A CALL TO DOCTORS CONCERNED WITH THE DRIFT OF ETHICS AWAY FROM MORAL ABSOLUTES March 2006 The RU486 debate and the Lockhart Review Committee Report have highlighted a drift of ethics from what we might call moral absolutes, effectively resulting in medicine without morality.

The problem was highlighted in the RU486 debate by doctors arguing that any decision must only be made on grounds of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) and not by politicians and not on grounds of religion. The argument was that EBM would support that RU486 is as safe as surgical abortion and therefore should be available. But this approach totally ignores the ethics of outcomes.

EBM without consideration of outcome morality is bad medicine and could be used to consider euthanasia techniques or even the transplanting of organs from clones bred for that purpose. How to do it ‘best’ and ‘legal’ is not all that matters.

The drift is well illustrated by the work of prominent bio-ethicists who argue for delayed personhood on the basis of self-awareness. This philosophy then legitimises all destructive embryo research, abortion and is extended to infanticide. This definition of personhood – and its absence – can also be used to legitimise euthanasia.

There is a need then for ethics in medicine to be re-anchored to those inherent moral standards in the human consciousness that we call natural law or moral law.

In the interests of our nation we cannot afford medicine without morality. Even if we want to stay out of the debate, we cannot unless we are also prepared to compromise in our own practice of clinical medicine. There are already significant voices around the world arguing that doctors who will not offer care that is legally permitted because it conflicts with their values, should not be doctors. It is time for concerned doctors to have the opportunity of joining together in a simple statement of solidarity for the respect of human life in all states of dependency and disability from fertilisation to life’s natural end.

Doctors who share this concern are being asked to sign the following statement of belief to be given to our Members of Parliament at http://www.medicinewithmorality.org.au/

STATEMENT

We, the undersigned medical graduates resident in Australia, affirm the following statement:

Medicine with Morality – a Manifesto of Human Life for the 21st Century. We affirm that human life begins when a cell containing human chromosomes first has the ability to replicate and differentiate into individual tissues, as occurs at fertilisation. The genetic pattern of such a cell is uniquely human and determines its adult characteristics.

We deny that any other definition of the beginning of human life is acceptable. We believe this to be a line that must not be crossed.

We affirm that human life has intrinsic value at every stage of life and dependency from its beginning to its natural end and must be protected against experimentation or exploitation.

We deny that concepts of personhood and self-awareness, being arbitrary and capable of varying definition, are acceptable as indicators of the presence or absence of human life.

We affirm further that the human embryo, being human life in the truest sense, has intrinsic value and that the extraction of stem cells from it is unacceptable.

We deny that cloning technology is acceptable whether for so-called therapeutic or reproductive purposes. We also deny that fertilisation attempted between human and non-human cells (to create a ‘chimera’) is acceptable.

We affirm from the evidence of many scientists that stem-cell research on adult tissues and other non-embryonic tissues (e.g. umbilical cord) already has proven benefits and safety as well as increasing promise for the future and that research on embryos is not as necessary as other scientists make out.

We deny that it is acceptable to do harmful research on human life at any stage regardless of impairment or impending death or to terminate such life before its natural end. We further deny that it is acceptable to do destructive research on so-called ‘spare embryos’.

We affirm our right – and indeed obligation – to speak for the future of our society. We hold that ‘natural’ Law is present in the heart of mankind; that this law exhorts us to protect the innocent and helpless and to uphold the sanctity, preciousness and intrinsic value of life at all stages. We further hold that these are eternal and immutable principles.

We assert our right and obligation to practice medicine according to our conscience. We will not engage in or facilitate procedures or practices that we believe are inconsistent with the above manifesto.

Editors note: If you are a medical graduate resident in Australia and wish to sign the statement please visit the stated website. If you know someone who is a medical graduate resident in Australia who may be interested in signing the statement please let them know of the website address so they can visit the site and decide for themselves whether they wish to sign.

For further information please email

Source: Medicine with Morality