Medical Ethics – serie

" . . . compelling. . . . This book might have been called 'No Easy Answers.' Each of the contributors writes with undisguised urgency. . . . [W]e should face up to these issues now. By No Extraordinary Means will serve as an impetus and guide." —New York Times Book Review"This fine new book . . . thoughtfully written . . . well edited and cohesively integrated . . . will be valuable for physicians, nurses, nutritionists, attorneys, members of the clergy, policy makers, and members of the general public." —New England Journal of Medicine

"An important contribution to a debate that will continue for some time." —Health and Canadian Society"Insightful and thought-provoking. . . . As Caplan has demonstrated so clearly . . . we would all be better off if the ethicists spoke first and not last." —The Washington Post"Caplan's views are important and instructive. . . . [This] book represents some of his best work." —New England Journal of Medicine"Caplan's [book] is thought provoking, insightful, and well argued. I recommend it highly." —The Journal of the American Medical Association" . . . a generously illustrated discourse on method in medical and practical ethics." —EthicsA member of the President's Task Force on National Health Care Reform examines some of the most controversial biomedical issues of our time.

"an excellent contribution to medical ethics" —Ethics "wide-ranging, compassionate, and insightful" —Publishers Weekly "a sensitive and provocative approach to the study of ethical decision making" —Choice "[This] sensitive and moving book . . . compels and merits the grateful, concentrated, and critical attention of all who know, who live with, and who seek to help those human beings to whom terrible things have happened." —BioLaw"The human contact embodied in The Patient's Ordeal puts the book light-years ahead of others in the field of medical ethics. . . . Once the dust from the academic reviews has settled, this book will be one of the few in the field of medical ethics that is thought of as a seminal work, one that has broken new ground. A remarkable, well-written, significant work, it cannot be commended too highly." —Second Opinion

"[Cantor provides] both a cogent and provocative text and prodigious references." —The New England Journal of Medicine"Cantor develops a careful and accessible ethic of autonomy and dignity regarding forgoing life-prolonging medical treatment . . . " —Ethics"A thoughtful, informative and sensitive text . . . " —European Medical Journal"Professor Cantor of Rutgers University School of Law has created a scholarly and sophisticated, yet quite accessible, legal analysis of the subject of advance directives . . . detailed, exhaustively referenced . . . " —The Florida Bar Journal"This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning about advance directives for health care." —Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal"Cantor provides a very thorough, reliable, and readable guide . . . " —Robert M. Veatch, Director, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown UniversityCantor examines the medical, legal, and moral issues surrounding advance medical directives—those devices aimed at controlling medical intervention during the dying process after the patient is no longer competent.

"Well organized, well argued, and well written . . . " —Choice"It is a lively document, with vigorous arguments leading to opinions that are controversial but strongly held." —Joseph M. Foley, Medical Humanities Review" . . . Momeyer's book has much to recommend it . . . The book would surely be a suitable focus for an undergraduate course in dealing with the philosophical issues involving death and our attitudes towards it." —David J. Mayo, Teaching Philosophy"This book is valuable and important in bringing conceptual clarification to questions about dealing with death that are so often neglected or mishandled by social scientists and the counseling industry." —EthicsAn examination of the moral and philosophical issues at work in an individual's confrontation of death, not as a matter of psychological necessity or social conditioning, but as a function of reflection and the search for self-knowledge.

" . . . glimpses of intriguing changes in social arrangements and cultural understandings in relation to surrogacy. Disturbing motherhood indeed." —New Scientist"Larry Gostin has put together the definitive collection of essays on one of the most perplexing and titillating topics in contemporary medical ethics. This book includes contributions from some of the leading scholars on the legal, ethical, and social aspects of surrogacy, as well as several critical perspectives on the famous Baby M case—must reading for understanding the surrogate motherhood controversy." —Robert M. Veatch"Highly recommended . . . " —Choice" . . . a valuable resource for those concerned with an exceedingly difficult ethical, legal, and political problem." —Ethics"There is a wealth of information here on the current 'status questionis' in the United States, and anyone involved in the surrogacy debate, in the U.S. or otherwise, will find working through this material very worthwhile." —Canadian Philosophical Review" . . . an excellent sample of some of the best and most varied thinking so far on the numerous conceptual, moral, social, and policy questions raised by contract motherhood." —The Journal of Clinical Ethics

". . . extremely valuable. [This book] addresses exactly the right questions in a balanced, nuanced way." —Journal of the American Medical Association"Cohen's book is a major contribution to the literature of the inevitable." —Medical Humanities Review"This book provides readers with an insightful overview of the practice of oocyte donation, the broader issues raised by this innovative yet problematic technology and, given the recommendations of NABER, how these issues mights be resolved. . . . Well written, structured, researched, and thought-provoking, this book makes a timely, important, and worthwhile contribution to the growing body of reproductive technology scholarship." —Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Home Page"Detailed notes; extensive references; comprehensive research . . . Recommended . . ." —ChoiceLeading scholars investigate the difficult ethical, legal, and policy issues that surround egg donation and the new reproductive technologies as a whole. In addition, the book describes procedures at four egg-donation centers and presents a new set of guidelines from the National Advisory Board on Ethics in Reproduction.

