DOCSLIB.ORG

Ethical Issues in Maltese General Practice - a Look to the Near Future 121 Mary Anne Ciappara - Patient Empowerment in Pharmacy Practice

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ethical Issues in Maltese General Practice - a Look to the Near Future 121 Mary Anne Ciappara - Patient Empowerment in Pharmacy Practice Ethical Issues in Practice for Nurses, Midwives and Family Medicine Editor: M.N. Cauchi Conference Organisers: Dr Sandra Buttigieg Dr Pierre Mallia The Bioethics Consultative Committee, Ministry of Health, Malta 2003 Acknowledgements: The Bioethics Consultative Committee would like to thank all those who have participated in the preparation for these Conferences, as well as the individual speakers represented here in this publication. The views expressed here are those of the individual speakers and do not necessarily represent those of the Bioethics Consultative Committee. Previous Publications of the Bioethics Consultative Committee: Bioethics: Responsibilities and Norms for those involved in Health Care (Ed. Toni Cortis, 1989) Informed Consent: Proceedings of a Symposium of Medical and Paramedical Practitioners. ISBN 999090-68-68-3 (Ed M. N. Cauchi, 1998) Proceedings of the Conference on Bioethics and Disability. ISBN 99909-993-0-9 (Ed. M. N. Cauchi, 1999) Patients' Rights, Reproductive Technology, Transplantation. ISBN 99909-993-107 (Ed. M. N. Cauchi, 2000) Inter-Professional Ethics in Health Care, ISBN 99909-993-2-5 (Ed. M. N. Cauchi, 2001) Bioethical Issues at the Beginning and End of Life. ISBN: 99909-993-3-3 (Ed. M.N.Cauchi,2002) ISBN: 99909-993-4-1 © The Bioethics Consultative Committee, Malta 2003 Printed at the Government Press, Malta. Contents Section A: Ethical Issues in Practice for Nurses and Midwives Sandra Buttigieg - Introduction 7 John Rizzo Naudi - Historical Aspects 11 Ray Busuttil- The Universality of Ethics for Health Care Professionals 21 M.N. Cauchi - Ethical Issues in the Practice for Nurses and Midwives .......................................................................................... 25 Emmanuel Agius - Ethical Challenges of the Future for the Nursing Profession ............................................................................ 29 Antoinette Attard - Ethical issues in nursing and midwifery from a local perspective ................................................................................... 45 Bridget Gafa _ Nursing And Midwifery _ A Legal Perspective ................. 59 Donia Baldacchino - Patients' perceptions of information giving during hospitalisation .............................................................................. 65 Workshops Reports: Cecilia Xuereb & Ray Grixti - Information giving ................................... 81 Claire Farrugia & Jesmond Sharples - Confidentiality ............................ 85 Maria Abela & Winifred Buhagiar - Accountability ............................... 88 Sarah Saliba & Michael Bezzina - Significance of Code of Ethics and the Patients' Charter .............................................................. 90 Grace A. Jaccarini - Conclusion .................................................................. 92 Section B: Ethical Issues in Family Practice M.N.Cauchi - Introduction 95 G.K.Kimsma - The Ethics of Family Medicine: A Dutch Perspective ...... 97 Dr. Pierre Mallia - Ethical issues in Maltese General Practice - a look to the near future 121 Mary Anne Ciappara - Patient Empowerment in Pharmacy Practice ...... 129 Mary Ann Sant Fournier - Ethics and Solidarity in Health Care ............. 145 Anthony Fiorini - The elderly and collaboration between primary and tertiary care ....................................................................... 159 Pierre Mallia - Outcomes of First Meeting on Ethics in Family Medicine ................................................................................... 167 Section C: EPSMH Conference Pierre Mallia - Phenomenological approaches to the doctor-patient relationship ............................................................................................ 175 Emmanuel Agius - In Search of a European Approach to Bioethics: The Emergence of a Common Euro-Mediterranean bioethical Culture .................................................................... '" ......... 187 Biographical Notes .................................................................................... 