Issues in the study of medical ethics

In a discussion of the study of medical ethics, there are three main questions: (a) What is medical ethics--a topic of research, a subject of instruction or a field of science? (b) Who should teach it? (c) How should it be taught? I would like to answer these three questions by reporting on the work plans and models of the Unit for Medical Ethics at the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg. To do so, it is necessary to say a few words about the development of medical ethics in the former GDR and about the foundation of our unit.