"An excellent resource for entry-level courses on bioethics for health care practitioners, law students, and physicians." —Choice"Dworkin's provocative arguments . . . will challenge readers who have come to accept the law's intrusion as a necessary response to biomedical advances." —New England Journal of Medicine"Important and refreshing. Dworkin's conclusions regarding the limited role of law (and especially legislation) may come as a surprise to many. . . . When popular and political views are almost evenly divided, looking to legislation for a solution is a mistake." —Walter WadlingtonThe ethical and social dilemmas associated with abortion, sterilization, assisted reproduction, genetics, death and dying, and biomedical research have led many to turn to the legal system for solutions. Rogert Dworkin argues that resort to law often overlooks the limitations of legal institutions, and he suggests a more limited use of the legal system will produce more effective resolution of bioethical dilemmas.

"The volume deserves our serious attention. The authors have provided us an invaluable primer about the HGP and its implications for the future of American health care." —Jurimetrics"This book does make a real contribution . . . in explaining why the genetics revolution holds so much promise and why it is so difficult to bring that promise to fruition." —The Journal of Legal Medicine". . . marked by a forward-looking, analytically and empirically grounded thematic coherence. The editors' carefully crafted template and contributions successfully focus and organize the material." —Annals of Internal Medicine"Excellent" —Canadian Medical Association Journal"The editors have done a very good job integrating the contents into a very useful and readable information source." —Choice" . . . this highly focused book is a well-written, thoughtful, and insightful consideration of the HGP and is valuable reading for anyone concerned with the future of our country's medical infrastructure." —Science Books & Films (**Highly recommended)"A distinguished group of scientists, lawyers, and scholars have written a coherent, readable account of the legal, medical, ethical, and policy issues many (if not all) of us will be wrestling with on both a personal and a public level , as a result of current genetic research." —Library Journal"Each of the contributors is a distinguished authority on the topic. Ethicists, especially, will find well-developed presentation of issues, with exposition of the differing ethical assumptions in tension in the society debate." —Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Home PageHow will the science of gene mapping and gene manipulation affect health care? Leading scholars explore the clinical, ethical, legal, and policy implications of the Human Genome Project for the forms of health care, who delivers it, who receives it, and who pays for it.

"This is a valuable clarification, re-statement and defence of principlism as an approach to applied ethics. It is strongly recommended to many teachers of bioethics . . ." —Journal of the American Medical Association"Childress' book deserves careful study by all concerned with the ethical aspect of contemporary biomedical challenges." —Science Books & Films"An ideal supplement for a graduate seminar on bioethics or for upper-division undergraduates needing more information in this area." —ChoiceIn these revised and updated essays, renowned ethicist James F. Childress highlights the role of imagination in practical reasoning through various metaphors and analogies. His discussion of ethical problems contributes to a better understanding of the scope and strength of different moral principles, such as justice, beneficence, and respect for autonomy. At the same time, Childress demonstrates the major role of metaphorical, analogical, and symbolic reasoning in biomedical ethics, largely in conjunction with, rather than in opposition to, principled reasoning.

"This timely, well-written book brings together the collective experience of experts from the fields of medicine, psychiatry, religious studies, bioethics, and molecular genetics in an effort to develop coherent guidelines for the counseling of potential sufferers from genetic diseases." —Journal of Religion and HealthThis book presents 29 case studies that identify the most important ethical issues that are likely to emerge from new technologies of genetic testing and develops a series of guidelines based on those case studies. By providing the clinical origins and rationale behind each of its recommendations, the book will help readers think through the ethical issues and will assist them in the development of additional guidelines.

"The book is a fine addition to the world of academic medical ethics . . . Readers . . . will come away with some of the tools for further debate." —Publishers Weekly"Susan B. Rubin's splendid new book . . . offers positive, humane solutions to the frustrations that have given rise to the futility debate." —Carl Elliott, Medical Humanities Review"Rubin offers a thorough and thought-provoking exploration of the concept of futility as a basis for medical decisions." —Choice". . . [the] brilliant analysis found in Rubin's [book] couldn't be more timely. . . . When Doctors Say No is the most thorough philosophical rebuttal to be found in the literature of medical futility as the basis for unilateral decisionmaking by physicians." —Charles Weijer, Canadian Medical Association JournalShould physicians be permitted to unilaterally refuse to provide treatment that they deem futile? Even if the patient, or the patient's family, insists that everything possible must be done?In this book, philosopher and bioethicist Rubin examines this controversial issue. She offers a critique of the concept of medical futility and the debate surrounding it, and she calls for more public debate about the underlying issues at stake for all of us—patients, families, health care providers, insurers, and society at large.

