Bioethics in Today's World (1987).

bioethics (by-oh-eth-iks) n. an area of applied ethics relating to moral behaviour in the life sciences. Medical ethics is now often considered a subspecialty of bioethics (biomedical ethics).

bioethics. The term was coined in 1971 to describe ethical reflection on issues arising within the sphere of the biological and medical sciences. For Christians it is a part of moral theology and is governed by its principles, including the sacredness of human life, love of neighbour, and respect for the sovereignty of God. For discussion of some branches of bioethics, see CONTRACEPTION, PROCREATION, AND ABORTION, ETHICS OF; and DYING, CARE OF THE.