Our right to live in dignity

Professor Jerzy Einhorn, now sadly deceased, was actually responsible for providing me with the inspiration to pursue my efforts to bring about a broad collaboration with other research financiers centring on a new and truly dynamic initiative in the field of ethics. The collaboration that has now been established between six different research councils, foundations and funds focusing on a joint Programme for support to research on “Ethics in health care” is the result of a unique collaboration that will build the bridges necessary to encourage new research results. It is designed to show the importance we attach to more in-depth knowledge of the consequences arising from the difficult choices that always have to be made in practical health care work.

All research financed via “Ethics in health care” therefore focuses on patients and their issues. The questions asked are designed to meet the needs of the patients, their closest relatives and health care staff. The research presupposes an interdisciplinary approach, since one of its fundamental assumptions is that the skills involved in many different areas are required to solve the issues raised by complex ethical problems.

It is also vital that the research results of the “Ethics in health care” programme should be rapidly applied in practice and that a serious discussion of ethical issues should be raised within society at large. A special web site with information about the programme was opened in December 2000. The address is www.etikprogrammet.net

The most important aspect at present, however, is that we as financiers have succeeded in allocating a total of SEK 36 million to the “Ethics in health care” programme for the next five years. The idea is to show both the research sphere and the general public the importance we attach to the “softer” ethical issues in today’s modern and increasingly high-tech society. The interdisciplinary requirements we impose on the research teams and the highly varied contact networks of the research financiers will give the “Ethics in health care” programme a unique potential of making a real contribution to the process of change. I therefore believe that the results of this joint initiative will be vastly more important to progress in the health care sector than if each of the financiers had acted alone.

I am only sorry that Jerzy Einhorn did not live to see the outcome of his ideas.

Ewa Ställdal
MD The Vardal Foundation, and initiator of the programme