Importance of Bioethics and the Bangladeshi Perspective

165 Importance of Bioethics and the Bangladeshi Perspective Bioethics is the understanding of right, responsibility, justice and moral interaction between or among living beings. It includes medical ethics, environmental ethics, and legal and social issues arising from biotechnology. Since its development in the 1970s, the field has grown exponentially in its scope and importance . Many hospitals are now employing bioethics experts to advise on such issues as allocation of scarce resources, how to care for terminally ill patients and other dilemmas doctors encounter daily from the advancement of new technologies. Over 95% of U.S. hospitals have ethics committees to advise physicians, nurses and families with bioethical issues on a case-by-case basis. Thus today, bioethics is not only a reasoned discourse but a matter of crisis management. Bangladesh is a pluralistic society with a wonderful diversity of values and ethical ideals; but poverty, natural calamities, lack of proper and substantial education and rapidly advancing technology force its people to deal with one crisis after another. As a result sanctity of life is deemed to be less important than the quality of life. Corruption, nepotism, selfishness, misconduct and malpractice are becoming commonplace in Bangladesh. It gives the impression that we aren’t able to tell which values need to be employed when, and which ethical dilemmas need our most immediate attention. Bioethics may be one manifestation of a return to normal, socially accepted values in Bangladesh. Definition and Importance of Bioethics Ethics is the study of moral values, norms and attitudes. It is a list of principles or rules to determine which behaviours are good and acceptable and which are bad. Medical ethics deals with moral values which guide the members of Asian Bioethics Review June 2009 Volume 1, Issue 2 165–167 U P D A T E I m p o r t a n c e o f B i o e t h i c s a n d t h e B a n g l a d e s h i P e r s p e c t i v e S P L a s k e r a n d A H o s s a i n A s i a n B i o e t h i c s R e v i e w J u n e 2 0 0 9 Vo l u m e 1 , I s s u e 2 166 the medical profession in their practice of medicine, in their relationship with patients and other members of the professions. Bioethics teaches how to balance between different benefits, risks and duties. Bioethics has gained immense importance worldwide due to the rapid advancement in science and technology, drastic changes in macroeconomic planning and globalization. Historical Aspect of Bioethics Although bioethics has existed in every religion and in every region throughout history, it emerged in the 1970s as an academic discipline in USA and Europe due to the increasing complexity of medical advances. Van R. Potter proposed the theory of bioethics for preventing possible threats to the accepted principles of equity and social justice. Today, there are bioethics departments in over 60 U.S. academic medical centres. Bioethics Education in Southeast Asia and Pacific The Regional Unit for Social and Human Science (RUSHAP) within Unesco addresses ethical issues arising from recent advancement in sciences and technology in the Asia-Pacific region. In order to promote the teaching and practical application of medical ethics in clinical decision and health policy-making, an integrated research-cum-teaching project was carried out in Southeast Asia by the World Health Organization (WHO), another arm of the UN. In 1996 it established South-East Asia Health Ethics Network (SEAHEN), but this does not seem to be functioning in Bangladesh at present. Bangladesh Bangladesh’s official name is People’s Republic of Bangladesh. It is a very small country in southeast Asia with only 55,599 sq. miles of land (1,470,570 sq km) with two-thirds of the territory bounded by India to west, north and east. It has a small border with Myanmar to the southeast and the Bay of Bengal to the south. Bangladesh is an...