COURSE TITLE: ETHICS

TOPIC 8: BIOETHICS

MR. ALANO F. FUELLAS, MPA

Subject Professor
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Articulate the different meanings of bioethics

and health.
2. Discuss personal and social responsibility with
its moral implications.
3. Identify and explain the ethical concepts of
crime against life.
 MEANING OF BIOETHICS

• Bioethics comes from “bio” which means life,

and “ethics” which means morality.
• Bioethics is that branch of Ethics which deals
with the problem of life, health and death.
• Bioethics is an interdisciplinary effort which
“examines the ethical dimension of problems at
the cutting edge of technology, medicine, and
biology in their application to life”.
 THE MEANING OF HEALTH

• Health consist the absence of pain or illness. It is

bodily fitness.
• Health, according to Bernard Haring: “is in its
holistic sense, include the bodily, psychic, spiritual
and religious dimensions of men.”
• A healthy person is one who is physically fit,
emotionally balanced, mentally alert, and morally
upright.
 THE MEANING OF HEALTH

• The basic assumption of bioethics is that

human life must be preserved and protected by all
necessary means.
• Accordingly, scientists and medical practitioners
should seek the promotion of life and health in
every way possible, motivated not by monetary
gains or fame, but by appreciation of the gift of life.
 PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

• Life is precious. It is natural duty for every person to

preserve it. Health is a personal responsibility and one
is held accountable for the neglect of his body. This
requires that we adopt such care and lifestyle that
fosters health.
• Bernard Haring states that: “We cannot ignore the old
health rules such as the proper rhythm between work
and leisure, fasting and prayer, and learning about the
mutual conditioning and oneness of body and soul”.
 PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

• With regards to satisfying our physical needs and

wants, Aristotle advices moderation. Too much of
anything is dangerous. Too much eating causes
obesity.
• We owe it to our self, family and society to be
healthy. It is immoral to live recklessly, exposing
oneself to dangers and sickness without regard to the
burden such acts may impose on the family and
society.
 PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

• Every illness and disease is a social problem. The

State institutes health programs even as it regulates
the activities of the individuals to prevent them from
harming themselves. The ban on smoking in public
places is an effort of the government to curtail a
seemingly innocent habit. Even more so, the State
needs to act against gambling, alcoholism, drug
addiction, prostitution, etc. which are detrimental to the
physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the citizen.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
Some actions are identified as intrinsically evil because
they are willfully detrimental to life and health:
1. Suicide is defined as the intentional killing of oneself by
one’s own volition and hands. Suicide is immoral
because it contradicts basic instinct. It is contrary to natural
law. Life is sacred, a gift from God. Therefore, for the
Filipino one must take good care of his life and health as
an act of gratitude to God. Direct killing oneself is suicide.
But a person does not commit suicide when he put himself
in danger in pursuing a lawful job.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
2. Euthanasia, or mercy killing, is the deliberate
extinction of human life to prevent further pain and
suffering. Euthanasia is morally objectionable
because it would give the sick and the aged, the right
to request the “service” of euthanasia. It would give
reason for the State to put to death those it considers
useless and a burden to society, such as the aged,
the retardates, or the handicapped
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
3. Mutilation is the cutting off of a limb or removal of an organ
integral to the human body for commercial purposes. Mutilation
is morally permissible as a medical process, such as amputation
of a gangrenous leg.
• It is immoral to sell one’s body parts, such as the kidney,
the liver, eyes, or heart. Moral and legal laws provide that the
body, its parts and functions, are not valid objects of
contracts. For this reason, prostitution is immoral. Likewise,
surrogate motherhood whereby a woman “rents out” her
womb for childbearing by means of artificial insemination is
immoral.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
4. Contraception. Methods to prevent pregnancy are called
contraceptives.
• Artificial contraceptives are those methods and devices
invented by man, such as the drugs, IUD, or condom.
Christian morality condemns artificial contraception as
contrary to natural law. It holds that the natural purpose of the
sexual act should be respected and accepted.
• Natural contraceptives are those dependent on the natural
biological process, such as the rhythm method approved by
the Catholic Church. This encourages married couples to
abstain from sex during the fertile days of the woman.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
5. Sterilization is a type of contraceptive method. It is
a surgical operation which renders a man or a woman
incapable of transmitting life. Sterilization is carried
out by vasectomy for the male and tubal ligation for
the female. Moralist give the following distinctions:
• Therapeutic sterilization is intended to preserve
the well-being of the whole and is therefore
permissible.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
• Eugenic sterilization is intended to prevent procreation
in an otherwise healthy and normal person. This is
contrary to natural law and is prohibited. Forced
sterilization of retardates, or of poor people, is
discriminatory and violates the human rights of these
persons. Enforced sterilization, according to Bernard
Haring is usually followed by anxieties, frustrations,
distress, and has a strong negative influence on the
expression of one’s sexuality to the extent that it may
impair mental health.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE

