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Overview
"An excellent resource for entry-level courses on bioethics for health care practitioners, law students, and physicians." —Choice
"Dworkin’s provocative arguments... will challenge readers who have come to accept the law’s intrusion as a necessary response to biomedical advances." —New England Journal of Medicine
"Important and refreshing. Dworkin’s conclusions regarding the limited role of law (and especially legislation) may come as a surprise to many.... When popular and political views are almost evenly divided, looking to legislation for a solution is a mistake." —Walter Wadlington
The ethical and social dilemmas associated with abortion, sterilization, assisted reproduction, genetics, death and dying, and biomedical research have led many to turn to the legal system for solutions. Rogert Dworkin argues that resort to law often overlooks the limitations of legal institutions, and he suggests a more limited use of the legal system will produce more effective resolution of bioethical dilemmas.
The book contains no figures.
Synopsis
"An excellent resource for entry-level courses on bioethics for health care practitioners, law students, and physicians." — Choice
"Dworkin's provocative arguments... will challenge readers who have come to accept the law's intrusion as a necessary response to biomedical advances." — New England Journal of Medicine
"Important and refreshing. Dworkin's conclusions regarding the limited role of law (and especially legislation) may come as a surprise to many.... When popular and political views are almost evenly divided, looking to legislation for a solution is a mistake." — Walter Wadlington
The ethical and social dilemmas associated with abortion, sterilization, assisted reproduction, genetics, death and dying, and biomedical research have led many to turn to the legal system for solutions. Rogert Dworkin argues that resort to law often overlooks the limitations of legal institutions, and he suggests a more limited use of the legal system will produce more effective resolution of bioethical dilemmas.
John D. Blum
In this book Professor Roger Dworkin argues convincingly that the law is a very limited tool in solving social problems raised by biomedical progress. The purpose is to illuminate the role of law in addressing key areas of social policy in the biomedical arena and to examine that role in a very critical manner. Particularly noteworthy are Professor Dworkin's chapters on abortion and death and dying. In these two chapters, Dworkin succeeds in convincingly demonstrating how constitutional law and legislative initiatives have confounded these areas and how public policy may have been better served without legal interventions. The book reaches a wide audience. It is an excellent source of legal guidance for health professionals as well as attorneys, and it is a valuable text for policymakers. Dworkin argues for a very limited application of law to bioethical issues, favoring common law adjudication over broad statutory/regulatory initiatives, arguing that criminal and constitutional law approaches should only be invoked in the extreme. The author buttresses his core argument through detailed discussions of controversies involving abortion, sterilization, alternative reproductive techniques, genetics, death and dying, and the control of research. It is apparent that this is the work of a mature scholar who combines his knowledge of science policy with a very deep understanding of the law. Unquestionably this book has an agenda, but it is that agenda that flavors the discussion and makes the writing provocative. It is not just another general description of areas that have been widely written about, but rather a fresh insight into the complex interplay of law and science policydevelopment.
Editorials
From The Critics
Reviewer: John D. Blum, JD, MHS(Loyola University Institute for Health Law)Description: In this book Professor Roger Dworkin argues convincingly that the law is a very limited tool in solving social problems raised by biomedical progress.
Purpose: The purpose is to illuminate the role of law in addressing key areas of social policy in the biomedical arena and to examine that role in a very critical manner. Particularly noteworthy are Professor Dworkin's chapters on abortion and death and dying. In these two chapters, Dworkin succeeds in convincingly demonstrating how constitutional law and legislative initiatives have confounded these areas and how public policy may have been better served without legal interventions.
Audience: The book reaches a wide audience. It is an excellent source of legal guidance for health professionals as well as attorneys, and it is a valuable text for policymakers.
Features: Dworkin argues for a very limited application of law to bioethical issues, favoring common law adjudication over broad statutory/regulatory initiatives, arguing that criminal and constitutional law approaches should only be invoked in the extreme. The author buttresses his core argument through detailed discussions of controversies involving abortion, sterilization, alternative reproductive techniques, genetics, death and dying, and the control of research. It is apparent that this is the work of a mature scholar who combines his knowledge of science policy with a very deep understanding of the law.
Assessment: Unquestionably this book has an agenda, but it is that agenda that flavors the discussion and makes the writing provocative. It is not just another general description of areas that have been widely written about, but rather a fresh insight into the complex interplay of law and science policy development.
Choice
"As ethical and social dilemmas mount with an advancing technology, so also have people turned to the legal system for solutions. Dworkin examines the basis of why biomedical and healthcare decisions more often end up in courts of law. The author does a masterful job of reviewing the present US legal system when it comes to bioethical decision making. In fact, the first chapter reviews the legal, legislative, and constitutional aspects of this issue. The information is clearly presented to provide readers with a new insight into what is happening. Seven chapters touch all of the hot point issues in bioethics: abortion, sterilization, alternative reproduction techniques, genetic screening, death and dying, and human research; the final chapter offers conclusions from this study. Dworkin makes it clear that use of the legal system in this area is unwarranted in most cases and that there exist alternatives for decision making in difficult bioethics cases. An excellent resource for entry-level courses on bioethics for health care practitioners, law students, and physicians. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate students; faculty; professionals." —R. G. McGee, Jr., Walters State Community College, Choice, June 1997— R. G. McGee, Jr., Walters State Community College
John D. Blum
In this book Professor Roger Dworkin argues convincingly that the law is a very limited tool in solving social problems raised by biomedical progress. The purpose is to illuminate the role of law in addressing key areas of social policy in the biomedical arena and to examine that role in a very critical manner. Particularly noteworthy are Professor Dworkin's chapters on abortion and death and dying. In these two chapters, Dworkin succeeds in convincingly demonstrating how constitutional law and legislative initiatives have confounded these areas and how public policy may have been better served without legal interventions. The book reaches a wide audience. It is an excellent source of legal guidance for health professionals as well as attorneys, and it is a valuable text for policymakers. Dworkin argues for a very limited application of law to bioethical issues, favoring common law adjudication over broad statutory/regulatory initiatives, arguing that criminal and constitutional law approaches should only be invoked in the extreme. The author buttresses his core argument through detailed discussions of controversies involving abortion, sterilization, alternative reproductive techniques, genetics, death and dying, and the control of research. It is apparent that this is the work of a mature scholar who combines his knowledge of science policy with a very deep understanding of the law. Unquestionably this book has an agenda, but it is that agenda that flavors the discussion and makes the writing provocative. It is not just another general description of areas that have been widely written about, but rather a fresh insight into the complex interplay of law and science policydevelopment.Booknews
Dworkin (law, U. of Indiana-Bloomington) argues that the increasing resort to law to resolve questions of medical ethics is a wrong direction that overlooks the intrinsic limitations of the courts and legislature and the fundamental differences between science on the one hand and law, ethics, and politics on the other. He emphasizes the danger of requiring or allowing judges and politicians to decide matters of science in which they have little or no expertise. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.3 Stars from Doody