Bioethics

Bioethics is the study of ethical issues in the practice of medicine and biomedical research. The field of bioethics has flourished for 30 years, and bioethicists have made significant progress on ethical issues in clinical medicine—that is, on “bedside” issues in the delivery of health care. More recently, significant attention has been paid to the just distribution of scarce health care resources. At the forefront of contemporary bioethics are issues tied specifically to forprofit health care such as the ethical development and marketing of pharmaceuticals.

The field of bioethics is one of the closest allied areas of research to business ethics. Bioethics and business ethicists deal with many similar issues, such as the appropriate use of ethical theory in dealing with practical ethical questions, obligations to ...