On the "pendulum" of bioethics.

Abstract

According to a well-known philosopher, the life of ethics was saved, at the beginning of the 1970s, by medicine. The claim is based on the consideration that the questions then being posed by medicine were actual and dramatic, forcing ethicists and philosophers to abandon their mostly useless abstract speculations. Since the early years of the new century some authors have been harsh in their criticism of bioethics, accusing it not only of not "returning the favour" to medicine but also of seriously hindering medical practice and, above all, research, by subjecting them to unnecessary constraints. Some of the more restrictive and bureaucratic regulations have been relaxed over the years, to the extent that some authors suggest that the bioethics pendulum "is taking a swing to the permissive". There are nonetheless some fundamental principles and values that do not admit of concessions. Provided these are properly guaranteed, it is appropriate to simplify overly rigid regulations (such as those concerning consent to the use of health data) and allow research to achieve potentially useful results.