Law Bioethics Introduction The Relationship Between Law and Bioethics Statutory Law Case Law Ethical Issues Statutory Laws Influencing Bioethics Case Law Influencing Bioethics Web Resources Suggested Readings Glossary of Legal Terms Introduction The Relationship Between Law and Bioethics The Encyclopedia of Bioethics Simon Schuster Macmillan 1995 defines bioethics as the broad terrain of the moral problems of life sciences ordinarily taken to encompass medicine biology and some important aspects of the environmental population and social sciences Laws often provide guidance to those confronted with bioethical problems because they establish restrictions and requirements for behavior and may represent a general consensus of what is or is not ethical For example Title 21 a federal law establishes when and under what conditions it is acceptable to conduct biomedical research on human subjects and is generally regarded as a set of rules arising out of ethical concerns and reflecting something of an ethical consensus However laws cannot always offer definitive answers In some cases the law may even conflict with an individual s belief of what is ethical in a particular situation Thus laws affecting bioethical issues often create conflict and raise important questions How Laws Affect Bioethical Decisions Most individuals will have to make a choice involving bioethics at some point in their lives The study of bioethics is concerned with identifying all of the available options and considering the implications of each option In some cases laws limit the available choices For example a Pennsylvania law requires minors to obtain parental consent in order to have an abortion Thus in Pennsylvania a physician has limited legal options when confronted with a minor patient who requests an abortion but does not wish to inform her parents discussed in Planned Parenthood v Casey The physician s choices are limited regardless of his or her beliefs regarding the validity of the patient s reasons for wishing to maintain her privacy In this way certain bioethical standards may be imposed on all members of society based on legislative or judicial actions that may or may not represent societal consensus Bioethicists often disagree about whether or not this is appropriate At the same time the creation and form of such laws may be influenced by those working in the field of bioethics who actively engage in the legislative or judicial process Because laws can affect bioethics by limiting choices and bioethics can affect the creation of laws the two fields are inseparable in many situations Laws can be created either through legislation which is called statutory law or by opinions written by judges in court cases which is called case law Below is an explanation of these two types of law You can also access examples of statutory laws or case laws influencing bioethics further down on this page Statutory law is comprised of written laws enacted by either a state legislature or the Federal Congress Statutory laws are either civil including such things as licensing professions building codes and the establishment of holidays or criminal Civil laws represent the government s general power to influence or control activity but do not involve criminal penalties Violation of a criminal statutory law is considered a crime and may result in a fine and or jail time Congress the President and various state officials often review reports or presentations by bioethicists while considering new legislation For an example of this see the President s Council on Bioethics The legal options available to a person making a bioethical decision may be the same throughout the country or may depend on the state in which that person is located The Constitution defines specific areas in which the federal government may make laws preserving all other areas of law for the individual states Once the federal government makes a law concerning a certain issue that law is superior to any conflicting state law Thus if federal law addresses a specific issue the legal options are the same in all states If there is no federal law that applies options are determined by state law and may differ among states In addition to specific laws the federal government and individual state governments may also establish regulatory bodies with the power to regulate certain well defined areas and practices One example of a regulatory body affecting bioethics is the Office for Human Research Protections OHRP part of the U S Department of Health and Human Services HHS The OHRP regulates research involving human subjects Click here for a list of links to several federal and Minnesota state statutory laws Case law often referred to as judge made law is comprised of decisions in the form of written opinions which determine the outcome of individual court cases by providing an interpretation of statutory laws and often an interpretation of the U S Constitution Many of the legal rules affecting bioethics are the result of case law Appellate courts may consider outside information in the form of amicus briefs including those written by or submitted on behalf of bioethicists when ruling on cases and creating case law Statutory law as amplified and interpreted by case law establishes principles and guidelines of behavior that must be followed at the risk of legal consequences in the form of civil lawsuits enforcement actions by the government or its agencies or criminal prosecution An individual or agency that violates an established law may be susceptible to a lawsuit As a result a court may order the individual or agency to stop a particular activity and or require them to pay monetary damages to the other party If the actions of the individual or agency also violate a criminal law the individual may be susceptible to criminal penalties including jail time and or fines A government agency may also bring an action to suspend a license or stop an activity conducted in violation of the law If a person feels that her rights have been violated in some way she can in many cases sue the individual or corporation responsible for that violation In addition an individual or entity can sue a state a government agency or even the federal government if he or she believes that a particular law violates his or her rights Once a case is decided the principle of stare decisis requires all lower courts to decide similar cases in the same way The United States Supreme Court is the
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