scholarly journals Rechtsfragen der Ressourcenzuteilung in der COVID-19-Pandemie – Zwischen Utilitarismus und Lebenswertindifferenz

2020 ◽  
Vol 145 (10) ◽  
pp. 687-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Hübner ◽  
Denis M. Schewe ◽  
Alexander Katalinic ◽  
Fabian-S. Frielitz
Keyword(s):  
Social Role ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
German Law ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
German Health Care System ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
Legal Implications ◽  
Normative Standard ◽  
Near Future

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented challenges for the German health care system. What is already the case in some other countries, may occur in Germany in the near future also: Faced with limited ICU resources, doctors will be forced to decide which patients to treat and which to let die. This paper examines the legal implications of such decisions. It takes up arguments from the general discussion on prioritization in medicine. A constitutional hurdle for the application of utilitarian criteria (in particular patients’ age or social role) comes from the principle that every human life is of equal value and must not be traded off against others (“life value indifference”). However, the limits that the Grundgesetz (German Basic Law) sets for state actions do not apply directly to doctors. According to the Musterberufsordnung (professional code of conduct), doctors act based on their conscience and the requirements of medical ethics and humanity. The implications of this normative standard for the prioritizing in an exceptional situation as the COVID 19 pandemic have not been sufficiently clarified. This uncertainty leads to emotional and moral burdens for doctors. The authors conclude that the German law grants a limited freedom of choice that allows physicians to apply utilitarian criteria in addition to purely medical decision algorithms.

International Treaties and The German Constitution

2019 ◽  
pp. 171-190
Author(s):  
Stefan Kadelbach
Keyword(s):  
German Law ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
The Status ◽  
German Constitution ◽  
Federal Constitutional

This chapter deals with the making, status, and interpretation of international treaties under the German Constitution. It describes the interrelationship of the different institutions in treaty-making and shows how a comparatively old provision of the German Basic Law has been adapted slowly to new circumstances over the past decades. Thus, even though foreign affairs has remained a domain of the executive, several developments have contributed to an enhanced role of Parliament over time. These developments are partly due to the role of special sectors of law such as EU law and the law governing the use of force and partly due to changes in constitutional practice. As for the status of treaties in German law, the Federal Constitutional Court has developed a stance according to which treaties generally share the rank of the legal act that implements them into domestic law. A notable exception is the European Convention of Human Rights, which has assumed a quasi-constitutional rank by means of consistent interpretation. Some reference is made to other continental systems to assess how far different constitutions bring about certain features; various systems appear similar in many respects at first sight, whereas features in which they differ may be a source of inspiration for future constitutional practice.

The Dictatorship of Appearance or Simulation in Present-Day "Democracies" against the Background of the Market Ecocide of the Foundations of Human Life on Earth

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 82-93
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Subetto
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Environmental Disaster ◽  
Environmental Destruction ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Point Of No Return ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Near Future

It is proved that the current era is characterized by many governments around the world as dictatorship of "appearance" or "simulation" of the most activities transforming politics, even the tragic events like local ecological catastrophes, local wars, "colour revolutions", the elections in a "theatre", "acting", on the background of market ecocide – really accelerating processes of the first phase of a Global Environmental Disaster, which, at the transition "point of no return" in the near future, may turn into a process of irreversible environmental destruction of all mankind. This dictatorship of "appearance" or simulation as a "curtain" market democracy, hiding the capitalism-led, process of dehumanization of man, is an indicator of the inadequacy of states and political "elites" imperative of survival of mankind, as the imperative out of the ecological impasse of history in market-capitalist format. There comes a reckoning for this departure into the " market-capitalist illusion of apparent prosperity. The societies of the world, including Rossiya, have faced a dilemma:either environmental destruction, or the Noosphere Breakthrough, which, in its essence, is a change in the social organization of social life and its reproduction – the transition from the dominance of capitalism and the market to the Noosphere Ecological Spiritual Socialism on the basis of scientific and educational society and the management of socionatural evolution.

Celebrating the Milk Maid: What Federal Constitutional Court President Limbach Doesn't Tell Us About the Court Says It All

2001 ◽  
Vol 2 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktor Winkler
Keyword(s):  
German Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Limited Size ◽  
Small Stature ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
Law Student

It's a small book. Actually, it is a very small book. Only one hundred and twenty-eight pages, it's a format so thin it could fit into a pocket. As a matter of fact, it is smaller than a copy of the Grundgesetz (German Basic Law) that a German law student would carry along to class. The book's title, however, is considerably more intrepid than the book's small stature. At the same time breathtakingly pithy and slightly immodest, the book is simply called Das Bundesverfassungsgericht (The Federal Constitutional Court). And at the top of the cover, just to make sure, the word “WISSEN” (KNOWLEDGE) appears in big letters. While one wonders how a publication of such limited size could deign to comprehensively present the important “knowledge” of the Federal Constitutional Court, the other words on the cover provide some assurance. Those words are the name of the book's author who obviously could not be more adequate for the task. The author, Jutta Limbach, is the current President of the Federal Constitutional Court presiding in her seventh year.