• Punitive sterilization is intended as a punishment

for certain criminals, as practiced in some countries.
Such punishment is ineffective and useless, since
sterilization does not extinguish sexual tendencies
and a sterilized rapist can still commit the same
crime.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
6. Drug Addiction is the state of psychic or physical
dependence, or both, on a dangerous drug, arising in a person
following the use of drug on a periodic or continuous basis.
Drug addiction is a habit which is acquired by indulging in the
use of prohibited drugs. The use of addictive drugs is regulated
by the State, for example, by the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972,
as amended by P.D. nos. 44, 1675, 1683, 1708 and BP Blg.
179. Some identified drugs are prohibited and their use
constitutes an illegal and immoral act. While drug addicts are
regarded as victims, drug pushers and manufacturers of
prohibited drugs are criminals.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
7. Alcoholism is the state of dependence on the stimulation of
wine and liquor. In extreme cases, alcoholism has the same
evil effect on health as drug addiction. Alcoholism saps a
person’s energy, dulls his mind, and destroys his capacity for
creative activity. Due to their erratic behavior and short span of
attention, alcoholics are incapable of holding jobs as well as
establishing a meaningful relationship with others.
• Drinking wine is not evil in itself. Intoxication, however, is
self-degrading and unhealthy. The advice is for people to
consume wine moderately.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
8. Abortion is the intentional expulsion of a fetus which cannot
survive by itself outside of the womb of the mother. Some
countries favor abortion as a method of regulating population.
The Philippines is one among those countries that punish
abortion as a criminal act. Moralists distinguish between
indirect and direct abortion:
1. Indirect or Therapeutic Abortion is that which is performed
for the purpose of saving the life of the mother. This is orally
permissible. The case does not imply that the mother’s life is
simply preferred over that of the child.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
• The choice is between a life which can be saved and
a life which cannot be saved. The moral dilemma is to
let both die or to save that of the mother.
• The unencephalic fetus is cited as example. Not
only that the defective fetus cannot survive, it cannot
fully develop into a self-sufficient human life. Thus, it
is justifiable to abort it rather than have it endanger
the life of the mother.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
• However, it does not belong to therapeutic medicine
to abort a fetus because it is afflicted with some kind
of genetic disease, or it possesses the risk of
developing such defect or ailment. The fetus, not the
mother, is the patient in this case and “killing the
patient is no therapy whatsoever. What could be done
insofar as genetic disease is foreseeable, is to avoid
conception. After conception, the only moral remedy
is for immediate treatment upon the birth of the child.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
2. Direct or Selective Abortion is the expulsion of the
fetus by the willful wishes of the parents for purposes
other than saving the life of the mother who is not
endangered at all. This type of abortion is not justified
for whatever reason, whether to regulate the size of the
family, to eliminate an unwanted child, to regulate
population, or to maintain one’s social standing in the
community.
 CRIME AGAINST LIFE
2. Direct or Selective Abortion is the expulsion of the
fetus by the willful wishes of the parents for purposes
other than saving the life of the mother who is not
endangered at all. This type of abortion is not justified
for whatever reason, whether to regulate the size of the
family, to eliminate an unwanted child, to regulate
population, or to maintain one’s social standing in the
community.
END OF PRESENTATION