211 Index Ethical Issues in Practice for Nurses and Midwives Dr Sandra Buttigieg Nurses are daily faced with questions of ethics. Most of these questions are minor everyday issues that individual nurses can resolve on their own. From time to time, however, issues with major implications for patient care will arise that require significant ethical decisions. The analysis of the facets of work in the everyday practice of nurses and midwives is important to ethics because of the ethical domains of character and the way of life. Nursing work(Liaschenko 2002) can be analysed in a number of ways: as a physical transformation, as a social transaction, as information exchange work, and as identity. • .As a physical transformation of material reality - such as that designed to relieve, contain, or prevent symptoms - for example, nurses involved in wound care, help to change the body from one state to another. • As a social transaction - several examples come to mind Patients are distressed by a diagnosis and anxious about coping with treatment. Patients are worried about who will care for their children or spouses. Responding to this kind of distress is extra work, requires time and is not usually listed in any form of job description. It is a social transaction, not immediately visible but which contributes immensely to the quality of health care. In the absence of this social element, healthcare is inhumane, without compassion, even brutal. • Another form of social transaction in nursing work is the amount of information to be communicated between many different people 7 and departments - such as when transferring patients from one department to another, explaining to a physician what a patient has said about symptoms and treatment, clarifying orders, and talking with families. In the absence ofthis information exchange work, healthcare becomes chaotic, dangerous even impossible. • As identity - The development of organised nursing and the promotion of nursing education to an academic platform has raised the identity of the nurse to a more interesting, fulfilling and professional one. According to the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council's Code of Professional Conduct, published in April 2002, in caring for patients and clients, a registered nurse or midwife must: 1. Respect the patient or client as an individual, 2. Obtain consent before any treatment or care is given, 3. Protect confidential information, 4. Co-operate with others in the team, 5. Maintain professional knowledge and competence, 6. Be trustworthy, and 7. Act to identify and minimise risk to patients and clients. No one disputes that the work of nursing is indispensable for the well­ being of patients and to the day-to-day operations of health care delivery. It is precisely this indispensability that raises ethical questions. One ethical question that comes to mind is the right to strike. Looking back at my eleven years' experience as a council member of the Medical Association of Malta, I clearly remember the ethical dilemmas about the morality of striking - such that discussions used to focus on the ethical issues related to the special duty of doctors not to abandon patients. I am sure that the same dilemmas were experienced by nurses. 8 Other issues that come to mind are the role of the nurse as an educator, and as a researcher. Nurse educators are responsible for teaching students to observe the Code ?f Ethics and Standards of Nursing Practice (Morgan 2001). By attending carefully to their own behaviour, wise nursing faculty serve as helpful role models for students. This is readily apparent in patient care settings when instructors guide students in planning patient care or assist students with technical skills. As more nurses are indulging in a research career, maintaining ethical principles can ensure that nurses can protect patients who may be subjects of research, while retaining their dignity, respect and confidentiality. Today's seminar deals with the major ethical issues faced by nurses and midwives in their everyday practice. I am sure that this seminar will provide the right playing field to discuss, debate, analyse and hopefully reach a consensus on how to approach these issues. I would like to thank the Bioethics Consultative Committee and the staff at IRC for working hard in organizing this seminar. I would also like to thank you - participants for positively answering our call. It is indeed a satisfaction to experience your desire to actively participate in a seminar on ethics - which I believe should have a firm position in our daily