SINOPSIS

The endeavor to deliver health care beyond national boundaries is a new phenomenon in the history of our species. It is motivated by humanitarian reasons, by the fact that many diseases know no frontiers, as well as, concurrently at times, by specific geopolitical interests. The global dimensions of the endeavor are large. They give rise to a daunting array of ethical challenges stemming from a host of complex issues, either intrinsic to the global context or enhanced by that context. They range from the ethics of health care delivery in different groups and cultures to the ethics of global intervention across national boundaries, the different roles of health care professionals, the appropriate transparency in the delivery of health care, different conceptions of the relation between law and ethics, the ethics in the delivery of obsolete or obsolescent medicines and devices, the issue of technology transfer and that of medical tourism. Failure to recognize and address the ethics issues arising from these challenges can compromise the global delivery of health care, no matter how large and well-intended the commitment to it may be.