Synopses & Reviews
This rich collection provides an in-depth look at major cases that have defined and shaped the field of medical ethics. Popular among teachers and students alike, it contains more detail than most casebooks and enriches each famous (or infamous) case with extensive historical and contextual background. Each case is illuminated by careful discussion of pertinent philosophical theories and legal and ethical issues. Classic Cases in Medical Ethics is also a natural complement to Pence's Classic Works In Medical Ethics. A brand-new chapter 1 provides an overview of ethical theories and moral reasoning, discusses common mistakes in moral reasoning, and gives an historical overview of ethical theories and medical ethics. The focus of Chapter 4, Physician-Assisted Dying, has been changed from Dr. Kevorkian to Oregon’s legalization. Chapter 5 on assisted reproduction now goes far beyond baby Louise Brown’s in vitro fertilization and discusses up-to-date issues such as egg donation, choice of embryos, and the possibility of human cloning.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 469-492) and indexes.
About the Author
Gregory E. Pence earned his doctoral degree in 1974 from New York University. Since 1976, he has taught at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he is a Professor and a medical ethicist in the Department of Philosophy and School of Medicine In 1994 he was voted the Ingall’s award, the university’s highest teaching honor. His courses provide physicians and others with a broad background of the history of ethical issues in medicine since World War II. He has also edited a companion volume to CLASSIC CASES IN MEDICAL ETHICSentitled CLASSIC WORKS IN MEDICAL ETHICS (1997). He has coauthored SEVEN DILEMMAS IN WORLD RELIGIONS with Lynn Stephens (1995) and “Why Physicians Should Help the Dying,”, H. LaFollette (ed.) PRACTICAL ETHICS (Blackwell, 1997) For over a decade, he served on the Institutional Review Board on human experimentation. He is a past Chair of the Board for Birmingham AIDS Outreach. He has published in the American Journal of Medicine, Bioethics, Journal of Medical Ethics, Journal of the American Medical Association, American Philosophical Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, American Medical News and the Journal of the American Board of Family Practice. He has written Op-Ed pieces for the New York Times, Newsweek, and the Wall Street Journal, and Ridder Newspapers. He has twice won teaching awards, and he has given many talks on bioethics in places that include China and Israel.
Table of Contents
PrefaceCHAPTER 1: Moral Reasoning and Ethical Theories in Medical Ethics Common Mistakes in Moral ReasoningOther Aspects of Moral ReasoningEthical Theories and Medical Ethics: An Historical OverviewPART ONE: CLASSIC CASES ABOUT DEATH AND DYINGCHAPTER 2: Comas: Karen Quinlan and Nancy CruzanThe Quinlan CaseThe Cruzan CaseEthical Issues: From Brain Death to Medical FutilityUpdateCHAPTER 3: Requests to Die: Elizabeth Bouvia and Larry McAfeeBackground: PERSPECTIVES ON SUICIDEThe Bouvia caseThe McAfee caseEthical Issues: From Autonomy to Social PrejudiceUpdateCHAPTER 4: Physician-Assisted Dying: Oregon’s LegalizationBackground: Ancient Greeks, Nazis, Holland, and HospiceDr. KevorkianRecent Legal DecisionsOregon’s LegalizationEthical Issues: Direct Arguments Against Killing, Indirect Arguments Against Killing, Empirical and Conceptual Slippery SlopesPART TWO: CLASSIC CASES ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF LIFECHAPTER 5: Assisted Reproduction: Louise Brown and Beyond Background: In Vitro FertilizationLouise Brown's BirthEthical Issues: From Media Sensationalism to Harm to EmbryosUpdateNew Kinds of Assisted Reproduction and New Ethical Issues: Embryos, Multiple Births, Regulation of Assisted Reproduction Clinics, Egg Transfer, Identity of Donors of GametesSpecial Section: The Ethics of Cloning HumansCHAPTER 6: Surrogacy: Baby MBackground: SurrogacyThe Baby M CaseEthical Issues: From Definitions of Motherhood to ExploitationUpdateCommercialization of Reproductive ServicesCHAPTER 7: Abortion: Kenneth EdelinBackground: History, Sherry Finkbine, Humanae Vitae, Roe v. WadeThe Edelin CaseEthical Issues: From Personhood to ViabilityRelated Issues: Antiabortion movements, fetal-tissue research, emergency Contraception, maternal-fetal conflictsLegal Trends and DecisionsUpdateCHAPTER 8: Letting Impaired Newborns Die: Baby Jane DoeBackground: History, Preceding Cases, and the Baby Doe RulesThe Baby Jane Doe CaseEthical Issues: From Selfishness to Personhood of Impaired NeonatesUpdateLegal TrendsPART THREE - CLASSIC CASES ABOUT RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENTCHAPTER 9: Animal Subjects: The Philadelphia Head-Injury Study on PrimatesBackground: Animals in ResearchALF vs. University of Pennsylvania: the Head-Injury StudyEthical Issues: From Speciesism to Scientific MeritThe Silver Spring Monkeys CaseUpdateCHAPTER 10: Human Subjects: The Tuskegee Syphilis StudyBackground: Josef Mengele, the Nuremberg Code, American Military ResearchThe Tuskegee StudyEthical Issues: Racism, Informed Consent, and Harm to SubjectsUpdate: Other Controversial American Medical Research on Captive PopulationsThe Tuskegee Study and Prevention of Vertical Transmission of HIV in AfricaCHAPTER 11: Organ Transplants: Christiaan Barnard and the First Heart TransplantBackground: The Path towards TransplantsThe First Heart TransplantEthical Issues: From Competition to be First to Quality of LifeUpdateCHAPTER 12: Artificial Hearts: Barney ClarkBackground: Steps Toward Artificial HeartsBarney Clark’s Artificial HeartEthical Issues: From Therapeutic Privilege to CostsUpdateCHAPTER 13: Allocation of Artificial and Transplantable Organs: The God CommitteeBackground: Organs as Scarce ResourcesSeattle’s “God Committee”Ethical Issues: From Social Worth to the Medical CommonsUpdateCHAPTER 14: Infants and Medical Research: Baby Fae and Baby TheresaBackground: Xenografts The Case of Baby Fae Ethical Issues: From Animal Rights to Informed ConsentUpdateBackground: Anencephaly and Organ Donation Baby Theresa: The Patient and the Controversy Ethical Issues: From Infants to Congenital Brain DeathUpdatePART FOUR - CLASSIC CASES ABOUT INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND THE PUBLIC GOODCHAPTER 15: Involuntary Psychiatric Commitment: Joyce Brown Background: Historical OverviewThe Case of Joyce Brown Ethical Issues: From Criteria of Benefit to IdeologyLegal IssuesUpdateCHAPTER 16: Presymptomatic Testing for Genetic Disease: Nancy WexlerBackground: Genetics and EugenicsNancy Wexler and the Test for Huntington’s DiseaseEthical Issues: From “Toxic” Knowledge to Genetic DiscriminationEthical Issues in Testing for Genes for Breast CancerUpdateCHAPTER 17: AIDS and Mandatory Testing for HIV: Kimberly BergalisBackground: Epidemics, Plagues, and AIDSKimberly Bergalis: A Death from AIDSEthical Issues: From Privacy to HIV ExceptionalismLegal IssuesUpdateCHAPTER 18: Reforming the American Medical System: Expanding Medicare?Background: Problems of Medical Care in the United StatesThe Clinton Health Care PlanIs Expanding Medicare the Answer?Libertarian Critiques of Expanding MedicareEthical Issues: From Community/Experience Rating to Rawlsian JusticeUpdateNOTESNAME INDEXSUBJECT INDEX