Madrid (EFE).- The president of the Central Ethics Commission of the Collegiate Medical Organization (OMC), José María Rodríguez Roldán, clarified this Thursday that surrogacy is ethically acceptable if it is “completely altruistic” and preserves the dignity of the woman and the minor, pondering “who is going to exercise maternity”.
Rodríguez Roldán has expressed this to the media before the presentation at the Congress of the New Code of Medical Ethics which, among other novelties, includes two articles dedicated to this matter, numbers 65.1 and 65.2 that have been included in the XV chapter, dedicated to Sexuality and Reproduction.
Doctors on surrogate pregnancy: Any economic compensation is ethically reprehensible
The first stresses that the participation of doctors in surrogacy “with financial compensation” is ethically reprehensible. The commercialization of the woman’s body violates her dignity.
On this, Rodríguez Roldán has clarified that it refers to any type of economic consideration, not only the commercial one, also the compensatory one for expenses.
Meanwhile, the second establishes that “pregnancy by altruistic substitution is not contrary to Medical Deontology as long as the dignity of the woman and the best interests of the minor are preserved, with the opportune regulation and control of the National Commission for Assisted Human Reproduction.” ”.
Which means, he added, that surrogacy is not ethically reprehensible when “it is completely altruistic, the woman’s freedom to decide is ensured, her dignity is preserved as a first requirement and, as a second, the best interest of the child” .
Educate, raise and accompany in growth
For this second determining factor, it must be considered “who is going to later develop maternity, so that they can educate, raise that child and accompany it in its growth”.
And these two aspects, that the dignity of the woman and the interest of the minor are respected, “must be verified by an ethics commission of experts to confirm that we do not find ourselves with a deontological reproach.”
In this same chapter, doctors dedicate another three articles to sexual orientation, gender identity or fertility, which “must be respectful and seek the greatest benefit of the patient.”
Regarding treatment of minors and adolescents who want a sex change, article 68.1 states that “expert doctors with the appropriate skills will always intervene, together with multidisciplinary committees. They will take into account the best interest of the minor and the irreversibility of the procedure to be carried out.
The new document that they are presenting this afternoon in the presence of the Minister of Health, José Miñones, has updated several of the chapters of the latest version, which dates from 2011, the most innovative relating to patient safety, artificial intelligence, new technologies in Medicine, health databases or telemedicine.
Although it does not explicitly allude to the euthanasia law, approved two years ago, in a final provision it establishes that the doctor who acts “protected by the laws of the State cannot be sanctioned deontologically”.