Bioethics in Correlation with the Principle of Human Dignity

Abstract

The modern science is offering to expand opportunities open to a person, for example, to improve a person’s intellectual abilities, to cure the incurable or to prolong lives by such manipulations that were not available before. Legal solutions to these problems cannot be found without the discourse on bioethics. Bioethics pertains to a number of issues that are of vital importance for society, for example, euthanasia, organ transplants, reproductive medicine, the limits and methods of patient care. All principles of bioethics have been created to protect the human being. In this respect, bioethical requirements correlate with a person’s fundamental rights and legally they should be examined within the scope of human dignity. The implementation of scientific findings in the society is strictly limited by fundamental human rights. The constitutional courts, abiding by the bioethical principles, should provide the balance between the person’s own responsibility with that of the State regarding respecting the human dignity and retaining humanity also in the age of technologies.

Keywords

• bioethics
• human dignity
• human rights
• the principle of personal self-determination