Bioethics and Gerontology: The Value of Thinking Together
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Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2021-12-24
Type of Work
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Citation of Original Publication
Nancy Berlinger, PhD, Kate de Medeiros, PhD, Laura Girling, PhD, Bioethics and Gerontology: The Value of Thinking Together, The Gerontologist, 2021;, gnab186, https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnab186
Rights
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in The Gerontologist following peer review. The version of record Nancy Berlinger, PhD, Kate de Medeiros, PhD, Laura Girling, PhD, Bioethics and Gerontology: The Value of Thinking Together, The Gerontologist, 2021;, gnab186, https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnab186 is available online at:
https://academic-oup-com.proxy-bc.researchport.umd.edu/gerontologist/advance-article/doi/10.1093/geront/gnab186/6482791?login=true
https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnab186
Access to this item will begin on 12/24/22
Access to this item will begin on 12/24/22
Subjects
Abstract
The interdisciplinary field of bioethics focuses on what it means to be a person, flourish as a person
and be respected as a person in different conditions of health, illness, or disability. Bioethics and
policy research considers normative questions such as how a good society, through its priorities and
investments, should demonstrate its commitments to the lives of different populations. Bioethics
and humanities scholarship, often known as “health humanities,” shares affinities with age studies
and disability studies, and with narrative-based approaches to the study of human experience.
Gerontology is concerned with the many aspects of life that affect how people age, including social
structures and values that influence the experience of growing old. In this paper, we briefly explore
the evolution of bioethics, from a discourse that emerged in relation to developments in
biomedicine, bioscience, and biotechnology; to research ethics; to broader ethical questions
emerging from real-world conditions, with attention to how bioethics has considered the experience
of aging. Until recently, most age-focused work in bioethics has concerned age-associated illness,
particularly end-of-life decision-making. Given the reality of population aging and the ethical
concerns accompanying the shift in age for most places in the world, the further evolution of
bioethics involves greater attention to the support of flourishing in late life and to social justice and
health equity in aging societies. We argue that the discourses of bioethics and critical gerontology, in
dialogue, can bring new understanding of privilege and preference, disparity and disadvantage, and
reflection and respect for aging individuals.