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Biomedical subjects

E H Loewy

Publications and source records attributed to E H Loewy.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Bioethics at the crossroad.

Bioethics and its offspring Health-care Ethics have a variety of uses and obligations among which and perhaps most importantly is their social obligation. This paper raises questions as to Bioethics fulfilling the necessary criteria for a profession, suggests that it can serve as a link between individual and communal problems, discusses the task of health-care ethics as well as ways of teaching it, lists some of the obligations of health-care ethics professionals and discusses the dangers to and failings of these health-care professionals today. It concludes that we are at a crossroads in which we must choose between our own personal security and comfort and fulfilling our social role.

Bioethics↗
PubMed2000

Presuming consent, presuming refusal: organ donation and communal structure.

Donating, distributing and ultimately transplanting organs each has distinct ethical problems. In this paper I suggest that the first ethical question is not what should be done but what is a fair way in which each of these problems can be addressed. Experts--whether these be transplant surgeons, policy analysts, political scientists or ethicists--can help guide but cannot by themselves make such decisions. In making these decisions the difference between identified and non-identified lives is crucial. I suggest that an approach in which reason is tempered by compassion ("compassionate rationality") when dealing with unidentified lives and in which compassion is controlled by reason ("rational compassion") in dealing with identified lives must serve us well. Ultimately decisions of this sort are prone to sturdy democratic process which is possible only when the preconditions of person, economic and educational democracy are met.

Canada↗
PubMed1999

Lebensunwertes leben and the obligation to die. Does the obligation to die rest on a misunderstanding of community?

In this paper the authors address the recent argument that we have an obligation to seek or actively bring about our own death when we burden others too greatly. Some of the problems with this argument and some of the practical consequences of adopting such a point of view are discussed in this paper. We argue that the argument rests on an individualistic approach which sees the family being burdened as standing alone instead of seeing it as embedded in a burden-sharing community.

Attitude to Death↗
PubMed1999

Health-care systems and ethics: what can we learn?

Health care systems in different countries and cultures differ and tend to reflect the particular values and, therefore, the particular social structure of a given society. Each of these has ethical problems unique to itself. Some of these problems are briefly discussed. So as to have an individual ethical problem in the context of medical care, access to medical care needs to be assured. It is argued that individual problems are the primary issue in societies in which there is fair access whereas they are of lesser importance in societies which have thus far failed to provide fair access.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed1999

Physician assisted dying and death with dignity: missed opportunities and prior neglected conditions.

This paper argues that the world-wide debate about physician assisted dying is missing a golden opportunity to focus on the orchestration of the end of life. Such a process consists of far more than adequate pain control and is a skill which, like all other skills, needs to be learned and taught. The debate offers an opportunity to press for the teaching of this skill. Beyond this, the desire to assure that all can have access to palliative care makes sense only within the embrace of a universal health-care system and the desire that all can have a death with dignity is meaningful only within the embrace of a life with dignity.

Europe↗
PubMed1998

Justice and health care systems: what would an ideal health care system look like?

An 'ideal' health care system would be unencumbered by economic considerations and provide an ample supply of well-paid health care professionals who would supply culturally appropriate optimal health care to the level desired by patients. An 'ideal' health care system presupposes an 'ideal' society in which resources for all social goods are unlimited. Changes within health care systems occur both because of changes within the system and because of changes or demands in and by the 'exterior environment'. Social systems must be in a homeostatic balance. If one component fails to accommodate itself to other forces, needs and interests within the system, the system is imperiled. It is difficult to create a just health care system in an unjust society, just as it is difficult to practise truly ethical medicine in an ethically corrupt system.

Capitalism↗
PubMed1998

Curiosity, imagination, compassion, science and ethics: do curiosity and imagination serve a central function?

Curiosity and imagination have been neglected in epistemology. This paper argues that the role of curiosity and imagination is central to the way we think, regardless of whether it is thinking about problems of ethics or problems of science. In our ever more materialistic society, curiosity and reason are either discouraged or narrowly channeled. I shall argue that the role of curiosity and imagination for both science and ethics is so important that nurturing them can be seen as an ethical obligation and suppressing them as ethically problematic.

Capitalism↗
PubMed1997

What would a socialist health care system look like? A sketch.

In this paper I argue that, since institutions must reflect the societies in which they are placed, a socialist health-care system cannot be understood unless democratic socialism--which would assure all of basic necessities of existence, full education and health-care to all members of the community--is not incompatible with a flourishing market for other products. In contrasting single with multiple tiered health care systems, I suggest that a single tiered system in which all have equal access to health care and none can buy more, is most consistent with the ideals of democratic socialism.

Biomedical Research↗