Offers classic, well-written articles that have stood the test of time and have something to teach on the subject of medical ethics.

A physician says, "I have an ethical obligation never to cause the death of a patient," another responds, "My ethical obligation is to relieve pain even if the patient dies." The current argument over the role of physicians in assisting patients to die constantly refers to the ethical duties of the profession. References to the Hippocratic Oath are often heard. Many modern problems, from assisted suicide to accessible health care, raise questions about the traditional ethics of medicine and the medical profession. However, few know what the traditional ethics are and how they came into being. This book provides a brief tour of the complex story of medical ethics evolved over centuries in both Western and Eastern culture. It sets this story in the social and cultural contexts in which the work of healing was practiced and suggests that, behind the many different perceptions about the ethical duties of physicians, certain themes appear constantly, and may be relevant to modern debates. The book begins with the Hippocratic medicine of ancient Greece, moves through the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Enlightenment in Europe, and the long history of Indian 7nd Chinese medicine, ending as the problems raised modern medical science and technology challenge the settled ethics of the long tradition.

Edited by four leading members of the new generation of medical andhealthcare ethicists working in the UK, respected worldwide fortheir work in medical ethics, Principles of Health CareEthics, Second Edition is a standard resource forstudents, professionals, and academics wishing to understandcurrent and future issues in healthcare ethics. With a distinguished international panel of contributors workingat the leading edge of academia, this volume presents acomprehensive guide to the field, with state of the artintroductions to the wide range of topics in modern healthcareethics, from consent to human rights, from utilitarianism tofeminism, from the doctor-patient relationship toxenotransplantation. This volume is the Second Edition of the highly successful workedited by Professor Raanan Gillon, Emeritus Professor of MedicalEthics at Imperial College London and former editor of the Journalof Medical Ethics, the leading journal in this field. Developments from the First Edition include: Thefocus on ‘Four Principles Method’ is relaxed to covermore different methods in health care ethics. More material on newmedical technologies is included, the coverage of issues on thedoctor/patient relationship is expanded, and material on ethics andpublic health is brought together into a new section.

The second edition of Medical Ethics deals accessibly with a broad range of significant issues in bioethics, and presents the reader with the latest developments. This new edition has been greatly revised and updated, with half of the sections written specifically for this new volume. An accessible introduction for beginners, offering a combination of important established essays and new essays commissioned especially for this volume Greatly revised - half of the selections are new to this edition, including two essays on genetic enhancement and a section on gender, race and culture Includes new material on ethical theory as a grounding for understanding the ethical dimensions of medicine and healthcare Now includes a short story on organ allocation, providing a vivid approach to the issue for readers Provides students with the tools to write their own case study essays An original section on health provides a theoretical context for the succeeding essays Presents a carefully selected set of readings designed to progressively move the reader to competency in subject comprehension and essay writing