Hippocratic, Religious, and Secular Medical Ethics: The Points of Conflict

APPENDIX: Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights

APPENDIX UNIVERSAL DECLARATION ON BIOETHICS AND HUMAN RIGHTS The General Conference, . . . Proclaims the principles that follow and adopts the present Declaration. General Provisions Article 1—Scope 1. This Declaration addresses ethical issues related to medicine, life sciences and associated technologies as applied to human beings, taking into account their social, legal and environmental dimensions. 2. This Declaration is addressed to States. As appropriate and relevant, it also provides guidance to decisions or practices of individuals, groups, communities, institutions and corporations, public and private. Article 2—Aims The aims of this Declaration are: (a) to provide a universal framework of principles and procedures to guide States in the formulation of their legislation, policies or other instrument in the field of bioethics; (b) to guide the actions of individuals, groups, communities, institutions and corporations, public and private; 193 194  Appendix (c) to promote respect for human dignity and protect human rights, by ensuring respect for the life of human beings, and fundamental freedoms , consistent with international human rights law; (d) to recognize the importance of freedom of scientific research and the benefits derived from scientific and technological developments, while stressing the need for such research and developments to occur within the framework of ethical principles set out in this Declaration and to respect human dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms; (e) to foster multidisciplinary and pluralistic dialogue about bioethical issues between all stakeholders and within society as a whole; (f) to promote equitable access to medical, scientific and technological developments as well as the greatest possible flow and the rapid sharing of knowledge concerning those developments and the sharing of benefits, with particular attention to the needs of developing countries; (g) to safeguard and promote the interests of the present and future generations; (h) to underline the importance of biodiversity and its conservation as a common concern of humankind. Principles Within the scope of this Declaration, in decisions or practices taken or carried out by those to whom it is addressed, the following principles are to be respected. Article 3—Human dignity and human rights 1. Human dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms are to be fully respected. 2. The interests and welfare of the individual should have priority over the sole interest of science or society. Article 4—Benefit and harm In applying and advancing scientific knowledge, medical practice and associated technologies, direct and indirect benefits to patients, research participants and other affected individuals should be maximized and any possible harm to such individuals should be minimized. Appendix  195 Article 5—Autonomy and individual responsibility The autonomy of persons to make decisions, while taking responsibility for those decisions and respecting the autonomy of others, is to be respected. For persons who are not capable of exercising autonomy, special measures are to be taken to protect their rights and interests. Article 6—Consent 1. Any preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic medical intervention is only to be carried out with the prior, free and informed consent of the person concerned, based on adequate information. The consent should, where appropriate, be express and may be withdrawn by the person concerned at any time and for any reason without disadvantage or prejudice. 2. Scientific research should only be carried out with the prior, free, express and informed consent of the person concerned. The information should be adequate, provided in a comprehensible form and should include modalities for withdrawal of consent. Consent may be withdrawn by the person concerned at any time and for any reason without any disadvantage or prejudice. Exceptions to this principle should be made only in accordance with ethical and legal standards adopted by States, consistent with the principles and provisions set out in this Declaration, in particular in Article 27, and international human rights law. 3. In appropriate cases of research carried out on a group of persons or a community, additional agreement of the legal representatives of the group or community concerned may be sought. In no case should a collective community agreement or the consent of a community leader or other authority substitute for an individual’s informed consent. Article 7—Persons without the capacity to consent In accordance with domestic law, special protection is to be given to persons who do not have the capacity to consent: (a) authorization for research and medical practice should be obtained in accordance with the best interest of the person concerned and...