https://doi.org/10.4081/mem.1995.989
Ethical imperialism in medicine and scientific research.
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Authors
The authors analyse the phenomenon of ethical "imperialism" in the field of biomedicine after providing a brief historical review of some significant steps of the ars medica. In particular, imperialism can be found in several biomedical sectors: 1. the "almost obligatory" use of the English language far scientific publications, to the extent that papers published in different languages are less often quoted, regardless of their intrinsic value; 2. medicai education provided in other countries follows teaching methods that do not always take the local situation into consideration, even including the language used far teaching; 3. clinical experiments are carried out in different countries with different regulations regarding, far example, informed consent; 4. the influence of Western ethical "standards" on the cultures of non-Western countries. The article concludes by confirming that it is opportune to spread some of these so-called "Western" attitudes, which refer to the nature of and the respect for the person, cutting across different cultures and traditions, like for example, the creation of Ethical Committees and the introduction of informed consent. When, however, the Western influence is "arrogant", it is unacceptable.
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