Man is distinct from all other forms of life. Man is therefore unique. Because we are made in the image of God - this is the basis of our worth and dignity. We are not nothing. Scripture therefore gives us a high view of human life.
People believe themselves to be mere cogs in a mechanistic universe.
Hence, there is no dignity, nothing special about men, women and children. This low view of human life has terrible consequences, such as, pornography, infanticide, abortion, human embryo experimentation, child sex abuse, euthanasia, etc. We should not be surprised at such depravity. It is inevitable, because our world has left behind the fact that we are made in God's image. For more than 2,000 years, medical ethics and practice have been underpinned by a combination of the Hippocratic oath and the doctrines of Scripture.