Case Studies in Biomedical Ethics: Decision-Making, Principles, and Cases

The most comprehensive and up to date collection of its kind, Case Studies in Biomedical Ethics: Decision Making, Principles, and Cases, Second Edition, explores fundamental ethical questions arising from real situations faced by health professionals, patients, and others.

Featuring a wide range of more than 100 case studies drawn from current events, court cases, and physicians' experiences, the book is divided into three parts. Part 1 presents a basic framework for ethical decision making in healthcare, while Part 2 explains the relevant ethical principles: beneficence and nonmaleficence, justice, respect for autonomy, veracity, fidelity, and avoidance of killing. Parts 1 and 2 provide students with the background to analyze the ethical dilemmas presented in Part 3, which features cases on a broad spectrum of issues including abortion, mental health, experimentation on humans, the right to refuse treatment, and much more. The volume is enhanced by opening text boxes in each chapter that cross reference relevant cases in other chapters, an appendix of important ethical codes, and a glossary of key terms.

Robert M. Veatch, Ph.D., is Professor of Medical Ethics and a former director at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University.

Amy M. Haddad, Ph.D., is the Director of the Center for Health Policy & Ethics and the Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Endowed Chair in the Health Sciences at Creighton University.

Dan C. English, M.D., M.A., F.A.C.S., is Affiliated Scholar at the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University.