First Do No Harm: Law, Ethics and Healthcare (Applied Legal Philosophy) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138277509 ISBN 13: 9781138277502

Publisher: Routledge, 2016

Synopsis

This collection brings together essays from leading figures in the field of medical law and ethics which address the key issues currently challenging scholars in the field. It has also been compiled as a lasting testimony to the work of one of the most eminent scholars in the area, Professor Ken Mason. The collection marks the academic crowning of a career which has laid one of the foundation stones of an entire discipline. The wide-ranging contents and the standing of the contributors mean that the volume will be an invaluable resource for anyone studying or working in medical law or medical ethics.

About this title

About the Author:

Professor McLean is the first holder of the International Bar Association Chair of Law and Ethics in Medicine at Glasgow University and is Director of the Institute of Law and Ethics in Medicine at Glasgow University.

Review:

Local mystery writer and retired physician Larry Karp has won many fans with his Music Box Mystery series, starring Dr. Thomas Purdue as a venturesome sleuth and music-box fanatic. Most writers would happily settle into such a successful niche - but instead, Karp's newest novel is a complete departure from the Music Box series. It's also some of the best work he has done.
Set in flashback during the World War II years, "First, Do No Harm" is a story of family secrets stumbled upon by young Martin Firestone, a computer

whiz who is ready to change careers. Surprisingly, Martin's decision to enter medical school (as his grandfather did) has just been greeted with

violent disapproval from his father, the eminent painter Leo Firestone. Most parents would be pleased; why is Leo so upset?
What follows is a lengthy father-to-son late-night confessional, as Leo knocks back several Manhattans and launches his narrative. Martin and the reader go back in time to the summer of 1943, when the 16-year-old Leo was taken on as a medical apprentice (an "extern") by his busy physician father, Dr. Samuel Firestone. A legend in his New Jersey community, Dr. Firestone whisks Leo from patient to patient, demonstrating an almost preternatural

skill at diagnosis, treatment and human relations.
Young Leo discovers firsthand how admirable, and how beloved, his father is - but he also uncovers an ethical quagmire: His father is involved in illegal abortions and adoptions, dispensing narcotics and black-market drugs, perhaps even a coverup for a murder. Deeply troubled, the 16-year-old and his girlfriend investigate some of these issues, ending up in the junkyard of the foul-mouthed, malicious Oscar Fleishmann. Oscar, one of the most repellent characters in contemporary fiction, turns out to be

trafficking in black-market scrap metal (these were the war years, remember), and Leo ends up in a heap of trouble.
There's more, considerably more, to this saga, some of it unearthed by Leo's son Martin (who senses some gaps in his father's narrative). It's all written at a white-hot emotional pitch with an author whose medical expertise and ear for dialogue are both unerring. "First, Do No Harm" grabs the reader in a rigor-mortis grip that doesn't let up until the last page's final revelations. -- Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times

A compelling, well-researched mystery wrapped in the methods and politics of 1940s medicine, First, Do No Harm traces a dark family secret three generations back to the origin of the malady. Karp¹s capable eye captures the physician¹s imperative, and how the rules of disease and corruption play out between fathers and sons. --Gregg Hurwitz

Karp's work deepens with each mystery. He has a genius for understanding that being a good guy can have as many costs as being a bad guy.... -- Jack Cady, The American Writer

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1138277509
• ISBN 13: 9781138277502
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 624
• Editor: McLean Sheila A. M.