Main description:

For more than twenty 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. Raymond J. 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. In this revised fourth edition, Devettere updates most chapters, adding new cases and sections on the following: neuroscience, social psychology, overriding advance directives, studies on the fetus, the palliative care movement, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, pharmacist and reproductive issues, prenatal life and abortion, neonatal testing and mandatory vaccinations, the US government's STD research in Guatemala, the emergence of biobanks, facial transplantations, genetic testing, legal issues surrounding the Affordable Care Act, and more. Thoughtfully updated and renewed for a new generation readers, this classic textbook will be required reading for students and scholars of philosophy and medical ethics.

Contents:

Preface to the Fourth Edition Introduction 1. What Is Ethics?Defining Ethics; Two Kinds of Ethics; Historical Versions of the Ethicsof Obligation; Moral Reasoning and the Theories of Obligation;Contrasting the Ethics of Obligation with an Ethics of the Good;Retrieving the Ethics of the Good; Bioethics Today; Suggested Readings 2. Prudence and Living a Good Life The Good We Desire; Happiness; Virtue; Moral Virtues; Prudence:The Master Virtue; Suggested Readings 3. The Language of Health Care EthicsDistinctions That Can Mislead; Helpful Distinctions;Suggested Readings 4. Making Health Care Decisions Decision-Making Capacity; Informed Consent; Advance Directives;The Patient Self-Determination Act; The Case of Hazel Welch; FinalReflections; Suggested Readings5. Deciding for Others Becoming a Proxy; Standards for Making Proxy Decisions; Decidingfor Older Children; Deciding for the Mentally Ill; Deciding for Patientsof Another Culture; Final Reflections; Suggested Readings 6. Determining Life and DeathThe Classical Conceptual Framework; A New ConceptualFramework; When Does One of Us Begin?; When Does One of UsDie?; Controversies over Determining Death; Ethical Reflections;Suggested Readings 7. Life-Sustaining Treatments Ventilators: The Case of Karen Quinlan, The Case of William Bartling,The Case of Helga Wanglie, The Case of Barbara Howe; Dialysis: The Case of Earle Spring; Surgery: The Case of Rosaria Candura; OtherLife-Sustaining Treatments; Suggested Readings 8. Cardiopulmonary ResuscitationTerminology; A Brief History of Resuscitation Attempts; TheEffectiveness of Attempting CPR; Learning to Withhold CPR;Important Ethical Elements for a DNR Policy; Lingering Questionsabout DNR Orders; Resolving Questions about CPR: The Case ofMaria M, The Case of Shirley Dinnerstein, The Case of CatherineGilgunn; Suggested Readings 9. Medical Nutrition and Hydration The Techniques and Technologies; Conceptualizing Medical Nutritionand Hydration; Early Cases about Feeding Tubes: The Case of ClarenceHerbert, The Case of Claire Conroy, The Case of Elizabeth Bouvia;Cases of Persistent Vegetative State: The Case of Nancy Cruzan,The Case of Terri Schiavo; Recent Breakthroughs in the Diagnosis ofConsciousness Disorders; An Unresolved Controversy: The Vatican andFeeding Tubes; An Emerging Controversy: VSED; Suggested Readings 10. Reproductive Issues Contraception and Sterilization; Medically Assisted Pregnancy; Posthumous Motherhood: A Request for Posthumous Motherhood; Cloning; Surrogate Motherhood: The Case of Baby M; Ethical Reflections; Suggested Readings 11. Prenatal Life Abortion: Abortion in History, Abortion and the Supreme Court;Moral Issues of Abortion: Abortion and Excommunication at a Catholic Hospital; RU-486; Maternal-Fetal Conflicts: The Case of Angie, The Case of Samantha Burton; Ethical reflections; Suggested Readings 12. Infants and ChildrenHistorical Background; A Sampling of Neonatal Abnormalities;Special Difficulties in Deciding for Neonates and Small Children;The Baby Doe Regulations: The Case of Baby Doe, The Case ofDanielle, The Case of Baby K, The Case of Ashley; Infant Euthanasiain the Netherlands; Suggested Readings 13. Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide Historical Overview; Recent Developments; Relevant Distinctions; Moral Reasoning and Euthanasia; Legalization of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: A Slippery Slope; TheStory of a Landmark Suicide: The Case of Diane; ConcludingReflections; Suggested Readings 14. Medical and Behavioral Research Notorious Examples of Questionable Ethics in Research; Reactionsto the Questionable Medical Research; Research on Embryos;Research on Fetuses; Research on Minors; Controversial Researchon Babies: The SUPPORT Study; Research in Developing Countries;Other Special Populations in Research; Animals and MedicalResearch; Suggested Readings 15. Transplantation Transplantation of Organs from Dead Human Donors: The Case ofJamie Fiske, The Case of Jesse Sepulveda; Transplantation of Organsfrom Living Human Donors; Transplantation of Organs fromAnimals: The Case of Baby Fae; Implantation of Artificial Hearts;Suggested Readings 16. Medical Genetics and GenomicsPart 1: Ethics and the Genomic Revolution; Part 2: Ethical Issues inGenetic Testing; Part 3: Screening Newborns and Fetuses; Part 4:Research to Develop Genetic Therapy: The Case of Jesse Gelsinger;Suggested Readings Glossary Index of CasesIndex