Euthanasia and the Family Doctor

Abstract

Anyone tracing the development of modern medicine may be aware of a conflict of basic concepts. On the one hand there is the professional concept, involving a technical approach and resulting from the use of scientific methods and tools, especially those belonging to the natural sciences. This has the direct consequence of turning medicine into a science in itself. Nothing could better express the need for such a development than Leonardo de Vinci’s remark: “He who likes to act without science resembles a sailor going on board a ship without means for navigation or a compass.” What was true during Leonardo de Vinci’s era is definitely true today, when science has become a value in itself.