professional lives. I wish you all a fruitful seminar. References Liaschenko, J. (2002), 'Thoughts on Nursing Work', Journal of Nursing Administration, vo1.32, no. 2, pp. 69-70. Morgan, J. (2001), 'Confidential Student Information in Nurse Education', Nurse Educator, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 289-292. UKCC. (2002), Code of Professional Conduct, London. Royal College of Nursing. (1998), Research Ethics: Guidance for Nurses involved in Research or any Investigative Project Involving Human Subjects. London, RCN. 9 Ethical Issues In Practice For Nurses And Midwives: A Historical Perspective Professor John Rizzo Naudi I wish to welcome you all to this Seminar on Ethical Issues in Practice for Nurses and Midwives and thank the sponsors and organisers. This is the first occasion when nurses and midwives are meeting together as a profession to discuss and address this highly important area of health care practice
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Human Inheritable Genetic Modifications
    Human Inheritable Genetic Modifications Assessing Scientific, Ethical, Religious, and Policy Issues Prepared by the American Association for the Advancement of Science Mark S. Frankel Audrey R. Chapman September 2000 http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/sfrl/germline/main.htm i This report is the product of a collaboration between the authors and a working group convened to advise the authors, and does not necessarily represent the views of American Association for the Advancement of Science or The Greenwall Foundation, which funded this study. Copyright © 2000 American Association for the Advancement of Science Cover: Designed and created by the Office of Publication Services at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements…………………………………………………v Introduction………………………………………………………….1 Major Findings, Concerns, and Recommendations…………………7 Defining Inheritable Genetic Modific ation……………….………..11 Therapeutic Need…………………………………………………..13 Efficacy of Different Approaches to IGM…………………………15 Safety Issues……………………………………………………….23 Inadvertent Germ Line Modific ation………………………………26 Religious Perspectives……………………………………………..27 Ethical Analysis and Considerations……………………………….32 Ethically Appropriate Applications of IGM: Therapy versus Enhancement.………………………………………………………40 Reproductive Rights………………………………………………..44 Balancing Scientific Freedom and Responsibility…………………45 Oversight…………………………………………………………...46 Conclusion.…………………………………………………………56 Glossary…………………………………………………………….59 Appendix A: AAAS Working Group Members……………………65
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2019
    i Annual Report 2019 Annual Report 2019 Annual Report 2019 Contents 2 3 Annual Report The Chairman’s Message 5 First published in 2020 by the National Book Council of Malta The National Writers’ Congress 8 2019 Central Public Library, Prof. J. Mangion Str., Floriana FRN 1800 The National Book Prize 10 ktieb.org.mt The Malta Book Festival 14 Printing: Gutenberg Press Foreign Work & Literary Exports 18 Design: Steven Scicluna Copyright text © Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb The Campus Book Festival 22 Copyright photos © Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb The Malta Book Fund 24 ISBN: 978-99957-939-1-3: Annual Report 2019 (Digital format) Audiovisual Productions 26 Other Contests 28 All rights reserved by the National Book Council This book is being disseminated free of charge and cannot be sold. It may be Other Initiatives 30 borrowed, donated and reproduced in part. It may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, without prior permission from the Financial Report 32 National Book Council. ISBN & ISMN 36 Public Lending Rights Payments 68 About the National Book Council The Chairman’s message 4 The National Book Council is a public entity Staff and contact details 2019 was an eventful and challenging year in is progressing very well thanks to sustained 5 that caters for the Maltese book industry which the Council kept growing, receiving as public funding support. Admittedly, I had Annual Report with several important services for authors Executive Chairman much as an 80 per cent increase in its public strong qualms about some decisions made by and publishers whilst striving to encourage Mark Camilleri reading and promote the book as a medium of funding for its recurrent expenditure over newly-appointed bureaucrats in the finance Deputy Chairman communication in all its formats.
