Ethical aspects of reproductive medicine

Abstract

Medical research and clinical practice are not imprisoned in a self-sufficient ivory tower of scholars. Rather, within enlightened democratic society there is a public interest in all matters touching upon the responsible handling of human life over which, thanks to medical research, mankind has been given increasing control. Critical and constructive solidarity with all potentially affected persons is therefore called for which lays the foundation for consentual legal standards; effective laws do not arise from unconcerted efforts by legislators or monopoly-seeking lobbyists, but reflect the intellectual responsibility of the whole community. For the physician this provides welcome relief. Serious decisions that have far-reaching consequences in shaping the lives of individual patients must not be made by the scientist in the solitude of his conscience, even though certain tensions between truth's claim for universal validity and any consensus achieved will never be fully resolved. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.