25 years of the Central Ethics Committee at the German Medical Association

14.10.2021 16:36

“The medical profession is the only professional group that has its own socially oriented and at the same time internally oriented mouthpiece: ZEKO. The focus of their consultations is on the well-understood concerns of the medical profession in their responsibility for patients and society,” emphasized the chairman of ZEKO, Prof. Dr. Jochen Taupitz, at the symposium “Ethics in everyday medical practice” organized by the German Medical Association on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the ZEKO in Berlin.

According to Taupitz, ZEKO's positions are prominently featured in public discourse and in scientific debate.

“With the establishment of the ZEKO, the German Medical Association continues to play a pioneering role today. The interdisciplinary committee is independent in its opinion-forming and decision-making. It not only corresponds to the ZEKO's self-image, but it is also an important ethical desideratum that it does not pursue professional medical interests. The ZEKO looks for its topics that are usually particularly close to medical practice and publishes its statements on them itself,” said Federal Medical Association President Dr. Klaus Reinhardt. These degrees of freedom are both a privilege and an obligation and reflect the trust of the medical profession in this committee.

Since the 1990s, ethical questions of international relevance have increasingly arisen. The importance of medical ethics grew constantly and with it the need for networking and dialogue between policy-advising ethics committees. In addition, the central importance of a broad social debate is particularly clear in view of current challenges – such as the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, emphasized Prof. Dr. Christiane Woopen, former chairwoman of the Ethics Council of the European Commission, in her report on ethics in times of globalization.

Based on his report on the current state of development of non-clinical and clinical ethics advice, Prof. Dr. Georg Marckmann, long-time member of the ZEKO board, said ZEKO continues to play an important translational role between ethical theory and medical practice.

The former ZEKO member Prof. Dr. Claudia Wiesemann in her lecture. She emphasized the importance of diverse perspectives in the commissions in a pluralistic society. A reflected process of incorporating different perspectives and experiences significantly increases the persuasiveness of a commission's statements.