Tn this issue of the Archives, a new editorial department is introduced. It will appear occasionally and will present the views of practicing physicians on a broad range of clinical problems that force them to confront directly moral and ethical questions arising in their routine practice. The articles will be written by clinicians, and will be directed toward an audience of practicing physicians. This new section will be called CLINICAL ETHICS, reflecting the fact that, in the practice of medicine, clinical and ethical issues are deeply interdependent.
THE RISE OF BIOMEDICAL ETHICS
Clinical ethics, which focuses on issues that confront the physician in his daily interactions with patients, is to be contrasted with biomedical ethics (BME), which is greatly concerned with public policy issues. In the past 15 years, there has been a remarkable rise of interest in BME; it has captured the fancy of the public. The media have