Vol 10, No 2 (2017)

Boris Grigorievich Yudin died on August 6, 2017. Words alone cannot express the profound sadness we feel for the loss of B.G. Yudin. His death is a great loss. We have lost the founder of Russian bioethics. As we all know, the rise of bioethics in Russia is linked with the works of B.G. Yudin who put forward, inspired and implemented new ideas for Russian bioethics. We have lost a great humanist. Boris Grigorievich was a rare individual whose lifestyle was most consistent with his scientific views. He advocated humanistic ideas, provided insights into the good, proved the uniqueness of every individual and lived in accordance with these principles. Every person who ever met B.G. Yudin could rely on him for assitance, support and could feel their own unique identity. The most attractive thing about B.G. Yudin was that he treated all people with significance. It is a rare quality in people - to love other people the way you love yourself - and B.G. Yudin loved all people, every person even more than himself.

The article is dedicated to the memory of Doctor of Philosophy, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor Boris G. Yudin., a prominent Russian scientist and philosopher who had long been developing bioethics and the ethics of science in Russia. The article describes B.G. Yudin’s contribution to Russian bioethics and the ethics of science.

Boris Grigorievich Yudin is a founder of Russian bioethics. The rise of bioethics in Russia is linked with his works. B.G. Yudin did not belong exclusively to any one philosophical school. He addressed such issues as solving the controversy between a person as a physical and a technical phenomenon. Therefore, it is necessary to provide moral insights into the relationship between physical and technical aspects in a human being. It is moral that can help gain balance between physical and technical in a human being. B.G. Yudin defined bioethics as a discipline whose purpose is to preserve human identity as a biotechnical artifact.

The article discusses ethical and anthropological problems of human design. Based on the ideas suggested by B.G. Yudin, we reviewed a number of types of biotechnological design and described ontological characteristics and linguistic mode of the design process. We used the "logs" bioethical incidence to describe the process of transformation of a person into a test subject (the concept suggested by B.G. Yudin). We found that biomedical investigation involving human subjects seems to be a process of gradual changes in human characteristics. We conclude that researchers regard human subjects as bearers of certain names, personal characteristics, physical qualities, etc. and equal them with research objects.

The article explores one of the main bioethical principles, the principle of justness. It has different meanings in various life areas. The article discusses one of the most important domains of social relationships, international relationships. Bioethics allows us to take a new look at these relationships. It emphasizes the fundamentals of the actual existence of a human being and the mankind, the problems of improved survival and quality of life under contemporary circumstances of wars, violence, terrorism, and economic confrontation. The supreme value of bioethics is life, and in relation to our research it is the human life and the security of the world community. The current crisis in international relationships clearly demonstrates that it is connected with the depreciation of values, principles, forms and mechanisms of implementing international relationships. It is obvious that international relationships need to be reevaluated to transmit from the pursuit of national interests to the security interest of a nation. Neither politics nor economics but bioethics can provide us clear worldview attitudes and values for comprehension of ethnocultural diversity as the essence and the only form of human existence. We reveal some of the implications for implementation of the principle of justness in international relationships.

The article postulates that modern bioethical knowledge is of pluralistic nature. Various ethical and axiological standpoints are conditionally designated as conservative and liberal forms of bioethics. The conservative branch of bioethics in Russia was developing as opposition to various forms of liberal consciousness. The article described the conservative approach to the solution of bioethical problems. It was exemplified by the theoretical and practical work of the Church-Public Council on Biomedical Ethics of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The article showed the role of B.G. Yudin in the development and popularization of the views of conservative bioethics.

B.G. Yudin's activities in the problem fields of bioethics research have been stimulating discussions among representatives of various sciences, doctors, lawyers, politicians, and clergymen. His scientific ideas about the principles, rules, and problems of bioethics are historically closely connected with the views of outstanding representatives of Russian medicine. They resonate with the ethical principles of his domestic contemporaries, and they are the basis for studying the creative heritage of those healers. This article analyzed the ethical principles of V.F. Voyno-Yasenetsky, an outstanding national humanist, scientist, surgeon, archbishop, whose work focused on a number of bioethical problems arising in the fields of transplantology, oncology, surgery, gynecology, ophthalmology, doctor-patient relationships, and doctor-paramedical personnel interaction. The influence of his religious views on the problems of bioethics was also analyzed.. The ethical principles of V.F. Voyno-Yasenetsky developed in the difficult conditions of tragic political events, repressions, during the Great Patriotic War. During this period V.F. Voyno-Yasenetsky was actively involved in practical medical and scientific work, at the same time performing the activities of the clergyman. One of the problems of modern domestic medicine is that it develops as a multibranch system, seemingly aimed to study humans, but it tends to ignore the personality of the patient as an individual identity due to progressing schematism of thinking. It seems to be a sign of a decreased value of the art of healing. The solution of the problem requires a philosophical reflection in the value and purpose, procedural, outcome contexts. A convincing example of such a solution is the activity and creative work of the outstanding domestic surgeon, the archbishop V.F. Voyno-Yasenetsky, whose ethical principles are based on the philosophy of personal education and determined the scope and efficacy of his activities: medical, scientific, educational, administrative and organizational fields.

Based on the performed functions, four sub-institutions have been distinguished by the authors in the system of the Russian Institute of Health, which is one of the basic social institutions. The role of palliative care in health care makes it possible to determine its status as sub-institutional. The subinstitute is subordinate to the general purpose of the institution and ensures the implementation of one of the functions. The authors discussed the medicalization of palliative care in the perspective of dysfunctional practices of the subinstitute which is now forming in Russia. The risk of medicalization of palliative care for patients with chronic diseases leading to a decrease in the functional effectiveness of the palliative care sub-institution, is caused by inadequate medical care. The articles provided evidence which proves the danger of medicalization of palliative care for patients with chronic, life-threatening diseases. According to the functions they implement, the four sub-institutions are distinguished by the authors in the system of the Russian Institute of Health, which is one of the basic social institutions. The role of palliative care in the institution of health make it possible to determine its status as a sub-institutional. The sub-institute is subordinated to the general purpose of the institution and ensures the implementation of one of the functions.

The article explored the problem of high frequency of caesarean sections and its impact on human evolution. Both medical and moral causes of this global phenomenon were discussed. Short-term and long-term negative consequences, which people born by caesarean section may face. The article concluded that, an unreasonable increase in the level of operative delivery results in a perinatal trauma, which is a natural consequence of the caesarean section, and tends to become an anthropological sign of the future generation. To improve this dangerous situation, Christian worldview aiming to preserve and strengthen family values as the basis for the nation’s reproduction should be reconstructed.