    [Show full text]
  • Future Generations: a Bibliography (In English Only) Jim Dator September 2008(A)
    Future Generations: A bibliography (In English only) Jim Dator September 2008(a) I. Apparently the first major philosopher to identify and write extensively about the issue of intergenerational fairness was John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Harvard University Press, 1971 (See also his Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. Harvard University Press, 2001) Two volumes were devoted entirely to Future Generations soon after: Richard Sikora and Brian Barry, Obligations to Future Generations. Temple University Press, 1978. Thomas Schwartz, "Obligations to Posterity," pp. 3-14; Jan Narveson, "Future People and us," pp. 38-60; Gregory Kavka, "The Futurity Problem," pp. 186-203; Brian Berry, "Circumstances of Justice and Future Generations," pp. 205-248. Ernest Partridge, ed., Responsibilities to Future Generations. Prometheus Books, 1980 Hans Jonas, "Technology and Responsibility: The Ethics of an Endangered Future," pp. 23-36; Thomas Derr, "The Obligation to the Future," pp. 37-45; Martin Golding, "Obligations to Future Generations," pp. 61-72; Joel Feinberg, "The Rights of Animals and Unborn Generations," pp. 139-150; Ruth Macklin, "Can Future Generations Correctly Be Said to Have Rights?" pp. 151-157; Richard De George, "The Environment, Rights, and Future Generations," pp. 157-166; Galen Pletcher, "The Rights of Future Generations," pp. 167-170; Annette Baier, "The Rights of Past and Future Persons," pp. 171-186; Thomas Thompson, "Are We Obligated to Future Others?" pp. 195-202; Ernest Partridge, "Why Care About the Future?" pp. 203-220. II. Subsequently, several futures generation groups were established: A. Future Generations Programme of the Foundation for International Studies at the University of Malta, supported by Unesco.
    [Show full text]
  • Programme Updated 1 September 2015
    Programme Updated 1 September 2015 Thursday 10 September 13.00 - 15.30 Registration 15.30 - 16.00 Welcome and introduction by Aldegonde Brenninkmeijer-Werhahn, Director of INTAMS First session: Indissolubility and Theology of Marriage 16.00 - 16.45 Individua Coniunctio - What does Indissoluble Marriage Mean in Times of Individual Freedom? Andrea Grillo, Pontificio Ateneo Sant’ Anselmo, Roma 16.45 - 17.15 Response by Eberhard Schockenhoff, University of Freiburg, Germany 17.15 - 17.45 Coffee break 17.45 - 18.15 Response by Peter Hünermann, University of Tübingen, Germany 18.15 - 19.00 Plenary Discussion Friday 11 September 08.30 - 09.00 Prayer Session Second session: Church Doctrine and Pastoral Care 09.15 - 10.00 Conversational Methods of Discernment: Learning for Mission from the Domestic Church Clare Watkins, University of Roehampton, London, UK 10.00 - 10.30 Response by Emmanuel Agius, University of Malta 10.30 - 11.00 Coffee break 11.00 - 11.45 Plenary Discussion 12.00 - 13.00 Language Group Discussions 13.00 - 14.30 Break Third session: An Ethics of Mercy 14:30 - 15:00 Recollectio Synodi * The panel will be composed of a 15.00 - 15.45 Landmarks for a Christian Ethics of Gradualness married couple with children and a Roger Burggraeve, KU Leuven, Belgium double career (Netherlands), a per- 15.45 - 16.15 Response by Jochen Sautermeister, University of Munich, Germany son living in a single state (France), a divorced-remarried couple (Italy), 16.15 - 16.45 Coffee break a parent of homosexual children (UK), 16.45 - 18.45 The Church I
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae A
    CURRICULUM VITAE A. BIODATA NAME: Olanike Kudirat ADEYEMO, PhD, FCVSN, FEnv, FAAS, FAS, FTWAS SEX: Female DATE OF BIRTH: 17th July 1970 MARITAL STATUS: Married NATIONALITY: Nigerian CONTACT ADDRESS: Fish and Wildlife Unit, Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria TEL: +234-805-5454-544 E-MAIL: [email protected] [email protected] WEBSITE: http://vet.ui.edu.ng/OKAdeyemo GOOGLE SCHOLAR: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AbsyqJgAAAAJ&hl=en SCOPUS AUTHOR ID: 7003434760 ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3404-5090 LiveDNA 234.10354 -http://livedna.org/234.10354 WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olanike_Adeyemo B. UNIVERSITY EDUCATION (WITH DATES) • Ph.D (Aquatic Epidemiology and Toxicology), University of Ibadan, Nigeria (2005) • Masters Degree in Veterinary Public Health (MVPH), University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1998) • Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.), University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1994) C. PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND DIPLOMAS • Fellow, College of Veterinary Surgeon, Nigeria (2013) • Registered Veterinary Surgeon (VCN Reg. No 2471) D. EMPLOYMENT WITH DATES/JOB EXPERIENCE EMPLOYMENT: 1. March 13, 2017 till Date: Pioneer Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships), University of Ibadan, Ibadan. 