Knowledge base

Palliative care offers careful pain and symptom management, additional support for patients and families, and assistance with difficult medical decisions along with any desired treatments, but does not encompass the comprehensive system of care that...

This book: - provides a comprehensive overview of ethical issues arising in psychiatric care and research; - links ethical issues to societal changes and challenges; - explores the application of general ethics to specific psychiatric problems and...

A commitment to human dignity is a universally shared value. Concepts of human dignity date back to the groundbreaking writings of Immanuel Kant and probably also to the Stoic tradition in ancient Greece and Rome. References to human dignity are 247...

The concept of 'human rights in patient care' refers to the application of human rights principles in the context of patient care. It provides a principled alternative to the growing discourse of 'patients' rights' that has evolved in response to widespread and serious...

Forensic psychiatry and psychology encompasses specialist practice with unique patients, including children and people deprived of their liberty, presenting practitioners with specific ethical challenges. In this volume, Ezra EH Griffith offers a selection of engaging essays that guide...

Research in medical and life sciences is a key driver of development that leads to a better quality of life. These pursuits can lead to discrimination, human rights violations and injustice. The field of bioethics explores ethical issues arising from ...

Few treatments for mental illness are more condemned in public opinion than electroconvulsive shock therapy. However, the reality is that EW is a safe and effective treatment for cases of clinical depression and catatonia that do not...

The growing recognition of the shortcomings of bioethics, largely related to its heavy reliance on abstract principles or so-called principlism, has led many scholars to propose a reform or overhaul of the field. This article examines some of the main...

Psychiatry presents a unique set of difficult ethical questions. However, the main challenge is to approach psychiatry in a way that addresses real ethical issues. Recently, there has been a growing body of research in empirical psychiatric ethics and a growing...

Human rights are increasingly presented as an important framework for bioethics. This article argues that human rights offer a potentially fruitful approach to understanding the notion of respect for persons in bioethics. The idea that we are due a certain kind of respect ...

Historians are right to see American bioethics of the late 1960s and early 1970s as a reaction to powerful new medical technologies in the hands of medical paternalists who disregarded the wishes of their patients. The main strategy to combat this inexplicable power ...

The ethical issues inherent in psychiatric research and clinical practice are complex and multifaceted. Making well-founded ethical decisions is essential to effectively manage patients and promote optimal care....

This book is a practical problem-solving manual for psychiatric ethics. Written in a lively and accessible style, it draws on a series of detailed case histories to illustrate the centrality of ethical reasoning as a key competency in...

Global bioethics is a bold project. In its moderate form, it seeks to find solutions to the dilemmas of contemporary medicine and the biological sciences through a cross-cultural understanding of human responsibilities and capacities. In its more ambitious form, it seeks to...

The first part of this article examines the concept of human rights from a philosophical perspective, and in particular in relation to the 'right to health care'. It is argued that, irrespective of meta-ethical debates about the nature of rights, the ethos and language of moral deliberations ...