Modern problems of bioethics (review)

Abstract

The article is an analytical review of English-language articles on contemporary issues of bioethics. Ethical categories such as informed consent of the patient, the principle of freedom of choice of the subject, risk ethics, consequentialism and deontologism, etc. are considered. It is noted, in particular, that some moral principles provide an essential general point of view regard­ing judgments in the field of biomedical sciences, and that these principles cannot be convinc­ingly ranked hierarchically. It is shown how the processes of specification and balancing connect broad principles and rules with specific moral judgments necessary in practical ethics. A deeper understanding of women’s experiences of fear of childbirth, interpreted through the metaphor of “being at a point where there is no return”, is demonstrated.