Navigating the chasm between religious and secular perspectives in modern bioethics
- Department of Medicine, Soroka University Medical Center and The Jakobovits Center for Jewish Medical Ethics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
- Alan Jotkowitz, Prywess Center for Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Ben-Gurion University, POB 151, Beer-Sheva, Israel 84105; ajotkowitz{at}hotmail.com
- Received 19 November 2008
- Revised 5 February 2009
- Accepted 24 February 2009
Abstract
In the past 3 years, three landmark laws relating to bioethics have been passed in the Israeli parliament. These are the Terminally Ill Patient Law (in 2005) and the Organ Donation Law and the Brain Death/Respiratory Law (in 2008). To reach consensus on these difficult issues in a multicultural society such as Israel was not an easy undertaking. Using learning from previous failed attempts, compromise, dialogue and work done in the absence of hysteria and publicity were crucial to the process. In all three laws, compromises were obtained between the secular and religious factions, from which an acceptable law was developed. The Israeli experience is a model of a country working to synthesise an ancient tradition with the complexities of modern life and could serve as an example for other countries struggling with similar issues.
Footnotes
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Competing interests: None declared.
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Provenance and Peer review: not commissioned; externally peer reviewed
