Sanctity of Life and Human Dignity at the Bedside

Abstract

However much the history of the relationship between physician and patient has been that of the “silent world” that Jay Katz describes [2], that world is increasingly being impacted by a cacophony of voices in the present day. Whether basic communication and mutual understanding is actually increasing remains debatable. But endless discussions and reflections, in the clinical and bioethics literature, in the popular media, in courses and seminars for students and practitioners of health care, in rooms where team members or ethics committees meet, and at the bedside, are occurring, particularly concerning the appropriate response to chronic, terminal and devastating disease. And such discussions are not just between physicians as in the past; all members of the health care team, ethics consultants and committees, as well as patients and their families, are increasingly attempting to have their voices heard.