Agata Strządała

The text presents the origins of informed consent in medical practice and research, with a special focus on English-speaking countries. The introduction of anesthesia into medical practice resulted in the emergence of a new group of injured patients who operated in the unconscious state, have no control over medical intervention, and complain that they were subjected to procedures to which they did not agree. The second impulse is experimenting involving humans in the 18th and 19th centuries, some cases gain considerable publicity (e.g. infection with pathogens) and led to high-profi le trials in which the argument of patients’ consent to participate in a non-therapeutic experiment appeared. In the case of therapeutic experiments, the principle of the patient’s benefi t prevails over his autonomy. The third factor is a gradual transition from the individual approach of the doctor to the patient, based on virtue ethics, to understanding the relationship between the doctor and the patient in terms of a contract. Then, the transition from the contract to general rights and the formulation of general patient rights.

The article is focused on Israeli bioethical specificity, which derive from and is based mainly on Jewish religious law and tradition. They are actively reinterpreted and implemented in Israeli society by social practices, polices and institutions. This topic is complex because the differences between the orthodox, conservative, and reformed Judaism are reflected in bioethical discussions. However in Israel a broad consensus has been reached on many issues such as abortion, in vitro fertilization, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, human cloning, stem cell research including embryonic stem cells, and euthanasia. Generally speaking, similar like Islamic and Confucian bioethics, the Jewish one is open to the possibility of artificial in vitro fertilization, PGD, human cloning, and embryonic stem cell research. On the other hand, the attitudes towards euthanasia, autopsy and organ donation in Jewish bioethics are largely negative.