A reflection on progress in medicine – bioethics appeared in the 1970s. „Principless of biomedical ethics” – the monograph by Tom Beachamp and James Childress – was to change the concept of ethical evaluation of new possibilities of diagnostic and therapy and making decisions in medicine. In the 70’s there was also the development of chronic pain management. A pioneering concept of multidisciplinary management of a patient suffering from chronic pain by John Bonica is a part of the process of implementing four bioethical principles. The idea of integrative medicine – combining the methods resulting from the scientific and technical progress of Western medicine with the methods of traditional Eastern medicine has enabled the implementation of beneficience, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice. This article will present facts related to the Bonica’s concept in the first chronic pain clinic created in Poland in the 1970s.
