Demystifying bioethics: The past, present, and future of a flourishing discipline

Many disputes in biomedical ethics in the west stem from disputes about the extent to which normative principles in this domain can be generalized throughout various cultures such that certain actions can be universally acknowledged as required, prohibited or permitted. In Muslim countries, among various articles on the framework of Islamic bioethics, there had been no studies about the nature of moral-theological discourse that informed the development of the Islamic legal-ethical system. In other words, their descriptive rather than analytical approach to the debate about the principles of biomedical rulings in Islam does not deal with Islamic theological-philosophical ethics and the way it has affected medical jurisprudence in the modern times. The ethical questions in contemporary discussions require attention to larger questions about what constitutes ethical conduct in Islam rather than the mere presentation of the legal rulings as regards issues like abortion, organ donation and so on. There is no consensus among Muslim jurists of various schools of Islamic law on any of these issues. In the cross-cultural context of bioethics, the work of Muslim scholars would be significantly enhanced by systematic investigations into the underlying principles and rules of practical ethical guidance in the Islamic tradition which is rooted in Islamic theology.

Tıp tarihi çok eskilere dayanan bir bilimdir. Tarih boyunca hastalıklar varlığını göstermiş ve bu hastalıklara tedaviler aranmıştır. Bu tedavi yöntemleri yaşayan bütün uygarlıklarda farklılık göstermiştir. Mezopotamya, Mısır, Hitit gibi yerleşik hayata geçen ilk medeniyetlerde hastalık tedavilerinde bakış açısı büyü ve tanrılara duadan ileriye geçememiştir. Zamanla insanların çevreye olan duyarlılığının ve gözlem gücünün artmasıyla beraber tedavi konusunda daha gerçekçi ve bilimsel yaklaşımlar gözlenmiştir. Tıbba bakış açısı geliştikçe hastane ve tıp okulu ihtiyacı doğmuştur. Diğer medeniyetlere göre daha akılcı bir yol izleyerek tedavi arayışına giren Hint Medeniyetinde hastaların tedavisi için ilk hastane örnekleri yaptırılmıştır. Tıbbın bilimsel dönemi diye nitelendirilen M.Ö. 700 yılında Antik Yunan’da, şu anki Datça Yarımadasında, tarihteki ilk tıp okulu olan Knidos açılmıştır. M.Ö. 5. yüzyılda ise Hippokrates felsefeyi tıptan ayırarak, bilimsel bir yaklaşım ile eğitim veren Kos tıp okulunu kurmuştur. Orta Çağda Avrupa’da tıp konusunda bilimsellikten uzak bir dönem yaşanırken; Anadolu Medeniyetlerinde tıpta bilimsel bir dönem yaşanmıştır. Selçuklular zamanında hastane karşılığı olarak darüşşifalar inşa edilmiştir. Bu darüşşifaların en büyük özelliği, hastane hizmetinin yanı sıra tıp eğitimi vererek hekimler yetiştiriyor olmasıdır. Bu darüşşifalardan en önemlisi Anadolu Selçuklu döneminde 1206 yılında hizmete açılmış olan Gevher Nesibe Tıp Medresesi ve Darüşşifası’ dır. Bu darüşşifa hem tıp okulu hem de hastaneyi aynı bina içerisinde barındırıyor olmasından dolayı dünyada bir ilki teşkil etmektedir. Gevher Nesibe Tıp Medresesi ve Darüşşifası şu an Kayseri’de restore edilmiş son haliyle Büyükşehir Belediyesi tarafından müze olarak halkın hizmetine sunulmuştur

