Health Care Ethics

From The Critics

Reviewer: Robyn Shapiro, JD(Medical College of Wisconsin Health Policy Institute)
Description: This book is a collection of thoughtful reflections on a myriad of current health care ethics issues. The contributors, who represent the specialties of medical humanities, medical ethics, philosophy, sociology, family medicine, nursing, psychology, critical care, psychiatry, geriatrics, theology, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and health policy, bring a wealth of experience and insight to contemporary challenges in clinical and public policy ethics.
Purpose: The purpose is to examine contemporary bioethical issues as well as methodologies for approaching those issues. Given the rapid advances in scientific knowledge and technological capabilities and dramatic changes in our health delivery system, this is an important topic area, and the book largely meets its overall objective.
Audience: Targeted at health care professionals and educational institutions, the book is likely also to be of interest to policymakers, philosophers, sociologists, and others in related disciplines.
Features: The book contains six parts that address issues at the beginning of life, issues in adult medicine, issues at the end of life, issues in health care reform, institutional and relationship issues, and methodological approaches in bioethics. The six parts contain numerous chapters, each of which are followed by extensive endnotes. Many articles contain helpful case discussions and tables. Although some chapters discuss issues that are also addressed in other parts of the book, overlap in a volume such as this is inevitable and not unduly confusing.
Assessment: This is a very useful book for professionals and students interested in health care ethics. It thoroughly examines key contemporary issues that arise in the delivery of health care and in the development of health policy, and it challenges the reader to critically reflect on emerging new methods for examining issues in health care ethics.

Robyn Shapiro

This book is a collection of thoughtful reflections on a myriad of current health care ethics issues. The contributors, who represent the specialties of medical humanities, medical ethics, philosophy, sociology, family medicine, nursing, psychology, critical care, psychiatry, geriatrics, theology, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and health policy, bring a wealth of experience and insight to contemporary challenges in clinical and public policy ethics. The purpose is to examine contemporary bioethical issues as well as methodologies for approaching those issues. Given the rapid advances in scientific knowledge and technological capabilities and dramatic changes in our health delivery system, this is an important topic area, and the book largely meets its overall objective. Targeted at health care professionals and educational institutions, the book is likely also to be of interest to policymakers, philosophers, sociologists, and others in related disciplines. The book contains six parts that address issues at the beginning of life, issues in adult medicine, issues at the end of life, issues in health care reform, institutional and relationship issues, and methodological approaches in bioethics. The six parts contain numerous chapters, each of which are followed by extensive endnotes. Many articles contain helpful case discussions and tables. Although some chapters discuss issues that are also addressed in other parts of the book, overlap in a volume such as this is inevitable and not unduly confusing. This is a very useful book for professionals and students interested in health care ethics. It thoroughly examines key contemporary issues that arise in the delivery of health care andin the development of health policy, and it challenges the reader to critically reflect on emerging new methods for examining issues in health care ethics.

3 Stars from Doody