In his essay László Németh differentiates between three types of bioethics: philosophical bioethics. sci-fi bioethics and scientific bioethics. His aim with this differentiation is to give a thorough, picture of the latest history of bioethics, its present state and the prospects of a future he judges desirable. The author is of the opinion that this differentiation of three is suitable for providing an adequate theoretical and perceptive framework for the right discussion of bioethics, that is, the widest-ranging possible ethic reflections on the development of human-concerned sciences, biotechnology and medicine, and the relating legal issues.
Péter Kakuk's essay makes an effort to show that talking about genetics as a special field is not at all obvious; he is of the opinion that many problems and regulations could have been avoided if we stuck to a more realistic and moderate approach concerning the role of genes in human life, where genetic technologies and their employment on humans would appear together with their own limits. In the author's opinion, thanks to the boom of genetic researches and the empiric results of Human Genom Project and later, it seems more and more that anything we used to know about genes and their operation in particular, needs definite revision.
Judit Sándor's writing discusses the limits of the right to dispose of one's body. The question has arisen in relation to such problems as the research of embryos, organs, tissues, gametes, cells and DNS outside the human body; the employment of these created a new ethical and legal problem. These procedures give rise to the idea that the legislative should consider the protection of personality not only when discussing information arising in the course of direct medical treatment, but also information and any data or conclusion that may be related back to humans, that is accessible from human tissues. The author is of the opinion that the ethic principles behind the right to dispose of parts of the human body are not based on a respect for human dignity, much more on the daims on seifdisposal in the case of information carried by such tissues, organs and for example the DNS.
In the present issue of Fundamentum you can find an interview with Judit Fridii on the present state of the protection of patients' rights, and the relevant questions of bioethics. Judit Fridli told us that the fixed power conditions of Hungarian public health dating back to the Kádár-era have not changed since the political transition, It is of no help that the Act on Public Health contains no sanctions against the violation of patients' rights embedded in the Act, either. Her experience is that patients' rights, especially in the field of psychiatry, can be manifested with extreme difficulties at court, as Hungarian judges refrain from taking sides in such questions. For this reason they have always put much emphasis on informing the legislative of the conclusions drawn from the cases they meet in the framework of their service of judicial assistance. Fridli emphasises that the experience of counsels of patients' rights and the surveys of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union all show that the fundamental rights of patients - their right to human dignity, right to information, right to compliance - in the Hungarian health care system are not at all held in respect.
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The authors here were asked of the connections between the field of bioethics and the doctrine of human rights. Zoltán Balázs's opinion was that the ethical problems arising with the growth of biological knowledge and technical possibilities can easily be discussed by "classic" means. In his opinion the extension of knowledge "only" means that it creates a possibility and a must for a deeper rethinking of moral realizations that are held as common human property, for which the exposure of the ontological structure of moral facts seems a good and effective method. János Boros thinks that neither those practicing ethics, nor legal experts (not to mention the legislative) are in the position to fully understand and control biotechnological procedures. Two forced actions result from this special situation. On the one hand both in Hungary, Europe, and in the broader international level we will urgently need experts who are in possession of the greatest possible knowledge in ethics, law, bioethics, and their practice and "technologies". On the other hand as long as we do not have such universal professionals, biologisrt must perform the ethical check of their own training and work, as they can understand the logic of their examined and managed procedures best.
Reflecting on a previous topic of Fundamentum, the relationship of terrorism and human rights, László Korinek considers the relations of crime and post-modern society. In his opinion the notion of human security in general removes the supposed conflict between human rights and security. This approach says that the extension and greatest possible manifestation of human rights is not an obstacle, but in fact the aim, and in the case of its success the result of security politics. As for desired strategies, he quotes Javier Solana: "A world that is more honest is safer."
According to Ágnes Czine, although the legislation amended the secret wiretapping provisions of the Act on criminal procedure, from a constitutional point of view it is questionable whether the amended rules provide sufficient guarantee of review powers for the judicial fora in terms of the legality of secret wire-tapping.
In the commentary concerning the current issues of biomedical legislation (e.g. oocyte-donation; surrogate motherhood etc.), Eszter Csernus expresses her doubt whether decision-makers have a coherent standpoint and set of arguments of how to harmonize different societal interests.
Besides, in this column you can find two writings that analyse the decision of the Hungarian Constitutional Court relating to state subsidiary private prosecution. Mátyás Bencze is of the opinion that the Constitutional Court arbitrarily extended its jurisdiction to the constitutional examination of the Supreme Court's uniformity decisions. In this way, and radically breaking with its previous practice, it took over consti tu donai check over the judicial branch, According to Daniel Karsai, when the Constitutional Court decides on the constitutionality of uniformity decisions of the Supreme Court, even in the case of an independent procedure, it remains within the framework of subsequent norm control. The constitutional examination of a uniformity decision can be viewed as the definition of a reversed constitutional requirement.
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In this column we give the summary of two decisions of the US Supreme Court. The first interprets the federal Controlled Substances Act, the second deals with the Oregon Act on informing the parents before an abortion. Following this, we present the decision of the German Constitutional Court on the safety of air space, and then we give the statement of the network of independent human rights experts working within the framework of the European Union, on the would-be concordats of member states of the Union with the Holy See, Finally, we give a selection of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, and briefly sum up some of the decisions of the Hungarian Constitutional Court.
József Kovács's writing talks about his experience with the attempted model studying the work of counsels of patients' rights in the field of psychiatry. Among others he states that the methods of organizing work in psychiatric wards are not effective enough. Due to doctors and the assisting staff being overburdened, psychiatrists have time only for "fire fighting": the acceptance of new patients, documentation, writing a final hospital bulletin for the leaving patients, doing rounds and the treatment of returning ambulant patients. There is very little chance to keep in contact with patients, to develop a good relationship between doctor and patient, Psychotherapy and sociotherapy should be part of a correct psychiatric treatment, so if not even patients accepted to the psychiatric ward get these, the right to medical treatment is violated.
The annual report of the network of independent human rights experts working within the framework of the European Union is made on the basis of the national reports given by experts of the member states, which on the basis of the different Articles of the Charter show and analyse the practice of their national legislative, courts and other official bodies. Gábor Halmai gives the most important statements of the Hungarian report. The report states that the manifestation of fundamental rights in Hungary was not unproblematic in 2005 either. In spite of several positive initiatives of the government, in many cases the practice and decisions of the Hungarian officials give reasons to worry. For instance violence within the family affects almost one million women and children directly. Recent Act or Bills do not solve the overcrowded nature of prisons, the settlement of the partnership of same sex couples, or the prohibition of school segregation either.
In this column we publish the Hungarian translation of Bernard G, Prusak's article (Rethinking "Liberal Eugenics". Reflections and Questions on Habermas on Bioethics). We recommend the volume edited by András Sajó and Renáta Uitz (The Constitution in Private Relations: Expanding Constitutionalism) and the book of Judit Bayer on the freedom of Internet. ■
Visszaugrás
