- Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, United States.
Correspondence Address:
Jorge A. Lazareff, Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, United States.
DOI:10.25259/SNI_231_2022
Copyright: © 2022 Surgical Neurology International This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, transform, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.How to cite this article: Lazareff JA. Desafíos Bioéticos en neurociencias del siglo XXI. El presente y el futuro. Surg Neurol Int 08-Apr-2022;13:127
How to cite this URL: Lazareff JA. Desafíos Bioéticos en neurociencias del siglo XXI. El presente y el futuro. Surg Neurol Int 08-Apr-2022;13:127. Available from: https://surgicalneurologyint.com/surgicalint-articles/11523/
Title: Desafíos Bioéticos en neurociencias del siglo XXI. El presente y el future
Edition: Ediciones Journal
Edited by: Alejandra T. Rabadán
Published by: Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
ISBN: 978-987-8452-16-6
Pages: 415
Year: 2022
Dr. Alejandra Rabadán, a prestigious Argentine Neurosurgeon with a strong interest in bioethics, edited “Desafíos bioéticos en neurociencias del siglo XXI.” A pioneering text on the current and future ethical challenges involved in the practice of clinical neurosurgery. This work is among her last contribution before her premature and sudden death in January 2022.
The conception and completion of this project are commendable. The chapters cover subjects from fetal surgery to psychiatric surgery and stem cell therapy. The all-encompassing text has 26 coauthors, most of them with a stellar career in neurosurgery, neurology, and the neurosciences who join philosophers, lawyers, and psychologists in this endeavor. This is the most comprehensive contemporary review in Spanish of this critical matter to the best of my knowledge.
This book is an outstanding resource for practicing neurosurgeons who are curious about the opinion of prestigious clinicians on contentious issues. And the readers of this book will be rewarded by the writings of passionate humanitarians who share thoughts developed after years of solid practice and intellectual curiosity.
The authors, understandable, so considering their background, devout a large portion of their contribution to the pathophysiology of a clinical condition. They review the current research and, in many cases, base their recommendations on the report of randomized control trials. As a result, each chapter is a valuable source of clinical information about a topic. Still, the bioethical discussion is developed in a few paragraphs, too few for a book whose main intention is the bioethical debate about a clinical condition. In those paragraphs, we find the circular argument; it is ethical to be ethical. We can safely conclude that deontology, the doctrine of duty and obligation is the dominant ideology of the authors. As a disclaimer, I also endorse deontology as the backbone of clinical practice.
Soon neurosurgeons will be pondering how far we are ready to go into the Pandora box of modifying human behavior through neurosurgical intervention. The ethical debate on the implications of future clinical neurosciences practices will pivot around utilitarianism or consequentialism.
I am confident that the implications of this question did not escape the curious and brilliant mind of Dr. Alejandra Rabadán. It is a loss to our profession that she will not be at the helm of the second edition of this extraordinary text.
Declaration of patient consent
Patient’s consent not required as there are no patients in this study.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.