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BackgroundA different ethos with respect to the perception of medical ethics prevails in societies in transition such as those in the Arabian Peninsula, which makes it difficult to apply international principles of bioethics in medical practice. This study aimed to develop and psychometrically test an instrument that measures physicians’ awareness of bioethics and medical law and their attitudes towards the practice of medical ethics. Additionally, it examined physician correlates influencing the awareness of bioethics.MethodsFollowing a rigorous review of relevant literature by a panel of experts, a 13-item instrument, the Omani physicians’ bioethics and medical law awareness (OBMLA) questionnaire was developed with the aim of assessing physicians’ awareness of bioethics and medical law. The study tool’s construct validity and internal consistency reliability were examined by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Cronbach’s alpha. In a cross-sectional study, the questionnaire was distributed among a random sample of 200 physicians at a tertiary hospital in Muscat, Oman. Participant characteristics that may influence awareness of bioethics and medical law were explored.ResultsThe EFA of the OBMLA questionnaire resulted in three well-loading factors: (1) Physicians’ bioethics practice subscale (2) incentive related bioethics subscale and (3) medical law awareness subscale. Internal consistency reliability ranged between Cronbach’s α: 0.73–0.8. Of the total 200 participants, 52% reported that teaching medical ethics during medical school was inadequate. The overall mean (standard deviation, SD) of the bioethics awareness score and Omani medical law awareness were 27.6 (3.5) and 10.1 (2.1) respectively. The majority of physicians (73%) reported that they frequently encountered ethical dilemmas in their practice and 24.5% endorsed the view that unethical decisions tended to occur in their practice.ConclusionThe study provides an insight into the practice of bioethics, and the awareness of bioethics and medical law among physicians in a teaching hospital in Oman. The OBMLA questionnaire appears to be a valid and reliable tool to assess a physician’s awareness of bioethics and medical law. In this preliminary study, it appears that participants have suboptimal scores on the indices which measure practice and awareness of bioethics and medical law.

In Australia, Chinese medicine is practiced within a complex health care system in which western medicine is dominant. Chinese medicine is an evolving medical system in terms of practice and education, and has moved into western settings. For Chinese medicine to develop in western countries there needs to be integration of Chinese medicine with western medicine, not only from the point of knowledge about the human state of existence but in the sense of integration of Chinese medicine within the context of a western health care system that is built around western medicine, the dominant form of health care within western countries. It is important that educational programmes in Chinese medicine are not only consistent with the philosophy of Chinese medicine but are relevant to the context in which Chinese medicine is practiced. In the development of RMIT University’s Master of Applied Science (Chinese Herbal Medicine), an educational approach was adopted that emphasises the integration of western medicine and Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine is beginning to be studied using the same scientific research methodology that is applied to western medicine and that increasingly is used to guide clinical practice. The evidence-based approach to the study and practice of Chinese herbal medicine has been adopted in the curriculum development and implementation. This is an illustration of the bridging process that is beginning to occur in both China and as Chinese medicine establishes itself within western settings. The overall programme design was guided by a capability-based approach, one in which the holistic capability that is the desired outcome

According to Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian philosopher, educationist and philanthropist, human values have their derivative from the concept of divinity. In other words, human values are the characteristics of God in human condition. He postulated the five human values, viz: Love, Truth, Right Action, Peace, Non-Violence. Within each value, there is a range of sub-values and they are expressed in medical ethics values. Medical ethics, on the other hand, is a system of moral principles that apply values to the practice of clinical medicine and in scientific research. These values include the respect for autonomy (self-determination), non-maleficence (non-violence), beneficence (charity), justice (equity). Sai Baba points out the subtle difference between human values and ethics, namely, that ethics is a system conceived by humans without underpinning the role that divinity plays. Taken together with their sub-values, these five basic principles encompass a full vision of human potential, namely, the fulfillment of the quest of the intellect for truth, the channeling of the will into satisfying expression through right conduct, the resolution of the conflicts of human emotions and interactions in the achievement of inner and outer peace, the expansion of the heart in the flow of love and the realization of perfect sympathy of all creation through non-violence. Human values in medicine, apart from being the moral benchmark for relationship between physician and patient, necessitate ensuring that clinical and management practices are consistent with widely accepted ethics standards, norms, and expectations. In recent years, scientism as a goal has frequently led to the neglect of the humanism inherent in medical practice that the science of medicine has assumed precedence over the art of medicine. The pedagogy of Sai Baba’s value-based healthcare helps to elicit the human values inherent in every human being.

Manuscript of Qawā‘īd Fawā‘īd (QF) kept in National Library is a theological manuscript embraced Asy’ariyah and Maturidiyah sects which tended to be more moderate than Khawarij and Mu’tazilah group. In its contents, this manuscript and also others defended the the purity of Islamic doctrine that is in line with Qur’an and Sunnah. Therefore, this reasearch opposes the arguments stated that Islam used and developed in Indonesia had been influenced by mistics from India and Persia. This research focuses on studying GF manuscript by elaborating any tendencies on theology developed in its term. Besides, this research also looks for red threat on how the relationship appeared among other manuscripts in term of theology. To analyse this manuscripts, this reasearch uses Philological and discourses analysis approach. Keywords: Texts, Islam, Theology, moderate, manuscript

How can the experiences of stakeholders with doctors inform medical selection and education