scholarly journals Drive unit characteristics of a completely electrical passenger aircraft

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marc Fąfara
Keyword(s):  
Electric Drive ◽  
Power Supply System ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Good Alternative ◽  
Supply System ◽  
Drive Unit ◽  
Electric Aircraft ◽  
The Many ◽  
Passenger Aircraft ◽  
Near Future

AbstractAviation has, over the years, become an inseparable element of human life. Airplanes are very commonly used for various tasks, such as transport of passengers and goods, military attack and defence, rescue, recreation and so on. In spite of the many advantages of aviation, one cannot ignore its disadvantages. The most important disadvantages of aviation are the emissions that cause atmospheric pollution and noise. Additionally, one should remember about the decreasing stocks of non-renewable fuels. These drawbacks affect human health and the natural environment. Therefore, a good alternative to conventional drive units in aircraft may turn out to be electric drive units in the near future. The aim of this article is to check the extent to which today’s knowledge and technology allow the use of electric drive units instead of conventional aircraft drive units. This article presents the concept of electric aircraft, from the electric drive unit to its power supply system. The feasibility of designing an electric jet drive unit for a passenger aircraft was analysed based on the performances of PZL 104 Wilga 35 and Boeing B787 Dreamliner.

scholarly journals 41st Annual North American Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making; October 21, 2019; Portland, Oregon Keynote Address The More Who Die, the Less We Care: Confronting the Deadly Arithmetic of Compassion

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 238146832091431
Author(s):  
Paul Slovic
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
North American ◽  
Medical Decision Making ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Keynote Address ◽  
Shared Decision ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The Face

In this keynote address delivered at the 41st Annual North American Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making, I discuss the psychology behind valuing human lives. Research confirms what we experience in our daily lives. We are inconsistent and sometimes incoherent in our valuation of human life. We value individual lives greatly, but these lives lose their value when they become part of a larger crisis. As a result, we do too little to protect human lives in the face of catastrophic threats from violence, natural disasters, and other causes. In medicine, this may pose difficult choices when treating individual patients with expensive therapies that keep hope alive but are not cost-effective for the population, for example, with end of life. Lifesaving judgments and decisions are highly context-dependent, subject to many forms of response mode and framing effects and affective biases. This has implications for risk communication and the concept of shared decision making. Slower, more introspective decision making may reduce some of the biases associated with fast, intuitive decisions. But slow thinking can also introduce serious biases. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of fast and slow thinking is a necessary first step toward valuing lives humanely and improving decisions.

scholarly journals BIOETHICS: DEFINITION AND TYPES

Bioethics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-16
Author(s):  
I. V. Siluyanova ◽  
◽  
L. E. Pishchikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Biomedical Ethics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Social Council ◽  
The One ◽  
Near Future ◽  
The Church

Bioethics is defined by the authors as a form of knowledge about the permissible limits of manipulating human life in the range from birth to dying. A comparative analysis of the materials of the Conference in Jerusalem (2018) and the «Handbook on Bioethics for Judges» (2016) prepared by the UNESCO Department of Bioethics in Haifa, on the one hand, and Statements of the Church and Social Council on Biomedical Ethics of the Russian Orthodox Church, on the other, was conducted. It proves that bioethics as a type of modern medical ethics exists and will exist in the near future in conservative and liberal forms. Disclosure of their content contributes to solving the problem of finding compromises in specific situations of medical practice.

Hunger strikes

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily A. Keram
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Psychiatric Evaluation ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Hunger Strike ◽  
International Consensus ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
Correctional Settings

The management of hunger strikes in correctional settings presents the psychiatrist with unique clinical and ethical challenges. The potential for such complex tensions between medical decision-making and medical ethics rarely exists in other practice settings. A physician’s primary consideration involves the health of their patient and respect for human life. The correctional psychiatrist treating or evaluating a hunger striker may be involved in medical decisions that lead to opposite extremes, from death by starvation to forced-feeding. Concepts such as respect for human life, respect for patient autonomy, beneficence, and non-maleficence present new and difficult considerations in the context of a correctional hunger strike. The psychiatric evaluation and treatment of hunger strikers within the management protocols of the institution is discussed. The lack of international consensus in this area is reviewed. Participating in the management of a hunger-striking prisoner can pose clinical and ethical dilemmas for the correctional psychiatrist. The psychiatrist should have a clear understanding of the international guidelines for physicians on the ethical management of hunger strikes and their institution’s policies and procedures regarding hunger strikes and force-feeding. Consultation with experts in the field may be of assistance in balancing potentially conflicting roles and responsibilities. This chapter provides correctional psychiatrists with the historical, clinical, legal, and ethical background for working with hunger strikers.

