Elisabetta Lalumera – författare

This is the first book to explore the epistemology and ethics of advanced imaging tests, in order to improve the critical understanding of the nature of knowledge they provide and the practical consequences of their utilization in healthcare. Advanced medical imaging tests, such as PET and MRI, have gained center stage in medical research and in patients’ care. They also increasingly raise questions that pertain to philosophy: What is required to be an expert in reading images? How are standards for interpretation to be fixed? Is there a problem of overutilization of such tests? How should uncertainty be communicated to patients? How to cope with incidental findings? This book is of interest and importance to scholars of philosophy of medicine at all levels, from undergraduates to researchers, to medical researchers and practitioners (radiologists and nuclear physicians) interested in a critical appraisal of the methodology of their discipline and in the ethical principles andconsequences of their work.

This book analyses and discusses from a philosophical perspective the concepts of health, well-being and quality of life in contemporary biomedical research. The guiding idea of the book is that different concepts of health, well-being, and quality of life lead to different types of projects, actions and policies, both at the individual and institutional level. For this reason, it is important to analyse them and make them clear, in their interweaving of objective dimensions (the facts) and evaluative dimensions (the values).