[Humanism and medicine].
WITH THE PROGRESS MADE IN KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNIQUES: Therapeutic efficacy has advanced. However, interrogations concerning the control of the power that is conferred and the new obligations towards patients that stem from this progress have emerged and, further to the sinister ethical deviations in medical research and testing, and the supreme temptation that is represented by the money involved, questioning has increased. THE NUREMBERG CODE: Promulgated in December 1947, is the founder text of modern biomedical ethics. Subsequently completed by numerous other international conventions, it established the principle of voluntary, informed consent, therefore confirming the autonomy of the patient and the respect that is due from the physicians. However, questions arise not only regarding the foetus and embryo, but also regarding those reaching the end of their lives. CONCERNING EMBRYOS: No contradiction is apparent between the singularity of the human embryo and the use of embryos destined to be destroyed in highly scientific and moral quality research projects. With regard to the development of methods for producing cloned human embryos, it appears to be associated with greater risks than establishing urgent and necessary steps towards fulfilling the promises of regenerating medicine. Last but not least, deviations in reproductive biology and clinical trials conducted in this field, with relentless procreation and "human studies", must be denounced. AT THE OTHER END OF LIFE: It is worrying to note the apparent facility with which our societies consider that old age is an indignity. To call knowledge a 'power' is to consider that such power can be used not only to relieve suffering but also to manipulate others. The humanistic finality of an intention is not sufficient to guarantee neither its benignity nor its morality.
Kahn
Axel
A
L'Institut Cochin de génétique moléculaire, 22, rue Méchain, 75014 Paris. kahn@cochin.inserm.fr
D016265:Conflict of Interest / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005602:France; D006808:Humanism; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012106:Research / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence