Bøger i International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine serien

His defence of "hardy" egalitarianism aims to show that random selection by lottery can affirm both a common humanity and the equal value of lives.

Having been originally introduced as a term to facilitate discussion of a specific group of patients regarded as entering a state of unawareness following coma, the 'Persistent Vegetative State' (PVS) has established itself as an apparently discrete medical condition with clear-cut implications for ethicists and lawyers that exceed any scientifically based understanding. As a consequence of this upgrading, conclusions drawn about the status and hence the management of this uncommon condition have been increasingly extended to other patients with much more common forms of disability.This book traces the origins of prevailing perceptions about PVS and submits these to critical examination. In doing this it comes to the conclusion that inadequate attention has been paid to acknowledging what is not known about affected individuals and that assumptions have consistently come to be traded as facts. Re-examination of the basis of the PVS and the adoption of a more scientific approach is long overdue and is owed to the community at large which has generally been provided by many medical practitioners with a 'dumbed-down' account of the condition.The book will be of interest to philosophers, medical graduates and neuroscientists but is also intended to remain accessible to the general reader with an interest in the wider implications of trends in medical thinking for attitudes towards many classes of patient. It has an extensive bibliography and will be of specific interest to bioethicists and lawyers with professional interests in PVS.

The Dutch experience has influenced the debate on euthanasia and death with dignity around the globe, especially with regard to whether physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia should be legitimized or legalized.

In the mid-1990s new treatment options introduced a new era of AIDS. This book is a sophisticated study of the shaping of this new era. In doing so, the book captures the new era of AIDS from multiple perspectives and through the voices of physicians as well as people with HIV.

This is an original contribution to the much debated area of the value that we should place on human life. With the euthanasia issue highlighted in the public arena this book argues for a non-absolutist highest value on life ethic and how that fits with society's current emphasis on individual autonomy.

For decades, health professionals have asserted the importance of public participation in interventions for health. In this innovative work, the author contrasts public and professional understandings of health and the best ways to achieve health.

This highlights not only particular bioethical themes such as social justice, choices in health care, and health policy (e.g., in post-communist countries), it also emphasizes specific approaches in ethical theory, in relation to Continental philosophies such as phenomenology and hermeneutics.

Throughout the book it is argued that some moral concerns about prevention - namely concerns about medicalization - cannot be adequately grasped in terms of strict and binding moral norms.

Written in a lucid style, this unique book will appeal to scholars and students in the fields of sociology, social psychology, social anthropology, social theory and philosophy, as well as anybody interested in the relationship between the self and society or the experience of living with HIV/AIDS.

Elsewhere the contemporary critique of autonomy appears in a variety of alternative ethical models like narrative ethics, casuist ethics, and contextualism.

This book is a contribution to the general philosophy of action and the philosophy of welfare. At the same time he explores and substantiates the idea of a strong interdependence between the concept of action and some of the central concepts of welfare, in particular health and illness and related concepts.

Leading scholars from a range of disciplines examine some of the most emotive topics in the study of aging: assessing quality of life, improving end-of-life care, palliative care, euthanasia, and consent to research.

Positive conceptions of 'healthy aging' are rightly displacing negative ageist perceptions of older members of our society. Nevertheless, at some stage, most elderly citizens will require some form of assistance from other members of society. When the body or mind begins to fail, a legitimate need for intervention and care will arise.

This is the first of three volumes on Aging conceived for the International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine. Leading scholars from a range of disciplines contest some of the predominant paradigms on aging, and critically assess modern trends in social health policy.

Mental health issues are a growing concern in our modern Western society. However, most of what has been written so far has had its focus on mental illness or disease, the negative side of the coin, and few attempts have been made to discuss more thoroughly, from a philosophical perspective, what it is to be mentally healthy.

Zooming in on the intrinsic issue of what is valuable about our homo sapiens biological condition, this volume devotes only scant attention to the specific issue of natural talent and why such talent is appreciated so differently than biotechnological origins of ability.

'Reprogen-Ethics and the Future of Gender' brings together three tightly related topics, which have so far been dealt separately in bioethics: assisted reproduction, enhancing and gender.

Bringing a person into an existence that is truly awful-not worth having-can be wrong, and so can bringing a person into an existence that is worth having when we had the alternative of bringing that same person into an existence that is substantially better.

This book is a contribution to the general philosophy of action and the philosophy of welfare. At the same time he explores and substantiates the idea of a strong interdependence between the concept of action and some of the central concepts of welfare, in particular health and illness and related concepts.

Today, health, health care (business, wellness, recreation), and medicine (especially research-driven scientific medicine) have become separate entities with different institutions, budgets, marketing philosophies and "corporate cultures".

This book develops a novel justificatory framework for making judgments of decisional competence to consent to biomedical research. This is the first book to focus exclusively on this subject, which also has implications for the emerging field of neuroethics.

Recently, there has been a tremendous interest in the ethical issues that confront physicians in times of war, as well as some of the uses of physicians during wars. This book presents a theoretical apparatus which underpins those debates, namely by casting physicians as being faced with dual-loyalties during times of war.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the ethical, social and philosophical issues related to modern genetic research and gene technology.

This book offers a group of essays published in memory of David Thomasma, one of the leading humanists in the field of bioethics during the twentieth century. The volume deals with the pressing issue of how to ground a universal bioethics in the context of the conflicted world of combative cultures and perspectives.

This book presents the findings of a study into the social shaping of reproductive genetics in Germany and Israel. A close analysis of the ways that these two societies handle the balance between the quality and sanctity of life illuminates controversies over reproductive genetics in an original and provocative way.

Public policy surrounding the hotly debated issue of physician-assisted suicide is examined in detail. You'll find an analysis of the current legal standing and practice of physician-assisted suicide in several countries.

Reflecting the anticipated shortage of physicians (especially those involved in women's health care) in the USA, this volume focuses on strategic planning, with material on changing demographics, the hidden value of part-time faculty, and staff retention.

As health care is aimed at healing persons, it is important to realize how difficult it is to construct a theory of personhood for health care, and thus, a theory of how healing in health care comes about or ought to occur.

Public Health Policy and Ethics brings together philosophers and practitioners to address the foundations and principles upon which public health policy may be advanced - especially in the international arena.