Introduction : session 1 : responsibilities and norms for those involved in health care

Abstract

The subject of this public forum is one of absorbing interest because it deals with essence of man, his human dimension and the rights which are inherent to his existence on earth. The issues to be discussed cover also the dependence of man on his Creator, as well as the rights and obligations of those who must guard over such relations. It would appear that the 'progress' and advance of science has been faster than the ethical, legal and social implications of such a spurt forward of scientific development. This forum should cover methods of artificial procreation, the stages of intra-uterine development., the pre-embryonic, embryonic and the foetal development, the various techniques of genetic engineering including data processing problems, the applications of biology in the sciences related to the brain and to its function, the time of death and the concept of cerebral death, the medical experiments on humans, including embryos, the somatic cell modifications, the manipulation of the genes (genetic manipulation); the various techniques of supporting and prolonging life Including the limits of their validity, organ transplants, the vexed question of abortion, the issues of forced treatment particularly when applied to minors and to persons in detention and under discipline and many other aspects of scientific development and applications to the human person in its various phases of development and of health and disease. All this within the global and encompassing subject of human rights and their protection and the all prevailing subject of what is life and who is the author of life.