Throughout 2005, the Foundation has continued to coordinate the normal activities it has consolidated since it was first created. The annual awarding of prizes and grants received a particularly positive response. A wide range of research studies undertaken as well as projects for new research, most of an outstanding quality, had to compete to opt for one of the two prizes and one of the three grants that the Foundation gave every year. Furthermore, various events were organised in the form of seminars, short courses and working groups, with the aim of reflecting on and debating some of the most relevant topics being discussed about bioethics, all over the world.

The analysis of the collection of topics discussed, as well as of the activities held and also the research proposals that have received specific support, have all highlighted with special relevance the concern for the treatment received by patients and the role that healthcare services play in that treatment.  The research prize was given to a study on the freedom of conscience and the rights of users in the health service;  the journalism award for a thought-provoking reflection on the closeness of death; two of the grants went to projects proposed for research into communication with patients and communication with their accompanying friends or family, respectively. One of the seminars we organised centred on the data resulting from an empirical investigation into the information sick people receive and how far they can participate in the process.  Finally, the course we hold every year, jointly with the Menéndez Pelayo University and which was very well attended and popular among professionals, was entitled: “The new profile of patients and their participation in medical decisions”.  In collaboration with the Ariel publisher, the Foundation also published the Spanish translation of the well-known book by  A.R. Jonson, M. Siegler and W.J. Winslade, Clinical ethics, that discusses the taking of ethical decisions in medicine.

In the light of the interest shown in the fortunes and interests of people who suffer from a disease or are in a terminal condition, we may deduce that the central character in bioethics is, undoubtedly, the patient themselves and the circumstances they find themselves in. A more active patient, more involved in the decisions being taken that may affect him or her. This reality in turn implies a less and less paternalistic and more and more open clinical relationship, involving a change towards deliberation and the recognition of the sick person’s autonomy. The consideration of the patient’s autonomy is, in fact, one of the ethical advances that have occurred in the heart of the medical profession, perhaps one of the most notable although not without a certain polemic, as shown by the continuous discussion this issue generates.

The second ethical topic of great interest, at the present time, is related to the production and use of mother cells for therapeutic ends. A working group constituted in the Foundation prepared the document: “Therapeutic cloning: scientific, ethical and legal perspectives”, based on a discussion held by a group of expert opinions.  The destiny of mother cells and regenerative medicine was the central topic of a conference given by Dr. Juan Carlos Izpisúa, director of the recently opened Centre for Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona.

The Foundation web site demonstrates constantly the amount of people who day after day show interest in our activities and our work. It is the best tool for publicising and informing users about the projects under way as well as the publications of finished research.  Towards the end of the year, we presented Bionethics, a specialist search engine for bioethics, that we hope can offer professionals, students and the public interested in the relationship between ethics and medicine, an ideal tool to obtain and extend information on this subject.

Victoria Camps
President