American Bioethics


Book Description

Bioethics was "born in the USA" and the values American bioethics embrace are based on American law, including liberty and justice. This book crosses the borders between bioethics and law, but moves beyond the domestic law/bioethics struggles for dominance by exploring attempts to articulate universal principles based on international human rights. The isolationism of bioethics in the US is not tenable in the wake of scientific triumphs like decoding the human genome, and civilizational tragedies like international terrorism. Annas argues that by crossing boundaries which have artificially separated bioethics and health law from the international human rights movement, American bioethics can be reborn as a global force for good, instead of serving mainly the purposes of U.S. academics. This thesis is explored in a variety of international contexts such as terrorism and genetic engineering, and in U.S. domestic disputes such as patient rights and market medicine. The citizens of the world have created two universal codes: science has sequenced the human genome and the United Nations has produced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The challenge for American bioethics is to combine these two great codes in imaginative and constructive ways to make the world a better, and healthier, place to live.




Life and Death with Liberty and Justice


Book Description

"This is a systematic and detailed treatment of the life and death issues which are currently raised, often in confused and intense fashion, under the headings of "euthanasia" or "death with dignity." There is no single euthanasia question, but rather a complex of related matters, both legal and ethical. The authors analyze euthanasia an find them radically inconsistent with the American ideal of liberty and justice for all. The ideal is seen by the authors as a framework for the efforts of those who desire a just protection for the lives of the unborn, the retarded, the insane, and the aged poor. The authors demonstrate that fair laws which respect the liberties of all will not, for example, permit mercy killing or deny deserved medical treatment merely because some people fail to meet standards, as established by others, for a minimum quality of life. Detailed proposals are offered for specific legislation and constitutional amendments to restore or ensure protection for the right to life and other rights. The last three chapters of this study bear directly on ethical questions. An ethical theory consistent with the sanctity of human life is proposed, and the theories underlying proeuthanasia proposals are criticized. The author's theory is applied to various matters involving life and death, and an ethical defense is provided for the ideal of liberty and justice as a basis for good law."--from back cover.




Bioethics with Liberty and Justice


Book Description

Joseph M. Boyle Jr. has been a major contributor to the development of Catholic bioethics over the past thirty five years. Boyle’s contribution has had an impact on philosophers, theologians, and medical practitioners, and his work has in many ways come to be synonymous with analytically rigorous philosophical bioethics done in the Catholic intellectual tradition. Four main themes stand out as central to Boyle’s contribution: the sanctity of life and bioethics: Boyle has elaborated a view of the ethics of killing at odds with central tenets of the euthanasia mentality, double effect and bioethics: Boyle is among the pre-eminent defenders of a role for double effect in medical decision making and morality, the right to health care: Boyle has moved beyond the rhetoric of social justice to provide a natural law grounding for a political right to health care; and the role of natural law and the natural law tradition in bioethics: Boyle’s arguments have been grounded in a particularly fruitful approach to natural law ethics, the so-called New Natural Law theory. The contributors to BIOETHICS WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE: THEMES IN THE WORK OF JOSEPH M. BOYLE discuss, criticize, and in many cases extend the Boyle’s advances in these areas with rigor and sophistication. It will be of interest to Catholic and philosophical bioethicists alike.




Public Bioethics


Book Description

This book collects the most influential essays and articles by renowned ethicist James F. Childress, along with several new pieces. It focuses on 'public bioethics' - bioethics as they relate to the shaping of public policy and public culture. The book is divided into four sections, which address issues of autonomy and paternalism, the role of religious convictions and conscientious refusals in health care, ethical practices in organ transplantation, and the general terrain of public health ethics.




Justice


Book Description

A renowned Harvard professor's brilliant, sweeping, inspiring account of the role of justice in our society--and of the moral dilemmas we face as citizens What are our obligations to others as people in a free society? Should government tax the rich to help the poor? Is the free market fair? Is it sometimes wrong to tell the truth? Is killing sometimes morally required? Is it possible, or desirable, to legislate morality? Do individual rights and the common good conflict? Michael J. Sandel's "Justice" course is one of the most popular and influential at Harvard. Up to a thousand students pack the campus theater to hear Sandel relate the big questions of political philosophy to the most vexing issues of the day, and this fall, public television will air a series based on the course. Justice offers readers the same exhilarating journey that captivates Harvard students. This book is a searching, lyrical exploration of the meaning of justice, one that invites readers of all political persuasions to consider familiar controversies in fresh and illuminating ways. Affirmative action, same-sex marriage, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, national service, patriotism and dissent, the moral limits of markets—Sandel dramatizes the challenge of thinking through these con?icts, and shows how a surer grasp of philosophy can help us make sense of politics, morality, and our own convictions as well. Justice is lively, thought-provoking, and wise—an essential new addition to the small shelf of books that speak convincingly to the hard questions of our civic life.




Life Liberty & the Defense of Dignity


Book Description

At the onset of Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity, Leon Kass gives us a status report on where we stand today: “Human nature itself lies on the operating table, ready for alteration, for eugenic and psychic ‘enhancement,’ for wholesale redesign. In leading laboratories, academic and industrial, new creators are confidently amassing their powers and quietly honing their skills. For anyone who cares about preserving our humanity, the time has come for paying attention.” Trained as a medical doctor and biochemist, Dr. Kass has become one of our most provocative thinkers on bioethical issues. In Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity, he has written a book that grapples with the moral meaning of the new biomedical technologies now threatening to take us back to the future envisioned by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World. In a series of mediations on cloning, embryo research, the sale of organs, and the assault on mortality itself, Kass questions the wisdom of trying to break down the natural boundaries given us and to remake the human body into an instrument of our will. He also attempts to chart a course by which we might avoid the dehumanization of biotechnical “recreationism” without rejecting modern science or rejecting its genuine contributions to human welfare. Leon Kass writes profoundly about the limits of science and the limits of life, about what makes us human and gives us human dignity. Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity.




Human Dignity and Bioethics


Book Description

Contains a collection of essays exploring human dignity and bioethics, a concept crucial to today's discourse in law and ethics in general and in bioethics in particular.




Social Justice


Book Description

In bioethics, discussions of justice have tended to focus on questions of fairness in access to health care: is there a right to medical treatment, and how should priorities be set when medical resources are scarce. But health care is only one of many factors that determine the extent to which people live healthy lives, and fairness is not the only consideration in determining whether a health policy is just. In this pathbreaking book, senior bioethicists Powers and Faden confront foundational issues about health and justice.




Justice and Health Care


Book Description

This volume brings together ten essays that have been published over a period of more than two decades in a wide range of venues and arranges them in such a way as to demonstrate the systematic progression of the author's thinking. This volume bridges the disciplinary chasm between Bioethics and Political Philosophy.




Global Health Ethics


Book Description

This document assists policy-makers, health care providers and researchers to understand key concepts in health ethics and to identify basic ethical questions surrounding health and health care. It illustrates the challenges of applying ethical principles to global public health and outlines practical strategies for dealing with those challenges. The document is divided into four main parts. The first part explores key concepts in health ethics and explains common terms, theories and principles. The second part examines the main challenges in the practice of health ethics from the perspective of global public health. These issues provide the reader with a concrete understanding of the various ethical obstacles that may arise in public health, health research, and the provision of health care services. The third part describes practical strategies for dealing with these challenges and the key actors involved in developing ethical frameworks. Finally, the fourth part explains why health ethics is important to WHO, and how WHO supports Member States in building capacity in health ethics.




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