Classic Cases in Medical Ethics: Accounts of Cases That Have Shaped Medical Ethics, with Philosophical, Legal, and Historical Backgrounds

by Gregory E. Pence

Book Overview

This text provides coverage of the most discussed topics and up-to-date cases in medical ethics. Each topic is enriched with important background, history and context, and supplemented with a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0072829354
• ISBN13: 9780072829358
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 470 Pages
• Weight: 1.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.5" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Medical Ethics

This is a very informative book that is written in a way which is easy to understand. I found myself diving into it as if i was reading a novel. Excellent!

Everyone, Clinicians and Patients Alike, Should Know This Material

I have not read many medical/clinical ethics materials. I am currently reading this as part of an undergraduate and post-bac philosophy class, however, and enjoy the material greatly. I would recommend this read to anyone who sees doctors, is a doctor, or wants to be a doctor - which should be quite a large population

A fine job of writing for a difficult topic!

I am researching bioethics and especially eugenics in the United States as far as it concerns the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing. Because I work in the university bookstore, I went to see what the classes which teach bioethics are using for textbooks. Dr. Pence's books were being used, and as I looked through them, I could see he dealt with many of the topics I am concerned with...allocations of scarce resources, infant non-treatment on the basis of disability, and the worth that our society puts on the life of someone with a disability. (Nice story about a Deaf-mute who wasn't informed he was going to be the experiment for piggybacking a chimp heart). Dr. Pence is an excellent writer. This book was an easy and interesting read. It told details concerning prominent cases that I didn't know, and he gives the references to everything, so that makes my research much easier. Again, this is one of those books that is a must-read for medical students, anyone in public health, educators, and the disabled. Knowledge is power. We can only protect ourselves in the medical community when we know about the conflicts of interests that doctors and researchers face, and how ethicists and politicians perceive not only the disabled, but everyone. In this new world where the Human Genome Project is almost finished, and doctors are already clamoring for testing of all newborns (and fetuses), and there are no protective laws on the books against discrimination...it is very apparent we may possibly have another eugenic movement on our hands. It is up to all of us as informed readers to read someone like Pence and get involved with legislation to stop this from occurring again. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

Excellent text...

I used this text first as a student in a Bioethics course, and later as a Teaching Assistant for the same course. The book is interesting, well-written and very comprehensive in its approach to medical ethics. Though some of the material is becoming outdated (ie: Pence asserts in the book that there isn't a need to include a discussion of cloning, as it is impossible/improbable,) the text is still extremely useful. I highly recommend this book, both for enjoyment reading and for academic purposes.

Best way to begin studying bioethics

We used this book in my medical school class and I enjoyed it very much. Pence came to Illinois this year to debate human cloning and I was impressed with him. I especially liked this book because you get all the details and context of the cases (we also used another book on principles and theories, which was pretty boring). If you only read two chapters, read the one on Karen Quinlan and the one on the Tuskegee syphilis study. Both blew my mind.