Main description:

For nearly fifteen years "Practical Decision Making in Health Care Ethics" has offered scholars and students a highly accessible and teachable alternative to the dominant principle-based theories in the field. Devettere's approach is not based on an ethics of abstract obligations and duties, but, following Aristotle, on how to live a fulfilled and happy life-in short, an ethics of personal well-being grounded in prudence, the virtue of ethical decision making. This third edition is revised and updated and includes discussions of several landmark cases, including the tragic stories of Terri Schiavo and Jesse Gelsinger (the first death caused by genetic research). Devettere addresses new topics such as partial-birth abortion law, embryonic stem cell research, infant euthanasia in The Netherlands, recent Vatican statements on feeding tubes, organ donation after cardiac death, new developments in artificial hearts, clinical trials developed by pharmaceutical companies to market new drugs, ghostwritten scientific articles published in major medical journals, and controversial HIV/AIDS research in Africa.
This edition also includes a new chapter on the latest social and political issues in American health care. Devettere's engaging text relies on commonsense moral concepts and avoids academic jargon. It includes a glossary of legal, medical, and ethical terms; an index of cases; and, thoroughly updated bibliographic essays at the end of each chapter that offer resources for further reading. It is a true classic, brilliantly conceived and executed, and is now even more valuable to undergraduates and graduate students, medical students, health care professionals, hospital ethics committees and institutional review boards, and general readers interested in philosophy, medicine, and the rapidly changing field of health care ethics.

Contents:

Preface to the Third Edition Introduction 1. What Is Ethics? Defining EthicsTwo Kinds of EthicsHistorical Versions of the Ethics of ObligationMoral Reasoning and the Theories of ObligationContrasting the Ethics of Obligation with an Ethics of the GoodRetrieving the Ethics of the GoodBioethics TodaySuggested Readings 2. Prudence and Living a Good Life The Good We SeekHappinessMoral VirtuePrudenceSuggested Readings 3. The Language of Health Care Ethics Distinctions That Can MisleadHelpful DistinctionsSuggested Readings 4. Making Health Care Decisions Complexity of Health Care DecisionsDecision-Making CapacityInformed ConsentAdvance DirectivesThe Patient Self-Determination ActThe Case of Hazel WelchFinal ReflectionsSuggested Readings 5. Deciding for Others Becoming a ProxyStandards for Making Proxy DecisionsDeciding for Older ChildrenDeciding for the Mentally IllDeciding for Patients of Another CultureFinal Reflections on Deciding for OthersSuggested Readings 6. Determining Life and Death The Classical Conceptual FrameworkA New Conceptual FrameworkWhen Does One of Us Begin?When Does One of Us Die?Recent Controversies over Determining DeathEthical ReflectionsSuggested Readings 7. Life-Sustaining Treatments VentilatorsThe Case of Karen QuinlanThe Case of Brother FoxThe Case of william BartlingThe Case of Helga WanglieThe Case of Barbara HoweDialysisThe Case of Earle SpringSurgeryThe Case of Rosaria CanduraOther Life-Sustaining TreatmentsSuggested Readings 8. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation TerminologyA Brief History of Resuscitation AttemptsThe Effectiveness of Attempting CPRLearning to Withhold CPRImportant Ethical Elements for a DNR PolicyLingering Questions about DNR OrdersThe Case of Marie MThe Case of shirley DinnersteinThe Case of Catherine GilgunnSuggested Readings 9. Medical Nutrition and Hydration The Techniques and TechnologiesConceptualizing Medical Nutrition and HydrationThe Case of Clarence HerbertThe Case of Claire ConroyThe Case of Elizabeth bouviathe Case of Nancy CruzanThe Case of Terri SchiavoAn Emerging Controversy: the Vatican and Feeding TubesEthical ReflectionsSuggested Readings 10. Reproductive Issues Contraception and SterilizationArtificial Reproduction TechniquesCloningSurrogate MotherhoodEthical ReflectionsSuggested Readings 11. Prenatal LifeAbortionMoral Issues of AbortionRU--486Maternal--Fetal Treatment ConflictsThe Case of AngieEthical ReflectionSuggested Readings 12. Infants and Children Historical BackgroundA Sampling of Neonatal AbnormalitiesSpecial Difficulties in Deciding for Neonates and Small ChildrenThe Baby Doe RegulationsThe Case of Baby DoeThe Case of Baby Jane DoeThe Case of DanielleThe Case of Baby KThe Case of AshleyInfant Euthanasia in The NetherlandsSuggested Readings 13. Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide Historical OverviewRecent DevelopmentsPhysician-Assisted Suicide and State LawsPhysician-Assisted Suicide and the ConstitutionRelevant DistinctionsMoral Reasoning and EuthanasiaReasons for Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted SuicideReasons against Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted SuicideThe Story of a Landmark Physician-Assisted suicideThe Case of DianeConcluding ReflectionsSuggested Readings 14. Medical Research Notorious Examples of Questionable Ethics in ResearchReactions to the Questionable Medical ResearchResearch on Embryos Research on Fetuses Research on MinorsResearch in Developing CountriesOther Special Populations in ResearchAnimals and Medical ResearchSuggested Readings 15. Transplantation Transplantation of Organs from Dead Human DonorsThe Case of Jamie FiskeThe Case of Jess SepulvedaTransplantation of Organs from Living Human DonorsTransplantation of Organs from AnimalsThe Case of Baby FaeImplantation of Artificial HeartsSuggested Readings 16. Medical Genetics Genetic TestingA Case of Concern About CancerGenetic ScreeningGenetic Research on HumansThe Case of Jesse GelsingerGenetic EnhancementHuman Genome ProjectSuggested Readings 17. Social and Political Issues Paying for Health CareLegislation and the "Futility" DebateThe Case of Sun HudsonThe Case of Emilio GonzalesExperimental Drugs for Dying PatientsThe Case of Abigail Burroughs and the Abigail AllianceSeeding Trials and Ghost WritersSuggested Readings Glossary Index of Cases Index