Medical Ethics: A Very Short Introduction

Description

Dealing with some of the thorniest problems in medicine, from euthanasia to the distribution of health care resources, this book introduces the reasoning we can use to approach medical ethics. Exploring how medical ethics supports health professionals' work, it also considers the impact of the media, pressure groups, and legal judgments.

• Covers a wide range of the contemporary issues in medical ethics
• Explains the 'tools' of ethical reasoning
• Discusses the social uses and abuses of medical ethics worldwide
• Shows how medical ethics supports health professionals in their decision-making
• Considers the impact of pressure groups, activism, and the media on the ethical issues at the heart of medicine
• Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over nine million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Michael Dunn, Lecturer in Health and Social Care Ethics, The Ethox Centre, University of Oxford, and Tony Hope, Emeritus Professor of Medical Ethics, University of Oxford

Tony Hope recently retired as Professor of Medical Ethics at the University of Oxford. He developed the teaching in medical ethics at the University of Oxford and founded the Ethox Centre, a world-class centre in medical ethics research within the medical faculty at Oxford. He is also Emeritus Fellow at St Cross College, Oxford. In addition to over 200 research papers he has co-authored a number of books including a general textbook of medicine, a self-help psychology book, and several books in medical ethics and law.

Michael Dunn is a lecturer at the Ethox Centre, University of Oxford, where he also acts as the Director of Undergraduate Medical Ethics and Law Education within the Clinical School. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics, an Editorial Board member for Ethics and Social Welfare, and a member of both research ethics committees and clinical ethics committees across the UK. Michael has published two co-edited books in addition to being the author of over 50 peer-reviewed papers and chapters in the fields of bioethics, medical, social welfare and family law, and health/social services research.

Table of Contents

1:On why medical ethics is exciting
2:Assisted dying: good medical practice, or murder?
3:A toolbox of reasoning
4:People who don't exist; at least not yet
5:Inconsistencies about madness
6:Ethics helps the helper
7:Establishing fair procedure
8:How modern genetics is testing traditional confidentiality
9:Culture and consent
Further reading
Index