[Are we still our patients' keepers?: James Drane's contribution to clinical ethics in the current context].

Overview

The current article analyzes the figure of the American bioethicist James Drane (1930). Drane not only played a crucial role in the birth of Bioethics in the United States, but was also instrumental in the inception and development of the field in Spain and Latin America. His «sliding scale» was the first dynamic tool encouraging a systematic evaluation of a patient's capacity to make healthcare-related decisions. However Drane's major contribution to the field was his application of virtue Ethics to the doctor-patient relationship. His proposal rests on the physician's compromise with the patient in all his/her dimensions. This goal will guide the physician's character and serve as compass, with which to exercise a virtuous practice, since only by exercising these virtues can doctors become truly good.