This paper sets out to examine the integrity and professional standing of “Bioethics.” It argues that professions have certain responsibilities that start with setting criteria for and credentialing those that have met the criteria and goes on to ultimately have social responsibilities to the community. As it now stands we claim that Bioethics—while it certainly has achieved some progress in the way medicine has developed—has failed to become a profession and has to a large extent failed in its social responsibility. (...) We feel that Bioethics has to define itself, set criteria for membership in the profession, police itself and—above all—meet its social responsibility to become a profession meriting that name. (shrink)

This paper argues for the necessity of universal health care (as well as universal free education) using a different argument than most that have been made heretofore. It is not meant to conflict with but to strengthen the arguments previously made by others. Using the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution we argue that universal health care in this day and age has become a necessary condition if the ideals of life, liberty and (...) the pursuit of happiness are to be more than an empty promise and if the discussion of “promoting of general welfare” in the preamble is to have any meaning. (shrink)

With rapid advances in the biosciences, bioethics has become an important, if not vital part of a comprehensive bioscience education. Students who successfully complete a course in bioethics will be better equipped for writing manuscripts for publication, preparing research proposals for funding bodies and completing applications for research ethics committees. Given the importance of both grant writing and successful publication in a bioscience career, bioscience students who do not receive training in bioethics will be disadvantaged. Graduates who move into careers (...) other than research, such as science policy, administration or education, will also benefit from the inclusion of bioethics in their bioscience education because they will need to consider the ethical issues that arise in the context of policy, public relations and public health. Given the importance of including bioethics in a bioscience education, this paper presents the findings of an empirical study that was designed to evaluate the different ways to design and deliver a bioethics module for bioscience students. The study considers the aims and objectives; the teaching, learning and assessment strategies and the content of a ‘bioethics for bioscience’ module. At a more fundamental level, the study explores why bioethics should be taught, at what level bioethics should be delivered, how much time should be committed to the teaching of bioethics and the core topics that should be included in a bioethics module. (shrink)