Ethics in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care

A group of expert contributors have provided perspectives on areas of common concern to the anaesthetist and intensivist, and nursing staff, giving both the clinical and theoretical perspective. By understanding the underlying principles, the reader will be able to create their own framework from which to reach a decision. It is anticipated that the arguments given may challenge the reader's personal ethical stance. Those who are new to ethics will find the examples given help them to see how these underlying principles are put into everyday practice.

Expert contributors from around the world discuss ethical issues in anaesthesia and intensive care in all of the commonly encountered areas such as:

Consent

Patient confidentiality

Fitness to practice

Whistle-blowing on colleagues

Clinical research

Maternal-foetal conflicts

Children

Palliative care

Withdrawing and withholding therapy

Euthanasia

Infectious disease control

Each chapter focuses on the needs of the clinician, presenting both the underlying principles and how these are used in practice

Real cases are used to illustrate the principles, and to highlight how these are interpreted in each case

Edited by Heather Draper, BA, MA, PhD, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Ethics, The Centre for Biomedical Ethics, University of Birmingham; and Wendy E. Scott, MBChB, FRCA, DRCOG, Consultant Anaesthetist, Derby City General Hospital, Derby, UK