‘Father of Bioethics’ Dr Derrick Aarons at the pinnacle of his career
A BIOETHICIST. Now here’s a profession you don’t hear about every day. You must be wondering: Bio who? What is that? Actually bioethics plays an integral role in your life as well as the medical field.
Sunday Lifestyle had a heart-to-heart with the ‘Father of Bioethics’ here in Jamaica, Dr Derrick Aarons.
So what exactly is bioethics? According to the good doctor, bioethics is essentially the ethics of life. It has to do with mankind’s existence, the ethics in which it conducts itself with the interaction of humans and its environment, exploring the lines between morals and ethics within the health arena. It is broken down into different areas of ethics: environmental, clinical, medical, research, ethics in the research of human beings, ethics in the healthcare setting and a host of others. A slice of what this doctor does is geared towards what ought to happen in communication within the healthcare system.
“The development of medicine and healthcare could only reach where it is now because society and individuals trusted what was being said. I tell my students, morality is about you, the individual, how I see and perceive within myself, what is right and wrong. Ethics kicks in conducting yourself in front of others. Medical ethics, for example, explores how I should conduct myself in the medical field,” he explained. Healthcare sits on two legs: the scientific data and technology as well as the critical mind, behaviour in front of a patient, “If you’re unethical, you will reach nowhere with your patients ; they will never trust you. Ethics in medicine is critical for people to trust the science involved in making them better.”
The global pandemic, he says, demonstrates bioethical issues at its highest degree. “Too many people aren’t trusting because of what they hear, The choices of words can be misleading. Persons have to go to the right source, and those within the medical field have to be clear and concise about how they relay the information.” the doctor declared.
Dr Aarons is considered the leading bioethicist, not only on the island, but within the Englishspeaking Caribbean. The first ethicist at the Caribbean Public Health Agency and the founding president of the Caribbean arm of the Bioethics Society, he has presided over several key holding positions within hospitals, faculties, health agencies and boards.
The game-changer always knew that he wanted to become a doctor. While attending Kingston College, he aligned with the science subjects and did exceptionally well, paving his path to The University of the West of Indies. He was well on his way to becoming a doctor when a presentation changed life as he knew it forever.
In 1993, he was invited to attend the first conference in medical ethics as a member of the medical association. The honour was twofold: he was one of the youngest doctors of the Medical Association of Jamaica, and being charged with the responsibility of representing the country in Barbados was an even greater privilege. He found himself asking the professor presenting more information on the subject area. The intersection of medics, ethics and law was fascinating to Aarons and the professor Somerville was honoured to ignite this spark, inviting him to pursue his masters in bioethics in Canada.
Before he knew it, he was seeking funds to pursue the degree. After showing different companies how ethics was important and how this would’ve been an investment, he was turned down for financial assistance. “When it came down to the wire, I discussed it with my wife. She knew my passion for this, ‘I think we should liquidate what we have’. She bought into my vision and I was able to do the first year and, because I did well, I got a partial scholarship to assist in my second and third years,” he said.
When many went off to apply their knowledge in other regions of the First World, Dr Aarons believed that he needed to bring this expertise back to Jamaica and share the wealth of knowledge with anyone willing to listen and make a change.
In the same way many refused funding the degree, he was denied practice of this specialty in hospitals because the powers that be didn’t see its real value. So he shifted gears and went to the education system. The best way to make a positive impact is to nurture the young minds of the future. For every door that was closed in his face, he opened five more. And while knocking on doors locally, he was attending conferences.
Listed among the top 26 bioethicists in the world, the consulting bioethicist says he is now at the pinnacle of his career.
He serves on the International Bioethics Committee of UNESCO, preparing principles and ethics guidelines for the 194 member countries. He is the former bioethicist on the ethics committee on the Faculty of Medical Sciences at The University of West Indies, Mona Campus, and head of the Health Professions Authority in the Turks and Caicos Islands. He is now an author, having completed his first book, Vital Communications in Medicine.