Suchergebnisse

The publicity given to the first successful human fertilisation raised widespread public discussions, particularly on the local media, on the complex ethical, social and legal issues related to artificial human procreation. Shortly after this breakthrough in local medical history, a parliamentary question urged the National Bioethics Consultative Committee to issue ethical guidelines and called for a legal framework. Though this event caught the attention of the general public, artificial insemination has been taking place in Malta, as elsewhere, for a long time. An article published in one of the leading daily papers announced that the number of Maltese married couples who are having children using donated ova or sperm is increasing. ; N/A

As everyone knows there are two tiers of provision of health care: state and private. Whilst government provides a good service at hospital and health centres, which is by right free for all, only private doctors provide Family Practices. WHO criteria for a family service advocate that, ideally, doctors should be life-time partners with the family, and that doctors should know their patients by name, and each patient able to mention by name his or her primary care physician1• For many private GPs this is still the case. ; N/A

The development of In Vitro Fertilisation (lVF) is a perfect example of how medical science has outpaced morality and ethics. Reproductive technology, while offering enormous benefits to infertile couples, has opened up a veritable Pandora's box of ethical dilemmas. Louise Brown, now 21 years of age, was the first IVF baby born in England. Here in Malta our first IVF baby was born only a few years ago in what could well be described as a legal and ethical vacuum. For while Science and Technology have forged ahead, Law and EthicS have lagged behind. So, in launching this document on Reproductive Technology (or, should it be Assisted Procreation?). the Bioethics Consultative Committee has taken a decisive step towards remedying this deplorable state of affairs. ; N/A

Is procreation a biological act or an essentially human act? I believe that this is a fundamental question to be addressed when evaluating human reproductive technology. All the more so because assisted reproductive techniques can so easily shift from the therapeutic to the manipulative. The distinction between therapy and experimentation pure and simple lies at the very core of any analysis of this particular area of study in order to safeguard the integrity of the "person" which is the subject of treatment. I do not only refer here to the patient in the broad sense of the term, but to all parties involved in the reproductive process as well as the human life from inception. ; N/A