现代生命医学与美国相关法律的发展

近30年来现代医学技术的高速发展及惊人进步挑战着世界各国的法律及道德观念.本世纪更因生命科学的巨大发展而被命名为生命科学世纪.现代生命科学在变革世界的同时也带来了史无前例的道德伦理问题,引发了激烈的争论.为了适应这些新的发展,美国的法律做出了相应的变革.这些新的法律法规影响着美国人民的工作生活及几乎所有的法律领域,例如医疗法、家庭法、遗产法、商业法、专利法、刑法等都极大程度地受到现代医学及相关法律的制约与影响.当代各个领域中的美国律师及政治领导人必须熟悉生命医学的有关法律,以为社会提供高质量和全方位的服务.生命医学法律更是当代世界及美国政坛的激战舞台,美国总统布什于2006年7月19日第一次使用了总统否决权,驳回了美国国会新通过的干细胞研究的法律,此举引发了激烈的政治波澜.着重介绍当代美国生命医学法律中的最热点论题,包括医疗决定权、安乐死、人类克隆及人胚胎干细胞研究等有关法律的发展过程及存在的问题与面临的挑战.

Modern Biomedicine and the Evolution of American Laws

The fast development of modern biomedical technology in the last 30 years challenges the laws and bioethics of countries around the world.The 21st Century has even been nick-named Century of Biomedical Science.The modern biomedical advances have been forever changing the world,and at the same time they also created unprecedented legal and ethical issues,which caused huge debates.In response to the advances of the modern biomedical sciences,American laws have evolved to satisfy the novel needs of the new society in this Century of Biomedicine.These new American laws regulate and influence the daily life of Americans which cover almost all legal fields,including Health and Hospital Law,Family Law,Wills and Estates Law,Commercial Law,Patent Law,Criminal Law,etc.American lawyers and political leaders must be family with modern biomedical and bioethics laws in order to provide comprehensive service to their modern community and society.Modern biomedical laws have also been the central focus of American politics.On July 19 2006,President Bush for the very first time during his presidency used his presidential veto power against the new Stem Cell Research Bill passed by Congress,which caused huge political storm.We discuss here the hottest issues and the history of American laws related to biomedical and bioethical controversies including the right to making medical decisions,euthanasia,human cloning and stem cell research.