The Personalist Foundation of Biomedical Ethics

In the field of biomedical ethics, the almost inevitable question is: How can morally right medical decisions be made upon or by a human person, within the context of the understanding of who he/she really is. In an attempt to answer this question, the author of this book, Dr John Baptist Matovu, presents to the reader Catholic as well as secular personalism, from a biomedical ethical point of view. He analytically and comparatively discusses the notion of the human person, how it relates to the foundations or basic notions of biomedical ethics and its role in biomedical ethical reasoning and decision making, according to Catholic and secular approaches. He evaluates some key positions of these approaches in relation to the (Catholic) Magisterium. His final conclusion is that the present forms of personalism make a significant contribution to answering the above question but leave some important questions unanswered.