Research ethics in animal models.

Unlabelled: The use of animals in scientific experiments has been described since the fifth century BC. A number of scientific advances in health are attributed to animal models. The issue of the moral status of animals has always been debated.

[Clinical bioethics: how to practice?].

To think about ethics means to go into the Bioethics universe. If it is understood that medical ethics deals with doctors within an organized society under legal purposes, consensus and ethics in the exercise of medicine it is observed that Bioethics came up due to the need to debate and decide on the ethic questions related mainly to research and scientific advances as well as conquests concerning human rights and social-cultural development: it is the critical expression of our interest in conveniently using the development of medical art and science. Within Medicine, clinical Bioethics arouse as a possibility of thinking and discussing the practice of medicine in the different social institutions which deal with health and with professionals in health area.

Clinical bioethics.

Clinical bioethics was born out of the need to introduce different ethical values involved in the relationships among physician, patient and health institutions which are outside the technical-scientific framework of routine medical practice. Physicians tend to adopt the norms and rules provided for in the Medical Ethics Code to guide the exercising of their professional practice. However, it has recently become challenging to apply these norms to all conduct since some issues faced in the professional practice are simply not provided for by such norms.

[Is the legally responsible party indeed responsible? An ethical-legal question on the term].

The authors discuss the legal and ethical meaning of the expression "Third-Party Consent" by questioning its limits. It is indeed shown that it does not satisfactorily meet what is called third-party consent because this would require legal endorsement by legal codes and norms which, in fact does not occur. As such, the expression "third-party consent", whenever used, may not provide the professional with the normative, ethical and legal support needed for professional performance.

Ethical aspects of brain death and end-of-life.

Ethical issues surrounding brain death and end-of-life have not been afforded in Brazil the same attention as in many developed countries. There appears to be reluctance on the part of Brazilian doctors to limit or suspend procedures or treatment which prolongs life of patients in terminal phases of severe incurable illness, or to suspend the artificial means of supporting vegetative functions in cases of brain death outside the context of organ and tissue donation for transplant. Fears grounded in possible administrative (Regional Medical Councils) or legal repercussions, as well as ambiguous interpretations of religious precepts, partially explain this reluctance which often results in unnecessary prolonging of patient suffering.