Latin American perspectives

This chapter deals with selected perspectives on bioethics in Latin America. The analysis of individual countries is omitted, since it is dealt with in other chapters. A general view of the continent is offered instead, with the proviso that the geopolitical area known as Latin America may be conceptualized in different forms. For the current purpose, it is reduced to those countries where Romance languages derived from Latin are spoken and which belonged formerly to the Spanish and Portuguese empires. It is asserted that the very word bioethics and the ideas it reflects can be considered an import from other traditions, mostly, but not exclusively, US principialism, which has become the dominant form of bioethics in the continent, despite some ideological expressions of antagonism based on hostile images of imperialism and dependence. In search for identity, Latin American bioethics, as many other forms of intellectual endeavor, manifests dependence precisely in the act of rejecting foreign influences. The picture is one of conceptual and terminological confusions, with the establishment of practices of research and healthcare oversight that do not always reflect the complex realities of the different countries. Multiculturalism and multiethnic communities are assets of the continent. At the same time, they are challenges for a unified view of perspectives and problems. Pressing issues are corruption and inequity, thus making bioethics imperative for contributing to the solution of social issues. Latin American populations have been vulnerable to exploitation by commercial and political interests. The establishment of national commissions, research ethics committees, hospital ethics committees, and professional ethics bodies has shown a steady increase during the last decades, although there is room for improvement regarding accreditation and the quality of their work. The opportunity for developing a bioethical movement integrating European, American, and Asiatic insights is stressed.