Life and Death: Philosophical Essays in Biomedical Ethics

Description

How should modern medicine's dramatic new powers to sustain life be employed? How should limited resources be used to extend and improve the quality of life? In this collection, Dan Brock, a distinguished philosopher and bioethicist and co-author of Deciding for Others (Cambridge, 1989), explores the moral issues raised by new ideals of shared decision making between physicians and patients. The book develops an ethical framework for decisions about life-sustaining treatment and euthanasia, and examines how these life and death decisions are transformed in health policy when the focus shifts from what is best for a patient to what is just for all patients. Professor Brock combines acute philosophical analysis with a deep understanding of the realities of clinical health policy. This is a volume for philosophers concerned with medical ethics, health policy professionals, physicians interested in bioethics, and undergraduate courses in biomedical ethics.

"Dan Brock is one of the brightest scholars in the whole field of biomedical ethics, and this collection of essays serves as proof of why he deserves such praise. He is provocative even when writing about topics that seem mundane, and persuasive even when one ultimately disagrees with him. His writing style is crisp and generally quite clear. What Brock has to say about bioethics is always important...if one is interested in contemporary bioethics, reading Dan Brock's work is a must, whether one agrees with him or not." Academic Medicine "...well written and extremely valuable to a number of different activities within medicine. It belongs in the library of anyone seriously interested in these issues." Erich H. Loewy, Doody's "This important book is an exploration of the moral issues that have emerged from the new understandings, the new ideals and norms, of shared health care decision-making between physicians and patients...Because biomedical ethics is inherently interdisciplinary, numerous audiences will find this to be a useful volume, especially so in light of the current national debate on health care reform, universal health care, and deficit/debt reduction." Roland A. Foulkes, American Journal of Human Biology