2. October 2011 till Date: Professor, Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan 3. August 2013-July 2015: Schlumberger Foundation sponsored Visiting Scholar, Center for Human and Environmental Toxicology, Department of Physiological sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA 1 4. October 2008 till October 2011: Reader/Associate Professor, in the Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan. 5. October 2005 till October 2008, Senior Lecturer/Assistant Professor, in the Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
    [Show full text]
  • The Institutionalisation of Bioethics in the European Union
    THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF BIOETHICS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION EMMANUEL AGIUS DEAN, FACULTY OF THEOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF MALTA MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN GROUP OF ETHICS IN SCIENE AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES (ADVISORY GROUP TO EUROPEAN COMMISSION) EUROPEAN BIOETHICS? Bioethics: typical and specific product of the American culture? “American ethos” (Albert Jonsen): • a destiny to make life better than it is and a conviction that it is possible to do so • a faith in the values of individuals and their capacity to reach consensual agreement • a vague but genuine commitment to a conventional morality Diego Gracia: Jonsen’s interpretations are extremely ‘parochial’ and ‘ethnocentric’ THE IDENTITY OF A EUROPEAN CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE Cultural articulation of bioethics (Charles Taylor) Bioethics is not only the product of reason alone Bioethics is shaped by beliefs, values and modes of thinking grounded in a specific culture Morality and identity (Charles Taylor) Bioethics is ‘communitarian’ or ‘cultural’ (reflects not only individual responsibilities but also social dimensions of life) THE IDENTITY OF A EUROPEAN CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE Features of European Culture • Europe is not merely a geographical entity, but also a political, historical and cultural concept • Influence of Christianity • Historical events: French Revolution, Two World Wars • European values: human rights and freedoms, tolerance, equal opportunity, social justice, human dignity, solidarity CONTROVERSIES TO IDENTIFY A EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE Is it possible to identify a European approach
    [Show full text]
  • INTERGENERATIONAL JUSTICE Review Index of Contents
    Unit price 10 Euro Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations Issue 3/2005 (3rd English Edition) ISSN 1617 - 1799 INTERGENERATIONAL JUSTICE Review Index of Contents Commission for Future Generations in the Knesset – Lessons Special: Documentation of FRFG Event Learnt by Prof. Shlomo Shoham and Nira Lamay 35 nd th Young Leaders Congress, 22 - 26 June, 2005 in Berlin: The Committee for the Future - Future policy „Ecological Generational Justice into the Constitution?“ 4 by Dr. Paula Tiihonen 36 Topic: Institutionalisation of Intergenerational Book Recommendations and Reviews 38 Justice Responsibility for Future Generations: Scope and Limits by Prof. Dr. Dieter Birnbacher 22 Internal matters 40 John Rawls on Rights of Future Generations by Prof. Dr. Claus Dierksmeier 23 Intergenerational Justice Impressum by Ass. Prof. Emmanuel Agius 24 Publisher: Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations Justice Between Generations: Limits of Procedural Justice (Stiftung für die Rechte zukünftiger Generationen) by Prof. Michael Wallack 25 Editors-in-Chief: Jörg Tremmel, Yanti Ehrentraut, Frauke Austermann Principles of Generational Justice Editorial staff: Tobias Kemnitzer, Thomas Wiechers by Prof. Dr. Christoph Lumer 26 Layout: Katarzyna Opielka, E-mail: [email protected] Ockershäuser Allee 5, 35037 Marburg, Tel/Fax: 06421 97 22 76 The Impossibility of Intergenerational Justice Concept and Implementation: Jörg Tremmel by Prof. Dr. Wilfred Beckerman 27 Print: Druckhaus Marburg, Im Rudert 13, 35043 Marburg Printed on chlorine-free bleached paper. Towards a Pragmatic Approach to Intergenerational Justice in Postal address of Publisher Germany Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations, by Dr. Johannes Meier and Dr. Ole Wintermann 27 (Stiftung für die Rechte zukünftiger Generationen) Postfach 5115, A Constitutional Law for Future Generations - The “other” Form 61422 Oberursel of the Social Contract: The Generation Contract Germany by Prof.
