Medical Ethics

Medical Ethics is a practical introduction to the ethical questions that doctors and other health professionals are likely to encounter during their working lives. This third edition retains the overall format of the second (published in 1997), and is divided into three parts, dealing with ethical foundations, clinical ethics, and medicine and society. There are new chapters on organ transplantation (including zeno transplantation and stem cells), and innovative and unorthodox therapies. It also features sections on autopsies, brain death, cloning and the human genome project. Other chapters examine the beginning and end of life, ethical questions surrounding the human body and human tissue, confidentiality and AIDS, justice and health care, genetic technology, research ethics, cultural aspects of medicine, and ethics, medicine and the law. Each chapter presents a wide range of viewpoints, drawing on traditional philosophical responses as well as the most recent contemporary perspectives. Theoretical discussion is illustrated with case studies and examples, which are suitable for use in both private study and group discussion. Medical Ethics is a non-technical guide to the subject, written with the needs of medical students and practitioners in mind. It will also appeal to students and practitioners of allied health professions, as well as to all users of health care services.