A PROPOSED MOTTO FOR BIOETHICS

It is so important that we commit ourselves as individuals, families, communities and nations to ensuring no human life is destroyed, left behind or abandoned.  To give in and give up on any human being is an offence against the interdependence of collective community. Granted, we can not govern the outcome of every situation but we can govern how we respond to each situation.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson said something about the purpose of government that could/should be adapted to govern bioethics.

I would like to see the following motto be adopted for the study and practice of bioethics at every university and hospital then posted on all bioethicists' office walls:


The care and protection of human life, and not its destruction, is the only legitimate role of bioethics. [1]


Mark Davis Pickup

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[1] The quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson: "The care of human life and happiness, and not its destruction, is the first and only object of good government."