Shared Principles? German Responses to American Bioethics Since the 1970s

Abstract

Since its inception in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the academic discipline of bioethics has profoundly shaped the professional and public assessments of biomedicine. A universalistic approach preferred by American bioethicists and challenges posed by modern biomedicine created a transatlantic moment for ethical theories and practices. This article will discuss the transfer of bioethical knowledge from the United States to (West) Germany and highlight its immediate reception, its slow adaptation, and its belated implementation at universities, in society, and in the medical profession. Examples from academia, policy and law will provide a narrative focus for explaining the peculiar relationship between institutional ambitions, universalistic theoretical claims, and local professional routines and adjustments. In particular, the article contrasts a general openness towards ethical concepts and practices with the comparably reluctance in adopting American bioethics as it was perceived in Germany, which effectively delayed the implementation of ethics in German medicine for decades. The German responses to American bioethics provide a topical example for boundary work on an international level.

Ethical dilemmas in healthcare management: A comprehensive review

“…However, the formal integration of ethics into healthcare management gained momentum in the latter half of the 20th century (Okpo, 2022;Slaná & Slaný, 2021). The emergence of bioethics as a distinct discipline in the 1960s marked a pivotal moment (Schütz, 2022). Ethicists and scholars began addressing the ethical challenges posed by advancements in medical technology, issues of patient autonomy, and the allocation of limited resources.…”