Healthcare ethics is not just about decisions made at the bedside. It is also about decisions made in executive offices and in boardrooms. Business Ethics in Healthcare offers perspectives that can assist healthcare managers achieve the highest ethical standards as they face their roles as healthcare providers, employers, and community service organizations. Weber suggests guidelines and criteria based on the understanding that the healthcare organization is committed to patients' rights, to careful stewardship of resources, to just working conditions for employees, and to service to the community.As Weber shows, addressing business ethics issues in a healthcare organization starts with complying with relevant laws and regulations. As a provider of high quality patient care with limited resources, it needs to be able to distinguish between the right way and the wrong way of taking cost into consideration when making decisions about patient care practices. As employer, the organization needs to use good criteria for determining wages and salaries, to know how to make fair decisions about downsizing, and to respond most appropriately to union organizing efforts and employee strikes. As a community service organization, it has particular responsibilities to the community in the way it advertises, how it disposes of medical waste, and the types of mergers it enters into.Leonard J. Weber is on the faculty of the University of Detroit, Mercy. He has published over 70 articles and is the principal author of the "Case Studies in Ethics" column in Clinical Leadership & Management Review. He serves as an ethics consultant to several healthcare organizations and is a past president of the Medical Ethics Resource Network of Michigan. Medical Ethics Series—David H. Smith and Robert M. Veatch, editors

Discussions of managed care frequently begin and end with an opposition between the Hippocratic ethic of dedication to patient welfare and a business ethic of self-interest in the service of efficiency. Mary R. Anderlik approaches managed care as a problem of organizations. Rejecting a simple "medicine vs. business" analysis, she directs attention to management as manipulation, the neglect of such personal goods as satisfaction in professional accomplishment, and organizational moral myopia.In this account, "pragmatic" suggests practical idealism, not the jettisoning of principle in the interests of expediency. In The Ethics of Managed Care, Anderlik favors a broad empiricism and a moral vision centered on values of democracy and community. She describes how organizations can nourish or destroy openness, creativity, cooperation, and faithfulness—and display "virtues" such as justice, integrity, responsiveness, and efficiency, rightly understood. She uses community care clinics, asthma outreach programs, and new contexts for participatory decision-making to show the promise of managed care. She also explains the complexities of financial arrangements, arguing for an end to schemes that reward clinicians for providing less care and profiting from avoiding people who need a lot of it. The book concludes with a look at the future of managed care, proposing a program for reform.

"Because the discipline of medical ethics has developed with autonomy as its foundation, the field has ignored pediatric ethics. The book is resoundingly successful in its effort to rectify this problem. . . . [A] pleasure to read." —Eric D. Kodish, M.D., Director, Rainbow Center for Pediatric Ethics, Case Western Reserve UniversityUsing a form of medical ethnography to investigate a variety of pediatric contexts, Richard B. Miller tests the fit of different ethical approaches in various medical settings to arrive at a new paradigm for how best to care for children. Miller contends that the principle of beneficence must take priority over autonomy in the treatment of children. Yet what is best for the child is a decision that doctors cannot make alone. In making and implementing such decisions, Miller argues, doctors must become part of a "therapeutic alliance" with families and the child undergoing medical care to come up with the best solution.Children, Ethics, and Modern Medicine combines strong philosophical argumentation with firsthand knowledge of the issues facing children and families in pediatric care. This book will be an invaluable asset to medical ethicists and practitioners in pediatric care, as well as parents struggling with ethical issues in the care of their children.

Wondergenes not only imagines a future world in which genetic enhancement is the norm, but asserts that this future has already begun. Genetically engineered substances are already in use by athletes, in vitro fertilization already provides the primitive means by which parents can "select" an embryo, and the ability to create new forms of genetically engineered human beings is not far off. What happens when gene therapy becomes gene enhancement? Who will benefit and who might be left behind? What are the costs to our values and beliefs, and to the future of our society? To answer these questions, Maxwell J. Mehlman provides an overview of the scientific advances that have led to the present state of genetic enhancement and explains how these advances will be used in the future to redefine what we think of as a normal human being. He explores the ethical dilemmas already facing researchers and medical practitioners, and the dilemmas we will all be expected to face. In his forecast of the dangers inherent in this technology, he is particularly concerned with the emergence of a "genobility" made up of those able to afford increasingly expensive enhancement.Wondergenes is a serious, accessible introduction to the social and personal implications of genetic engineering. Mehlman weighs the social and economic costs of the many proposals to regulate or limit genetic engineering and provides six concrete policy recommendations—from professional licensing to a ban on germ-line enhancement—that propose to make the future of genetic enhancement more equitable and safe.

"Throughout the past two decades, when medical ethics has had a renaissance, Robert Veatch has been a leading contributor to its dialogue and advance. This collection of his work shows the breadth and the cogency of his thinking. . . . it is a book worth having." —Journal of the American Medical Association" . . . a fascinating dissection of almost every aspect of the doctor-patient relationship. . . . strongly recommended reading for all health care workers interested in this rapidly evolving field." —Queen's Quarterly"This outstanding discussion of important current medical issues is a valuable addition to academic and professional libraries." —Choice" . . . an important contribution to bioethics . . . certain to provoke controversy in the field." —Medical Humanities Review"Lucid and well-argued . . . " —Religious Studies ReviewThis book heralds the imminent demise of "doctor knows best." In it, Robert M. Veatch proposes a postmodern medicine in which decisions about patient care will routinely involve both doctor and patient—not only in ethically complex cases such as the termination of life-sustaining treatment, but in everyday care as well.