The Church and Public Council on Biomedical Ethics adopted a number of amendments to the document “On the inviolability of human life from the moment of conception”

The Church and Public Council on Biomedical Ethics adopted a number of amendments to the document “On the inviolability of human life from the moment of conception” Церковно-общественный совет по биомедицинской этике принял ряд поправок к документу «О неприкосновенности жизни человека с момента зачатия» print version September 6, 2019 1:20 p.m. On September 4, 2019, in Moscow, under the chairmanship of the Metropolitan of Petrozavodsk and Karelian Konstantin , the regular meeting of the Church and Public Council on the Biomedical Ethics of the Russian Orthodox Church was held. The meeting was attended by: Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry , Chairman of the Hospital Service Commission at the Diocesan Council of Moscow, Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky ; Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov , Co-Chair of the Church and Public Council on Biomedical Ethics, Chairman of the Patriarchal Commission on Family, Maternal and Child Welfare ; Head of the Department of Biomedical Ethics, Russian State Medical University N.I. Pirogova professor Doctor of Philosophy I.V. Siluyanova; Protopriest Maxim Obukhov, member of the Patriarchal Commission on Family, the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, head of the Orthodox Medical Education Center "Life"; Chairman of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of St. Petersburg St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Crimea, Doctor of Medical Sciences Archpriest Sergiy Filimonov; Archpriest Igor Aksenov, Chairman of the Department of Religious Education and Catechesisation of the Vyborg Diocese, Rector of the Iliinsky Church of Vyborg Hierodeacon Kirill (Pustograev), member of the Executive Committee of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of Russia; Archpriest Valentin Zhokhov, member of the diocesan department for combating the alcohol threat and drug addiction; Rector of the Church of St. Nicholas at the Straw Gatehouse in Moscow, psychiatrist Archpriest Vladimir Novitsky; Priest Theodor Lukyanov, co-chair of the World Russian People’s Council on Healthcare working group; Honored Doctor of Russia, Head of ANO "Orthodox Center for the Care of Cancer Patients" Oncologist N.V. Bogdanova; Head of the Department of Preventive Gerontopsychiatry of the National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Narcology named after V.P. Serbian L.E. Pishchikova; Konstantin Pavlyuchenko, member of the Synodal liturgical commission, secretary of the head of the Karelian metropolitanate. During the meeting, a second discussion and adoption of the application for genetic passports took place. The Church and Community Council on Biomedical Ethics recognizes the importance of the achievements of genetic research for humans and society as a whole. But at the same time, he understands that they can be fraught with unpredictable threats to the entire human race, since a genetic passport is a document that contains information about an individual DNA profile for a particular person. The information contained in it can be used not only for error-free identification of a person, but also for medical, social, commercial and other purposes, and the possibility of access to such information is fraught with the most formidable and unpredictable consequences, especially if it is used by criminal structures. Precedent: the use of electronic signatures, theft of funds from bank cards. The Council recognizes that genetic identification and genetic testing can be carried out freely only on the basis of respect for dignity, freedom and individual rights. Amendments to the document “On the inviolability of human life from the moment of conception” were adopted. The Bioethics Council draws attention to the pressing urgency of the discussion about the legal status of the human embryo as a whole, since the data of modern medicine do not allow us to talk about the human fetus as a part of the mother’s body or tissues, which should impose ethical restrictions on manipulations that are not related to the treatment of diseases. The Council also draws attention to the fact that both parents are responsible for the sin of infanticide. Doctors, regardless of their beliefs, should promote the development of pre-abortion counseling, in which each treatment for an abortion should be accompanied by preventive measures and, first of all, persuasion. The Council also calls for strengthening abortion prevention measures. Abortion prevention methods include outreach and education, charity and legislative protection. Council members reiterate the inadmissibility of IVF. Although the ethical problem of embryo death during IVF is recognized by the medical community and attempts are being made to solve it, it has not been resolved, which is an obstacle to the recognition of IVF as an acceptable method. The Council also draws attention to the fact that any means that kill a human embryo after conception are abortive rather than contraceptive, and that if prenatal diagnosis obviously involves only the identification of diseases for the purpose of subsequent abortion, a visit to this procedure is not blessed by the Russian Orthodox Church. The Council reiterates the need to comply with the code of ethics for older persons. The Church and Public Council on Biomedical Ethics reiterates the inadmissibility of any attempt to legalize euthanasia as an action to intentionally kill patients and elderly people, considering euthanasia as a special form of killing. It was decided to hold a conference on bioethics "Actual Issues of Bioethics", a discussion was held on the alleged names and topics of the reports. The conference was decided to coincide with the International Christmas Educational Readings, which will be held in January 2020 in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Four reports have already been included in the preliminary program of the conference: I.V. Siluyanova, “On technologies for editing the human genome”; L.E. Pishchikova, “Ethical Challenges in Psychiatry. Euthanasia and assisted suicide ”,“ Ethical aspects of the provision of psychiatric care in psychoneurological boarding schools (PNI) (based on the results of the inspection) ”; N.V. Bogdanova, "On the genetic certification of the population." It was decided to reissue the collection of materials of the work of the Church and Public Council with the inclusion of new statements by the Council. During the meeting, reports were also presented: on the glorification of psychiatrists through pr. Gabriel of Sedmezerny, locally revered saint of the Kazan diocese, in the face of church saints; about the inadmissibility of early sexual education of primary school students. The participants discussed proposals for creating the website of the Church and Public Council on Biomedical Ethics, as well as selected a date and outlined the agenda for the next meeting of the Council.