El enfermo cardiovascular, el cardiólogo y la bioética. The cardiovascular patient, the cardiologist and bioethics.

Abstract

Introduction: A great number of cardiovascular diseases evolve to chronic and causedeath and discapacity. Several patients reach a stage of terminal diseasewith a high expectation of imminent death. The cardiologist must beprepared ethically and scientifically to handle this problems.Objective: Bring out ethical considerations in the form of principles to deal with moraldilemma related to patients who suffer from an end stage chronic disease.Methods: Non experimental investigation, qualitative bibliographic review.Discussion: The palliative medicine is a discipline that allows the doctor to face ethicaldilemmas and it has, among its outstanding principles: the inviolability ofthe human life, the therapeutic proportionality, the double effect in thehandling of the pain and the suppression of the conscience, thetruthfulness, the prevention and not to abandon.Conclusions: The contemporary medical culture faces the logic that imposes thetechnological development. The described principles facilitate the doctor'staking decisions process faced to an ethical dilemma in the case of a sickperson in end stage.

Keywords

• bioethics
• end stage disease
• palliative medicine
• ethical dilemma.