New Pathways for European Bioethics

This book is an edition of papers presented during the international conference New Pathways for European Bioethics, held in Leuven in 2006. This conference aimed to stimulate reflection on current developments in European bioethics, such as the connection between social science and bioethics, care ethics, bioethics and law, and ethics and technology. A common theme in these four topics is the growing interrelationship between disciplines or approaches in bioethics and law. These new developments give rise to a number of questions. Are we moving toward a split between an ethics of technology and an ethics of care? How should we deal with empirical research methods in bioethics? Does an international biolaw exist? These and other questions demand new ethical reflection. This book describes these developments, but its mission goes further than paying close attention; it also intends to critically review them. Since most topics are analysed by leading European ethicists, social scientists, and lawyers, this book stands for the interdisciplinary approach in European bioethics. It offers a rich source of material for reflection for ethicists, lawyers, social scientists, and healthcare practitioners.

Chris Gastmans is Full Professor of Medical Ethics at the Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven. He has a Doctoral Degree in Theology (KU Leuven, 1995). Since 2013, he is President of the European Association of Centres of Medical Ethics (EACME). Chris Gastmans is the coordinator of various empirical and philosophical research projects regarding elderly care and end-of-life care. He teaches Medical Ethics (Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Theology) and Ethics of Care (Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Philosophy). He coordinates the Intensive Course Nursing Ethics (Erasmus Mundus Master of Bioethics). He serves as an ethicist in the ethics board of European funded projects (e.g. PROactive), as well as in the ethics committees of Zorgnet Flanders and of the University Hospitals of Leuven.

Paul Schotsmans studied at the KU Leuven: he graduated in educational sciences (specialisation clinical child and adolescent studies) (1976) and holds a PhD in theology (specialisation in moral theology) (1982). He was ordained to the priesthood in 1978 in the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels. In 1980 he was appointed research assistant at the Department of moral theology of the Faculty of theology. In 1984, he was appointed lecturer in medical ethics at the Faculty of Medicine of the KU Leuven. He was promoted to full professor in 1995. In 1986 he became – together with Herman Nys – the Director of the Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Law at the Faculty of medicine at Leuven University. In 1996 he was elected Department Chair of the Department of public health. In 2005 he was elected Vice-Dean of the Faculty of medicine and a member (2005-2011) of the Biomedical Sciences Group Board. Since 2012 he is a full-time Research Fellow of the Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Law. As a priest of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, he was successively appointed fellow pastor in Willebroek (1978-1980), Board member of the John XXIII Seminary (1981-1995), spiritual director of the Heilige-Geestcollege (1995-2005) and president of the Holy Spirit college (2005-). He worked successively as Treasurer, Secretary General and President of the European Association of Centres of Medical Ethics. From 2000 to 2005 he was a Board Member of the International Association of Bioethics. From 2001 to 2010, he was Chairman of the Ethics Committee of Eurotransplant. He is, together with Henk ten Have (Nijmegen), Renzo Pegoraro (Padova), Stella Reiter-Theil (Basel) and Diego Gracia (Madrid), the initiator of the European Master in Bioethics, which was recognised as from 2006 by the European Commission as an Erasmus Mundus Master in Bioethics. Since 1996 he is an effective member of the Belgian Advisory Committee on bioethics. He was elected as a member of the Bureau in 2005 and is so one of the four Vice-Presidents for the third mandate period (2005-2009). In 2009, his term as Vice-President was extended for the fourth mandate period (2009-2013). In particular, he is in charge of the follow-up of the functioning of the local committees on medical ethics.