Tough Decisions Cases in Medical Ethics

by Freeman, John M.; McDonnell, Kevin

• ISBN13: 9780195090413
• ISBN10: 0195090411
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-10-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Life is full of tough decisions that must be made ethically and under the pressures of time. This book places readers in realistic situation where they experience the difficulties of making tough medical decisions. The cases are composites of actual cases the authors have seen or managed. Inthe role of decision-maker, the reader helps to determine what happens in the case as his or her decision often shapes the course of events and the patient's outcome. This gives a compelling sense of the pressures that bear on clinical decision-making. The authors assume that the reader wants to dothe right thing, but faces the problem of determining what the right thing will be when information is necessarily incomplete and the future unknown. Ethical theory emerges as others involved in the case offer different views of what is right in a particular medical situation. Two concludingchapters discuss the major theories of medical ethics, but there are no answers in the back of the book. Instead, the book will familiarize readers with some of the ethical principles and issues critical to the practice of medicine to patients and their families.

Table of Contents

A Note to the Reader	xix
PART I---DEATH AND DYING
Maggie	3	(8)
Jill	11	(6)
Ed Martinez	17	(16)
PART II---ADULTHOOD
Leon	33	(10)
Ms. Williams	43	(6)
Wanda	49	(10)
The Maxistop Study	59	(10)
PART III---CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
Joey, Jessica, Roger, Tom, and Marti	69	(18)
Marti Revisited	87	(6)
Tom Revisited	93	(8)
Billy	101	(6)
The Castelli Baby	107	(16)
Christie	123	(26)
PART IV---CONCEPTION AND GESTATION
The Harrisons' Plans	149	(6)
The Smyth Saga	155	(8)
The Perfect Rexford	163	(10)
PART V---HEALTH CARE REFORM AND ETHICAL THEORY
Affordable Health Care	173	(12)
Ethical Theory and Medical Ethics	185	(28)
Making Moral Decisions: A Process Approach	213