Everything you always wanted to know about Ethical issues in gastroenterology

When asked to be responsible as Guest Editors for an issue of the journal Best Practice & Research: Clinical Gastroenterology: Ethical Issues in Gastroenterology we did not hesitate.We consented. But as sometimes happens, also to ethicists, one is not completely prepared for what one consents to. It turned out to be quite a challenge. Why? Because ethics research and the kind of publications that result from it are different from medical research (This we knew of course, but still.). Because within ethics there are many different approaches and styles (This we also knew, in fact we selected our authors in order to provide examples of such differences, but still.). Because it was difficult to choose subjects as any choice implies that other themes are not discussed although they also do deserve discussion. So what we serve is a mixture of different subjects and approaches, contributions from authors with different disciplinary backgrounds, physicians, ethicists and a literary scholar, showing the importance of interdisciplinary research in the field of applied ethics. What you will find:
Inez de Beaufort in her chapter “‘Please, sir, can I have some more?’ Food, lifestyle, diets: respect and moral responsibility” discusses general issues regarding responsibility for lifestyle and eating habits, our responsibility to respect food and to contribute to bridging the food gap in the world.