Sara Fovargue – författare

Health and healthcare are vitally important to all of us, and academic interest in the law regulating health has, over the last 50 years, become an important field of academic study. An analysis of the development of, changes in, and scope of health law and ethics to date, is both timely and of interest to students and scholars alike, along with an exploration of its likely future development. This work brings together contributions from leading and emerging scholars in the field. Each contributor has been invited to select and analyse a ‘leading work’, which has for them shed light on the way that health law and ethics has developed. The chapters are both autobiographical, reflecting upon the works that have proved significant to contributors, and also critical analyses of the current state of the field. This collection also includes a specially written Introduction and Conclusion, which critically reflect upon the development of health law and ethics and its likely future developments in the light of the reflections by contributors on their chosen leading works. The book will be of interest to students, teachers, and researchers in health law and ethics, as it provides critical discussions and assessments of some of the leading scholarship in the field.

Health and healthcare are vitally important to all of us, and academic interest in the law regulating health has, over the last 50 years, become an important field of academic study. An analysis of the development of, changes in, and scope of health law and ethics to date, is both timely and of interest to students and scholars alike, along with an exploration of its likely future development. This work brings together contributions from leading and emerging scholars in the field. Each contributor has been invited to select and analyse a ‘leading work’, which has for them shed light on the way that health law and ethics has developed. The chapters are both autobiographical, reflecting upon the works that have proved significant to contributors, and also critical analyses of the current state of the field. This collection also includes a specially written Introduction and Conclusion, which critically reflect upon the development of health law and ethics and its likely future developments in the light of the reflections by contributors on their chosen leading works. The book will be of interest to students, teachers, and researchers in health law and ethics, as it provides critical discussions and assessments of some of the leading scholarship in the field.

Some developing biotechnologies challenge accepted legal and ethical norms because of the risks they pose. Xenotransplantation (cross-species transplantation) may prolong life but may also harm the xeno-recipient and the public due to its potential to transmit infectious diseases. These trans-boundary diseases emphasise the global nature of advances in health care and highlight the difficulties of identifying, monitoring and regulating such risks and thereby protecting individual and public health. Xenotransplantation raises questions about how uncertainty and risk are understood and accepted, and exposes tensions between private benefit and public health. Where public health is at risk, a precautionary approach informed by the harm principle supports prioritising the latter, but the issues raised by genetically engineered solid organ xenotransplants have not, as yet, been sufficiently discussed. This must occur prior to their clinical introduction because of the necessary changes to accepted norms which are needed to appropriately safeguard individual and public health.

Whenever the legitimacy of a new or ethically contentious medical intervention is considered, a range of influences will determine whether the treatment becomes accepted as lawful medical treatment. The development and introduction of abortion, organ donation, gender reassignment, and non-therapeutic cosmetic surgery have, for example, all raised ethical, legal, and clinical issues. This book examines the various factors that legitimatise a medical procedure.Bringing together a range of internationally and nationally recognised academics from law, philosophy, medicine, health, economics, and sociology, the book explores the notion of a treatment, practice, or procedure being proper medical treatment, and considers the range of diverse factors which might influence the acceptance of a particular procedure as appropriate in the medical context. Contributors address such issues as clinical judgement and professional autonomy, the role of public interest, and the influence of resource allocation in decision-making. In doing so, the book explores how the law, the medical profession, and the public interact in determining whether a new or ethically contentious procedure should be regarded as legitimate.This book will be of interest and use to researchers and students of bioethics, medical law, criminal law, and the sociology of medicine.Chapter 6 of this book 'Family perspectives on proper medical treatment for people in prolonged vegetative and minimally conscious states' by Celia Kitzinger and Jenny Kitzinger is available under an open access CC BY NC ND license and can be viewed at: http://preview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/prevqa/NBK199156/ .