Stem cell research. The influence of a pharmaceutical company. Miscarriage. Prevention of pregnancy. Long-term and end-of-life care. Human participant research. Informed consent. The list of ethical issues in science, medicine and public health is long and constantly
growing. These complex issues represent a challenging task for professionals in the growing field of bioethics. What about the practice of bioethics itself? What problems do ethicists and bioethicists face in trying to facilitate sound moral reasoning and judgement in different situations? Are those immersed in the subject able to make the right decisions? How and why do they face moral challenge - and even compromise - as ethicists? What values should they be guided by? In this book, Lisa A. Eckenwiler and Felicia G. Cohn confront these questions by bringing together prominent medical ethicists and those outside the discipline to discuss common critiques, the inherent tensions in the field, and efforts to assign values and evaluate success. Through twenty-five lively essays examining the field's history and trends, shortcomings and strengths, and political impact in the bioethical sphere, this comprehensive book launches a much-needed discussion.
Reviews
"Anyone who takes bioethics seriously will find much to applaud." (William E. Stempsey Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics )
"The strength of the volume is not that it answers questions about the ethics of bioethics, but rather that it presents an accurate portrait of the diverse views in the field." (Lisa Rasmussen American Journal of Bioethics )
- This book is a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate in bioethics about who we are, what we do and who we are becoming. I strongly encourage its use for bioethics teachers who want their students to engage in these ongoing dialogues ".
(Kayhan Parsi Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics )