Biomedical Ethics

Presents ethical questions and arguments in six areas of biomedicine such as the patient-doctor relationship and genetics. Topics covered include issues such as doctors' duties to patients, and issues in scientific innovation such as cloning. This book is useful for courses in moral problems, introduction to ethics, and introduction to bioethics. Biomedical Ethics is a brief philosophical introduction to the most important ethical questions and arguments in six areas of biomedicine: the patient-doctor relationship; medical research on humans; reproductive rights and technologies; genetics; medical decisions at the end of life; and the allocation of scarce medical resources. The topics cover both perennial ethical issues in medicine, such as doctors' duties to patients, and recent and emerging ethical issues in scientific innovation, such as gene therapy and cloning. The scope of the book captures the historical, contemporary, and future-oriented flavor of these areas in a concise and accessible way, and is ideal for courses in contemporary moral problems, introduction to ethics, and introduction to bioethics.