Compassionate Respect

This lecture addresses current tensions in medical ethics as it has developed in the past thirty years. Debates now rage about the importance of principles versus personal character, rights versus responsibilities, and individual autonomy versus concerns for the well being of patients. Moreover, the public nature of medical ethical problems, which are often addressed in the secular sphere, has tended to obscure the role of religious ethics within medical ethics. Margaret Farley proposes a new approach to all of these issues, an approach that takes account of women’s experience, feminist ethics, and the potential contributions of religious traditions to problems encountered in the medical context. She includes considerations of particular issues such as decisions for death and requirements of justice in the effective worldwide distribution of medical care.