Critically Thinking about Medical Ethics : A Continuing Dialogue

by Card, Robert F.

• ISBN13: 9780131824843
• ISBN10: 0131824848
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-12-23
• Publisher: Pearson
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

Adopting a critical thinking methodology in which critical thinking tools are introduced and applied to medical ethics reading, this book explains thedialoguewhich is formed by the readings in each chapter and clarifies how the various thinkers are responding to one another in a common discussion. The books'unified approachoffers a critical thinking pedagogy, which philosophically and logically pulls the many readings and philosophies together.The book examines an introduction to moral theory and critical thinking tools, while readings address the following issues: surrogacy contracts; abortion; ethical issues at the end of life; genetics and morality; ethics and HIV/AIDS; the relationship between medical professionals and patients; research on human and non-human subjects; allocation of medical resources and justice issues in health care systems.For individuals interested in medical ethics and philosophy.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Ethics and Critical Thinking

Introduction to Moral Theory

Critical Thinking Tools

Reproductive Issues

Surrogacy Contracts

Opinion in the Matter of Baby M

The Strange Case of Baby M

When is a Mother not a Mother?

Paternalism

Licensing Parents

Surrogate Motherhood as Prenatal Adoption

Surrogate Mothering: Exploitation or Empowerment?

The Case Against Surrogate Parenting

Abortion

Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v

Governor of Pennsylvania, United States Supreme Court Opinion

An Almost Absolute Value in History

Why Abortion is Immoral

On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion

Infanticide and the Liberal View on Abortion

Abortion: A Feminist Perspective

A Defense of Abortion

Abortion and the Concept of Person

Abortion: A Moderate View

For and Against: Should Abortions Late in Pregnancy Be Banned?

Life, Death, and Medical Technology

Ethical Issues at the End of Life

Director, Missouri Department of Health, Majority Opinion

Active and Passive Euthanasia

Active and Passive Euthanasia: An Impertinent Distinction?

More Impertinent Distinctions and a Defense of Active Euthanasia

Voluntary Active Euthanasia

When Self-Determination Runs Amok

Euthanasia: Normal Medical Practice?

Must Patients Always be Given Food and Water?

Assisted Suicide is Not Voluntary Euthanasia

For and Against: Should Physicians Be Allowed to Assist in Patient Suicide?

For and Against: Are Some Advance Directives Too Risky for Patients?

Why I don't Have a Living Will

Medical Futility: A Conceptual and Ethical Analysis

For and Against: Should Doctors Be Able to Refuse Demands for Futile Treatment?

Genetics and Morality

Genetics and Reproductive Risk: Can Having Children Be Immoral?

Genetic Links, Family Ties, and Social Bonds: Rights and Responsibilities in the Face of Genetic Knowledge

Implications of Prenatal Diagnosis for the Right to Life

Fatal Knowledge: Prenatal Diagnosis and Sex Selection

Genetics and Human Malleability

Germ-Line Gene Therapy and the Medical Imperative

For and Against: Should Insurance Companies Have Access to Information from Genetic Testing?

Genetic Testing, Health Insurance, and Rawlsian Justice

Cloning Human Beings: An Assessment of the Ethical Issues Pro and Con

For and Against: Should Genes for Human Diseases Be Patented?

HIV, AIDS, and the Provider/Patient Relationship

Ethics and HIV/AIDS

How Society Should Respond to AIDS

Harming, Wronging, and AIDS

Altruism, Self-Interest, and Medical Ethics

AIDS and the Duty to Treat

Decision in the Tarasoff Case California Supreme Court

AIDS, Confidentiality, and the Right to Know

Please Don't Tell!: A Case About HIV and Confidentiality, With Commentaries

Infections, Pregnant Women and Newborns: A Policy Proposal for Information and Testing, Working Group on HIV Testing of Pregnant Women and Newborns

Ethical Challenges Posed by Zidovudine Treatment to Reduce

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

The inspiration for this book stems from my dissatisfaction with other currently available texts. An acceptable textbook must reflect the breadth and depth of the debate it addresses, but should also prepare students toengagethis debate. To do this requires providing resources to help students develop critical thinking skills. My fundamental belief is that students in a medical ethics/bioethics course should learn not onlycontentregarding different thinkers' positions on the issues but also a philosophical or logicalmethodthat can be used to think more clearly about the ethical challenges posed by medicine. This book aims to make elements of this philosophical method explicit as it introduces students to the dialogue concerning central issues in medical ethics.The dialogue in medical ethics is shaped in part by various ethical viewpoints. While thinkers accept different views, it is worth noting that bioethicists never defend their position by appealing to, say, Ethical Subjectivism. Philosophers understand why this is the case, and this is so natural that it probably goes unnoticed. Yet students deserve to know that this is not merely an accident. In order to explain and philosophically justify why thinkers in medical ethics explicitly rely on a relatively small number of ethical outlooks when presenting their views, this book includes a comprehensive introduction to ethical perspectives (Chapter 1).Also, philosophical thinkers in medical ethics presume more than a passing familiarity with arguments when presenting their case. This book includes a separate introductory chapter (Chapter 2) on critical thinking, which will help students become more careful critics and make them more reflective about their own thinking. Chapter 1 containsCritical Thinking Interludes,which present and discuss case studies that are then related to important facets of the ethical perspectives just explained. The purpose of these Critical Thinking Interludes is to naturally awaken students' dormant analytical powers before a more formal introduction to critical thinking occurs in Chapter 2. The explanation and discussion of the case study are completely self-contained. These Critical Thinking Interludes serve as "helping hands" that model for students the type of questions relevant to a philosophical examination of an issue.The critical thinking theme is not simply forgotten once the introductory chapters are completed. The sections containing the readings are divided into four units, and each unit consists of two chapters that are unified by a common "Critical Thinking Tool" that is explained and applied to several readings from that unit. These "Critical Thinking Tools" relate to the background critical thinking material explained in Chapter 2, yet are also independent since their explanation and application is contained within the Unit Introductions. For example, Unit II contains readings on the topics of surrogacy and abortion. This Unit Introduction contains a detailed explanation of analogies that then highlights and analyzes several examples of analogies from the readings in that Unit.In addition, Unit Introductions contain an overview of the readings in that Unit, with particular emphasis on how the thinkers on each topic are responding to one another in a common dialogue. Serious effort has been expended to ensure that a balanced selection of readings representing different viewpoints are included. Further, the text contains enough readings on each topic to allow a philosophically respectable discussion of the issues.This text contains more resources than can likely be used in a one semester medical ethics or bioethics course. I believe that is a favorable aspect of the text, since it allows flexibility in course design. In my experience, the selections contained in this text can be easily tailored to meet the needs of students of varying aptitudes and backgrounds.The