Sweden: Growing Interest in Ethics

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Sweden: Growing Interest in Ethics

Since the publication of the first doctoral thesis in Sweden on medical ethics, Clarence Blomquist's Medicinsk etik (Medical Ethics) in 1971,[1] the medical ethics books of scholarly interest have been few and far between in Sweden.[2] In the 1980s a number of books have been published, however, indicating a growing interest in the field.

To some extent these books are an outflow of ongoing debates focused by public policy concerns. During the 1960s and 70s the questions of abortion and euthanasia were preeminent. In the 80s developments in reproductive medicine and genetics and the question of introducing brain-related criteria for death have been the center of attention. These discussions led to the current Swedish abortion act (1975), improved official recommendations for the care of patients in the terminal phase of life (1978-79), a new law on artificial insemination (1985), and the adoption of brain-death criteria (1988). Regulation of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and genetic research is presently under intense discussion.

One of the most successful recent publications is …