Medical ethics draws upon methods from a wide array of disciplines, including anthropology, economics, epidemiology, health services research, history, law, medicine, nursing, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and theology. In this influential book, outstanding scholars in medical ethics bring these many methods together in one place to be systematically described, critiqued, and challenged. Newly revised and updated chapters in this second edition include philosophy, religion and theology, virtue and professionalism, casuistry and clinical ethics, law, history, qualitative research, ethnography, quantitative surveys, experimental methods, and economics and decision science. This second edition also includes new chapters on literature and sociology, as well as a second chapter on philosophy which expands the range of philosophical methods discussed to include gender ethics, communitarianism, and discourse ethics. In each of these chapters, contributors provide descriptions of the methods, critiques, and notes on resources and training. Methods in Medical Ethics is a valuable resource for scholars, teachers, editors, and students in any of the disciplines that have contributed to the field. As a textbook and reference for graduate students and scholars in medical ethics, it offers a rich understanding of the complexities involved in the rigorous investigation of moral questions in medical practice and research.

This book systematically reviews a variety of methods for addressing ethical problems in medicine, accounting for both their weaknesses and strengths. Illustrated throughout with specific cases or controversies, the book aims to develop an informed eclecticism that knows how to pick the right tool for the right job.

This is the first book in bioethics that explains how it is that you actually go about doing good bioethics. Bioethics has made a mistake about its methods, and this has led not only to too much theorizing, but also fragmentation within bioethics. The unhelpful disputes between those who think bioethics needs to be more philosophical, more sociological, more clinical, or more empirical, continue. While each of these claims will have some point, they obscure what should be common to all instances of bioethics. Moreover, they provide another phantom that can lead newcomers to bioethics down blind alleyways stalked by bristling sociologists and philosophers. The method common to all bioethics is bringing moral reason to bear upon ethical issues, and it is more accurate and productive to clarify what this involves than to stake out a methodological patch that shows why one discipline is the most important. This book develops an account of the nature of bioethics and then explains how a number of methodological spectres have obstructed bioethics becoming what it should. In the final part, it explains how moral reason can be brought to bear upon practical issues via an 'empirical, Socratic' approach.

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 Advances in Bioethics series is devoted to publishing collections of original papers and multi-authored volumes that advance the field of bioethics either by exploring new areas, or by taking new approaches to traditional areas. Although the series is published in English, its scope is international, and manuscripts are welcome from authors throughout the world. Advances in Bioethics is now available online at ScienceDirect full-text online of volumes 6 onwards. Elsevier book series on ScienceDirect gives multiple users throughout an institution simultaneous online access to an important compliment to primary research. Digital delivery ensures users reliable, 24-hour access to the latest peer-reviewed content. The Elsevier book series are compiled and written by the most highly regarded authors in their fields and are selected from across the globe using Elseviers extensive researcher network. For more information about the Elsevier Book Series on ScienceDirect Program, please visit: http://www.info.sciencedirect.com/bookseries/ *The volume adopts a more personal view of bioethics by examining the physician *Discusses character formation, ethics, professional character, and other concepts *Addresses the interpersonal aspects of physicians and the importance of character

Dealing with some of the thorniest problems in medicine, from euthanasia to the distribution of health care resources, this book introduces the reasoning we can use to approach medical ethics. Exploring how medical ethics supports health professionals' work, it also considers the impact of the media, pressure groups, and legal judgments.