The Natural Law Foundations of Medical Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 46-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P George ◽  
Christopher O Tollefsen
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Practice ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Right To Health ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Medical Law ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Right To Health Care

This chapter seeks to identify the basic human goods that are the foundational principles of the natural law; a derived set of moral norms that emerge from consideration of the integral directiveness or prescriptivity of those foundational principles; and the implications of these norms for medical practice and medical law as regards four questions. First, how should medical practice and medical law be structured with respect to the intentional taking of human life by members of the medical profession? Second, who, in the clinical setting, has authority for medical decision making, and what standards should guide their decisions? Third, what standards should govern the distribution of health-care resources in society, and do those standards give reasons for thinking, from the natural law standpoint, that there is a ‘right to health care’? Fourth, what concern should be shown in medical practice and medical law for the rights of ‘physician conscience’?

The concept of donor and recipient and their legal status

2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (12) ◽  
pp. 129-132
Author(s):  
Nargiz Movsum Huseynli ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Bone Marrow ◽  
Brain Death ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Human Organs ◽  
Transplant Patients ◽  
Key Words Transplantation ◽  
Transplant Organs

In the field of transplantation of human organs and tissues, the donor is a person who voluntarily donates his organs and tissues to transplant patients, and the recipient is a person who transplants organs and tissues for therapeutic purposes. It should be noted that if the donor is under 18 years of age, it is not allowed to remove organs and tissues for transplantation purposes, except for bone marrow. Also, the medical decision on transplantation is made directly to the recipient, if the recipient is considered to be under 18 years of age and legally incapable, then the information is passed on to legal representatives of the recipient. Transplantation of human organs and tissues is carried out on the basis of medical instructions in accordance with the rules of surgery. The main point is that if it is not possible to save human life or restore health through other medical methods and through corpse organs and tissues, then the recipient is allowed to transplant organs and tissues from the donor. Key words: Transplantation, Donor, Recipient, Brain Death, Donor and Recipient Consent

The Fire Went Out: From Natural to Artificial Fire

2020 ◽  
pp. 90-102
Author(s):  
Пьеркарло Гримальди
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Turn Of The Millennium ◽  
Existential Crisis ◽  
Cognitive Problem ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
Great Transition ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Near Future

В основу статьи положена гипотеза о том, что в настоящее время, на рубеже тысячелетий, огонь, который человек начал использовать на заре своей истории, угасает навсегда. Человек, применяя технологии, преобразующие и заменяющие открытый огонь, пришел тем самым к важному поворотному моменту эволюции, меняющему многие фундаментальные элементы его жизни, под знаком которых развивались с первобытных времен общество, культура, мифология. Резкое исчезновение живого пламени из повседневной (домашней, и не только) жизни знаменует собой великий переход, ведущий в ближайшее время к полной утрате многовековых практик, отмечавших ритм человеческой жизни и деятельности. Отсутствие живого огня или его превращение во все более незаметный, невидимый, нематериальный вызывает у людей чувство опустошенности. Это переломный момент, некоторые следствия которого мы уже начинаем наблюдать и который вызвал к жизни ряд субъективных и коллективных решений (подчас паллиативных), демонстрирующих нам, насколько эта проблема важна для аффективной жизни как отдельного человека, так и человечества в целом. Очевидно, что исчезновение огня из нашей жизни представляет собой важную познавательную проблему, с которой нам придется иметь дело ради преодоления экзистенциального кризиса (материального и нематериального, логического и эмоционального). Исход этого кризиса определит становление культуры будущих поколений. This article is based on the hypothesis that at the present time, at the turn of the millennium, the fire that man began to use at the dawn of his history is extinguished forever. Man, using technologies that transform and replace open fire, has thus come to an important turning point in evolution, changing many of the fundamental elements of his life under the sign of which society, culture, and mythology have developed since primitive times. The disappearance of living flame from everyday (domestic and other) life marks a great transition, leading in the near future to the complete loss of centuries-old forms and practices that marked the rhythm of human life and activity. The lack of living fire, which becomes more and more unnoticeable, invisible, immaterial, causes desolation. This is a turning point, some consequences of which we are already beginning to observe, and which has brought to light a number of subjective and collective decisions (sometimes palliative) that demonstrate how important this problem is for the affective life of both the individual and for humanity as a whole. The disappearance of fire from our lives is an important cognitive problem that we shall have to deal with in order to overcome an existential crisis (material and non-material, affective and logical), the outcome of which will determine the culture of future generations.

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