Abstract:
The internal morality of medicine is still under debate, as is the role of bioethics in representing this morality or, alternatively, serving as a problem-solving method. The present artiele supports the disciplinary character of bioethics and its function in reflecting upon the internal morality of medical practice. Principlism, as well as the more pragmatic approaches, lack analytic rigour to create a solid theoretical background for bioethics. Based on manifest changes in the medical paradigm, a restructuring in the teaching of bioethics is suggested, which takes into account the following areas of impending change in medical practice: the predominance of economic factor, the high-tech sophistication of medicine, the erosion of the distinction between health and disease and between needs and desires, the increasing influence of preventive medicine and public health and, finally, the repercussions of these changes on the health-care scenario in Latinamerica. All these challenges require a new approach to values involved, and a disciplinary bioethical reflection almed at enlarging the moral realm of medical students way beyond the mere competency of solving ethical problems in elinical situations.
Key-words:
Morals; Bioethical Issues; Principle - Based Ethics; Education, Medical