    [Show full text]
  • HANDBOOK of INTERGENERATIONAL JUSTICE This Publication Was Partly financed by a Printing Subsidy from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation
    HANDBOOK OF INTERGENERATIONAL JUSTICE This publication was partly financed by a printing subsidy from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. Handbook of Intergenerational Justice Edited by Joerg Chet Tremmel Scientific Director of the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations, Germany Edward Elgar Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA © Joerg Chet Tremmel 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Published by Edward Elgar Publishing Limited Glensanda House Montpellier Parade Cheltenham Glos GL50 1UA UK Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. 136 West Street Suite 202 Northampton Massachusetts 01060 USA A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Handbook of intergenerational justice / edited by Joerg Chet Tremmel. p. cm. – (Elgar original reference) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Justice. 2. Intergenerational relations. I. Tremmel, Joerg Chet, 1970- II. Series. JC578.H38 2006 320.01Ј1–dc22 2006005896 ISBN-13: 978 1 84542 900 3 ISBN-10: 1 84542 900 1 Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall. Contents List of figures vii List of tables viii Contributors ix Introduction 1 PART I FOUNDATIONS AND DEFINITIONS OF GENERATIONAL JUSTICE 1. Responsibility for future generations – scope and limits 23 Dieter Birnbacher 2. Principles of generational justice 39 Christoph Lumer 3. The impossibility of a theory of intergenerational justice 53 Wilfred Beckerman 4. John Rawls on the rights of future generations 72 Claus Dierksmeier 5.
    [Show full text]
  • Paper Sessions
    things which build the consciences of most African faithful living in irregular marriages, and which often drive them into such unions, are deep-rooted traditional cultural values and beliefs that sometimes stand opposed to the Gospel message. Though they may not, in themselves, be necessarily evil, INTAMS Chair for the Study of Marriage & Spirituality these values and beliefs form their native consciences; and these culturally Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies formed consciences tell them that their acts are right. The paper, therefore, examines Amoris Laetitia in the light of canon 915 and the pastoral- A Point of No Return? canonical implications and challenges which its reception poses to the Amoris Laetitia on Discernment and Conscience for Divorced Nigerian-African Church in relation to existent irregular marriages. and Remarried Couples Wilfred Chidi Agubuchie is a Bachelor of Philosophy (Rome, 1999) and a Bachelor International Symposium, KU Leuven of Theology (Rome, 2004). He also has a Master degree in Canon Law (KU 25 - 27 October 2016 Leuven, 2015). At present, he is pursuing a doctoral degree at the faculty of Canon __________________________________________________________________ Law, KU Leuven with particular focus on the topic: Lay Participation in Church Governance in Nigeria: From Cooperation to Co-responsibility; with Special Consideration of the Lay Person as Subject of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. Paper Presenters Corinne Bitaud (in alphabetical order) Association Française des Foyers Mixtes Interconfessionnels
    [Show full text]
  • VIEW / DOWNLOAD 31St July 2020 New President Appointed to the St
    Il-FONDAZZJONI TAL-KONKATIDRAL TA’ SAN ĠWANN THE ST JOHN’S CO-CATHEDRAL FOUNDATION Friday 31 July 2020 NEW PRESIDENT APPOINTED TO THE ST JOHN’S CO-CATHEDRAL FOUNDATION The St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation has the pleasure to announce the appointment of Mgr. Prof. Emmanuel Agius as its new President. Mgr. Prof. Agius is the former Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Malta. He studied philosophy and theology at undergraduate (S.Th.B.) and postgraduate (S.Th.L.) levels at the University of Malta and then at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, where he obtained an M.A. in Philosophy and a Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.Th.D). He is professor of Moral Theology and Philosophical Ethics at the University of Malta. Mgr. Prof. Agius pursued his post-doctoral research in the field of bioethics at the University of Tübingen, Germany, as a fellow of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Stiftung; at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., as a Fulbright scholar; and at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, U.S.A., with the assistance of a Theodore Hesburgh scholarship. He is the former Head of the Department of Moral Theology at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Malta; since 2005 a member of the European Group of Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE), which is an advisory interdisciplinary group to the European Commission; and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Mgr. Prof. Agius is the author and co-editor of a number of publications. Several of his articles on bioethical, social, and environmental issues, marriage and sexuality have appeared in a number of international peer-reviewed academic journals.
