The History of Bioethics in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

The year 1990 can be considered the beginning of bioethics in the Dominican Republic. In that year, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) in the Dominican Republic extended an invitation to the academic and medical communities to attend an important meeting. At this meeting, a very special guest was welcomed who spoke of a new and foreign subject called “bioethics.”

The guest was Dr. Eduardo del Caño from Argentina, who came to the country for several reasons, including the delivery of this talk. The invitation was taken very seriously in academic circles. We from the universities were among the first to show interest, accompanied by those from the Ministry of Health, other government officials, and those within religious circles.

The full magnitude of the proposal was not immediately appreciated; nevertheless, it can be said that it was well received. Argentinians already had much experience with bioethics, and bioethicists such as Mainetti were already part of the history of bioethics. Dominicans, on the other hand, were still only trying to conceive what the landscape of bioethics would look like. The institutes and bioethics centers of Argentina were a reality separate and distant from us.