Case Studies in Biomedical Ethics

Decision-Making, Principles, and Cases
ISBN13: 9780195309720ISBN10: 0195309723 Paperback, 480 pages
Jan 2009,  In Stock

Price:

$49.95 (04)
480 pages; 6-1/2 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-530972-0ISBN10: 0-19-530972-3
Featuring a wide range of more than 100 case studies drawn from current events, court cases, and physicians' experiences, this timely volume explores fundamental ethical questions arising from real situations faced by health professionals, patients, and others.

Description

We are living in an unprecedented era of biomedical revolution. Medicine is remaking humans, and controversy surrounds such topics as abortion, artificial organs, brain circuitry, eugenics, euthanasia, and gene therapy. At the same time, medical advances are posing complex ethical problems for both patients and professionals.

The most comprehensive and up-to-date collection of its kind, Case Studies in Biomedical Ethics: Decision-Making, Principles, and Cases explores fundamental ethical questions arising from real situations faced by health professionals, patients, and others. Featuring a wide range of more than 100 case studies drawn from current events, court cases, and physicians' experiences, the book is divided into three parts. Part I presents a basic framework for ethical decision-making in healthcare, covering such issues as separating evaluative questions from questions of fact; distinguishing between ethical and nonethical evaluations; and identifying the source of ethical judgments. Expanding upon this framework, Part II explains the ethical principles: beneficence and nonmaleficence, justice, respect for autonomy, veracity, fidelity, and avoidance of killing. Parts I and II provide students with the background to analyze the ethical dilemmas presented in Part III, which features cases on a broad spectrum of issues including abortion, genetics, mental health, confidentiality, health insurance, experimentation on humans, the right to refuse treatment, and death and dying. Each case is accompanied by the authors' commentary, which guides students in considering the issues.

Ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses in biomedical ethics, bioethics, and medical ethics, Case Studies in Biomedical Ethics incorporates opening text boxes in each chapter that cross-reference relevant cases in other chapters. It also includes an appendix of important ethical codes and a glossary of key terms.

Reviews

"Case Studies in Biomedical Ethics is by far the most comprehensive and engaging text I have yet encountered in the field. It includes a far-ranging array of cases in bioethics for use in the classroom presented in terms of a compelling account of the basic principles and issues of contemporary health care ethics. . . . I believe that it will set the new standard in the field."--Daniel E. Palmer, Kent State University^

"The sheer range of cases is better than any other of the score of textbooks I have seen. One of the great virtues of the book is the style, which is consistently clear and engaging without sacrificing attention to the complexities and subtleties of the issues. The coverage of topics is more extensive than any other textbook I am aware of. . . . The integration of commentary on each specific case, as well as a larger framework for putting the cases in the context of basic principles of medical ethics, is exemplary. The book is an excellent choice for any college-level course in medical ethics."--Daniel Berthold, Bard College

About the Author(s)

Robert M. Veatch, Ph.D., Professor of Medical Ethics, Professor of Philosophy, and former Director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University , Amy Haddad, Ph.D., R.N., Professor of Pharmacy Sciences, Director for the Center for Health Policy and Ethics, and the Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Endowed Chair in the Health Sciences, Creighton University , and Dan D. English, M.D., Affiliated Scholar at the Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University

Available Resources