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Wilder Penfield - Bioethicist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2014

Cara L. Sedney  and
Mark Bernstein
Cara L. Sedney*
Affiliation:
From the Department of Neurosurgery, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
Mark Bernstein
Affiliation:
Department of Surgery, Division of Neurosurgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
*
West Virginia University Department of Neurosurgery, HSC PO Box 9183, Morgantown, West Virginia, 26506, USA. Email: csedney@hsc.wvu.edu
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Abstract

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Bioethics is a new discipline which developed as modern medical and scientific breakthroughs surpassed the ability of traditional medical ethics to contend with unique ethical dilemmas. It evolved into an interdisciplinary discourse regarding the ethical and societal implications of medicine and the biomedical sciences. Wilder Penfield (1891–1976), celebrated neurosurgeon and neuroscientist, is rarely thought of as a “bioethicist,” and his mention in texts on the history of bioethics is little more than a footnote. However, he appears to have contributed to the field of bioethics in a number of ways: through his solutions to the ethical problems posed by the unique form of surgery he developed; through his recognition of the limitations of traditional medical ethics; through his involvement of the public and other disciplines in ethical discussions; and through the impact that his work still has today in the area of bioethics termed “neuroethics.”

Type
Historical Review
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , March 2014 , pp. 177 - 181
Copyright
Copyright © The Canadian Journal of Neurological 2014

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