Against Relativism Cultural Diversity and the Search for Ethical Universals in Medicine

This book provides an analysis of the debate surrounding culturaldiversity, and attempts to reconcile the seemingly opposing views of "ethicalimperialism," the belief that each individual is entitled to fundamental humanrights, and cultural relativism, the belief that ethics must be relative toparticular cultures and societies. The author examines the role of culturaltradition, often used as a defense against critical ethical judgments. Keyissues in health and medicine are explored in the context of cultural diversity:the physician-patient relationship, disclosing a diagnosis of a fatal illness,informed consent, brain death and organ transplantation, rituals surroundingbirth and death, female genital mutilation, sex selection of offspring,fertility regulation, and biomedical research involving human subjects. Amongthe conclusions the author reaches are that ethical universals exist, but mustnot be confused with ethical absolutes. The existence of ethical universals iscompatible with a variety of culturally relative interpretations, and somerights related to medicine and health care should be considered human rights.Illustrative examples are drawn from the author's experiences serving oninternational ethical review committees and her travels to countries in Africa,Asia, and Latin America, where she conducted educational workshops and carriedout her own research.