Bioethics is both a field of study and a professional practice concerned with ethical issues concerning health (primarily human, but increasingly including animal ethics), including those arising from advances in biology, medicine, and technology. It proposes a discussion in society about moral discernment (what decisions are “good” or “bad” and why), and it is frequently related to medical policy and practice, but also to broader issues such as the environment, well-being, and public health. Bioethics is concerned with the ethical issues that arise as a result of the interactions between life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, theology, and philosophy. It entails the study of values associated with primary care, other sections of medicine (“the ethics of the ordinary”), ethical education in science, animal and environmental ethics, and public health.
