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As palliative care is developing in many European countries, it has become apparent that it still poses a major ethical challenge. The practice of palliative care requires ethical sensitivity and understanding. At the same time, the very existence of palliative care requires...

Cultural models of health, illness and moral reasoning are gaining increasing attention in bioethical research. Drawing on research tools from medical and cultural anthropology, a number of researchers are exploring cultural differences in approaches to truth-telling, conscious...

This special issue of Human Rights in Bioethics contains four inspiring articles that raise important issues in the ongoing debate on human rights in bioethics. For example, Baranzke takes a close look at the history of the concept of ...

No specialty faces more diverse and difficult ethical dilemmas than palliative medicine. What is the best way to plan for the end of life? How should doctors respond when patients refuse treatments that may be beneficial, or when...

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 ...