    [Show full text]
  • SHORT BIO's Key Speakers
    INTAMS Symposium Faithful Voices, Discerning Hearts: Marriage and Family in Church and Society Voci fedeli, cuori lungimiranti: Matrimonio e famiglia nella Chiesa e nella società Rome, 10 - 12 September 2015 SHORT BIO's Key Speakers Emmanuel Agius is a diocesan priest and dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Malta. He is also a member of the European Group of Ethics In Science and New Technologies (EGE) which is an advisory board of the European Commission. Roger Burggraeve, sdb is professor emeritus of theological ethics at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), where he taught, among others, the course An Ethics of Growth for Difficult Pastoral and Educational Situations. A Levinas scholar, he is co- founder and honorary chair of the Centre for Peace Ethics at the KU Leuven, and currently visiting professor at the international institute Lumen Vitae (Brussels).For 37 years he was also part-time collaborator and team member of the Salesian youth pastoral centre ‘Eigentijdse Jeugd’ (Youth Today) near Brussels. Andrea Grillo is professor of sacramental theology at the Facoltà Teologica del Pontificio Ateneo Sant’Anselmo in Rome, and lecturer in liturgy at the Istituto di Liturgia Pastorale di Padova e l’Istituto Augustinianum in Roma. Peter Hünermann is professor emeritus for Dogmatic theology at the Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Tübingen. He is honorary President of the European Society for Catholic Theology. Thomas Knieps-Port le Roi holds the INTAMS Chair for the Study of Marriage & Spirituality at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven.
    [Show full text]
  • Robots Need Ethical Guidelines, Say Speakers at Vatican Meeting
    Robots need ethical guidelines, say speakers at Vatican meeting As robotics play an increasingly greater role in today’s world, their technological capabilities must not outpace ethical concerns, said a number of speakers at the Pontifical Academy for Life’s workshop on “Robo-ethics: Humans, Machines and Health.” A robot installs a windscreen on the production line of the Mercedes-Benz factory in Rastatt, Germany, Feb. 4, 2019CNS photo/Kai Pfaffenbach, Reuters The two-day workshop, held during the academy’s plenary assembly Feb. 25-27, featured a dozen speakers, many of whom are experts in robotics and technology. They were joined by experts in the social sciences, theology and philosophy. While the workshop included presentations on current developments in robotics and advanced technology, some speakers, such as Emmanuel Agius, professor of moral theology and philosophical ethics at the University of Malta, were critical of the direction the developments are taking. Designers, engineers and programmers tend to focus on “technical challenges and advances,” Agius said, without a “reflection on the pressing philosophical, ethical and religious questions” they raise. The moral questions related to robotics are too important and complex to be ignored, he said. “Moral agency is a characteristic of humans, not of machines,” Agius said. One cannot “ascribe intrinsic intentionality to the robot” no matter how “intelligent” the robot is; the only choices they make are a result of their programming, he said. According to a UNESCO report on Robotics Ethics in 2017, “Given the increasing autonomy of robots, the question arises who exactly should bear ethical and/or legal responsibility for robot behavior.” When asked whether someone could program ethics into a robot, Peter J.
    [Show full text]