Who needs bioethicists?

Does science need bioethicists? Ethics and science collaboration in biomedical research

“…The ethicist can work with the scientific team to identify potential solutions and to develop models of good practice to ensure the appropriate and successful completion of the research. This is not to say that life scientists themselves are morally blind and need guidance from ethicists to be able to see the rights and wrongs of their practice, but ‘[it] is rather that the division of intellectual labour provides the benefit of input from persons devoted to the systematic study of the theoretical complexities embodied in ethical concepts applied in practical bioethical debate’ (Lillehammer, 2004).…”

On the Ethics Committee: The Expert Member, the Lay Member and the Absentee Ethicist

“…The notion of the 'ethical expert' is a contested idea. Discussion of ethical expertise and what it might mean is extant in the literature on applied ethics and arguments both for and against the idea has been raised [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The concept is often taken to imply some moral authority and a kind of 'moralism' which is at odds with our multicultural society and its ideas of the moral autonomy of the individual.…”

“…Those who may be considered ethical experts are often lay members of ethics committees yet any expert view they may be able to bring is delegitimized and refused by the constitution of the committee and the designation 'lay'. NRES acknowledge what it is to be an expert differs relative to the circumstances of the research and the remit of the committee, but this seems only to be in relation to scientific, disciplinary or methodological knowledge 5 . Whilst ethical expertise is a contested idea there are many undergraduate and postgraduate academic programmes which explicitly teach applied ethics, the vast majority of which are concerned with biomedical, medical professional or healthcare ethics.…”

The Concise Argument

“…As Verweij & Bovenkert1 note bioethics has become increasingly specialised. An argument for needing these discrete branches, or communities of practice, such as clinical ethics or global ethics is, taking Lillehammer’s2 ‘division of intellectual labour argument’ and reworking it: that having an expertise in a particular area and developing this through sustained work gives any resulting ethical analysis a texture and closeness to the realities of practice that it might otherwise lack. This is clearly necessary to say sensible things that those working in the area will find useful.…”