Good clinical practice inevitably raises both ethical and legal issues and demands an understanding of both. Different environments produce different problems in practice, and similarly, different patients raise different considerations. All these situations demand the clinician to make decisions that balance both the clinical and ethical considerations.

A one-stop reference for all medical professionals who encounter ethicolegal problems during their management of patients.

Ethical issues facing anesthesiologists are more far-reaching than those involving virtually any other medical specialty. In this clinical ethics textbook, authors from across the USA, Canada and Europe draw on ethical principles and practical knowledge to provide a realistic understanding of ethical anesthetic practice. The result is a compilation of expert opinion and international perspectives from clinical leaders in anesthesiology. Building on real-life, case-based problems, each chapter is clinically focused and addresses both practical and theoretical issues. Topics include general operating room care, pediatric and obstetrical patient care, the intensive care unit, pain practice, research and publication, as well as discussions of lethal injection, disclosure of errors, expert witness testimony, triage in disaster and conflicts of interest with industry. An important reference tool for any anesthesiologist, whether clinical or research-oriented, this book is especially valuable for physicians involved in teaching residents and students about the ethical aspects of anesthesia practice.

The practice of intensive care medicine raises multiple legal and ethical issues on a daily basis, making it increasingly difficult to know who to admit and when, at what stage invasive management should be withdrawn, and who, importantly, should decide? These profound dilemmas, already complicated in a setting of scarce resources, mandate an understanding of law and ethics for those working in intensive care medicine. Clinically focused, this book explains the relevance of landmark rulings to aid your day-to-day decision-making. A spectrum of ethical and legal controversies in critical care are addressed to demonstrate how law and ethics affects the care available to patients and vice versa. Discussion of conflict resolution advises the options open to you when agreement on treatment decisions or withdrawal cannot be reached. The literature and variations surrounding Do Not Attempt Resuscitation decisions are outlined to help you navigate this complex area. This edition also provides an up-to-date analysis of issues such as futility and depreciation of liberty. Featuring contributions from leading legal and medical experts, this important reference should be read by every critical care professional.

This book addresses the ethical problems that physicians have to face every day while caring for critically ill patients. Advances in medical technology, ageing societies worldwide, and their increased demands on health care systems have, on the one hand, led to better care and remarkable longevity in many parts of the world. On the other hand, however, improved treatments in many medical fields, amongst others in emergency and critical care, have resulted in more patients surviving with reduced quality of life. This entails tradeoffs for many patients, their families, and the teams caring for them. At the same time, health care expenditures have risen dramatically and have to be balanced against costs for other public goods. Finally, the humane aspects of care have often failed to keep pace with the remarkable technological strides made in recent years. In this book, experts in their respective fields describe compelling ethical challenges resulting from these discrepancies and discuss potential solutions. The book is primarily intended for clinicians who care for two of the most vulnerable patient subpopulations – those being treated in ambulances or emergency rooms, and those being treated at intensive care units – due in part to the fact that they may be temporarily or permanently incapacitated. Core medical skills, such as diagnosis and predicting outcomes, as well as implementing treatment, remain challenging. However, without adequate communication and collaboration both within the inter-professional treatment teams and between the teams and the patients/their families, delivering excellent care is difficult at best. Therefore, the so-called “soft skills” are given the attention they deserve in order to overcome the gap between technological progress and interpersonal standstill.

Ethical Issues in Anaesthesia focuses upon ethical issues which are specific to anaesthetic practice and which affect individual anaesthetics. In this respect it is a unique contribution to the fields of both anaesthetics and health care ethics.