Ethics and Health Care: An Introduction

Description

Who should have access to assisted reproductive technologies? Which one of many seriously ill patients should be offered the next available transplant organ? When may a surrogate decision maker decide to withdraw life-prolonging measures from an unconscious patient? Questions like these feature prominently in the field of health care ethics and in the education of health care professionals. This book provides a concise introduction to the major concepts, principles and issues in health care ethics, using case studies throughout to illustrate and analyse challenging ethical issues in contemporary health care. Topics range widely, from confidentiality and truthfulness to end-of-life care and research on human subjects. Ethics and Health Care will be a vital resource for students of applied ethics, bioethics, professional ethics, health law and medical sociology, as well as students of medicine, nursing and other health care professions.

John C. Moskop is Professor of Internal Medicine and Wallace and Mona Wu Chair of Biomedical Ethics at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He chairs the Clinical Ethics Committee at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and serves on the Ethics Committee of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He is the author of more than one hundred articles and book chapters on a broad range of topics in bioethics.

'Ethical issues pose perhaps the greatest challenges in health care today. This book provides guidance to ethical analysis of important and timely clinical issues in health care.' Catherine A. Marco, University of Toledo, Ohio 'This book is an ideal introduction to bioethics textbook. It is clearly written and balanced; it is concise yet covers a broad range of important topics; it engages readers by inviting them to evaluate options; and it provides citations of significant literature. It will enable readers with little or no background in bioethics to understand important bioethical issues and to think critically about them.' Mark R. Wicclair, University of Pittsburgh 'Moskop covers a wide array of health care ethical issues effectively with a clear and concise focus. His case examples and analyses based on sound justification give practical advice for real-life clinical ethical dilemmas. This book is an essential guide for students and practitioners alike.' Arthur R. Derse, Medical College of Wisconsin