Ethics and Error in Medicine (Routledge Research in Applied Ethics)

This book is a collection of original, interdisciplinary essays on the topic of medical error. Given the complexities of understanding, preventing, and responding to medical error in ethically responsible ways, the scope of the book is fairly broad. The contributors include top scholars and practitioners working in bioethics, communication, law, medicine and philosophy. Their contributions examine preventable causes of medical error, disproportionate impacts of errors on vulnerable populations, disclosure and apology after discovering medical errors, and ethical issues arising in specific medical contexts, such as radiation oncology, psychopathy, and palliative care. They also offer practical recommendations for respecting autonomy, distributing burdens and benefits justly, and minimizing injury to patients and other stakeholders. Ethics and Error in Medicine will be of interest to a wide range of researchers, students, and practitioners in bioethics, philosophy, communication studies, law, and medicine who are interested in the ethics of medical error.

Fritz Allhoff is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Western Michigan University. He has had fellowships in the Institute for Ethics of the American Medical Association and in the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford Law School. His books have been published by Oxford University Press, University of Chicago Press, and others.

Sandra L. Borden is Professor in the School of Communication and Director of the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society at Western Michigan University. Her books include the award-winning Journalism as Practice: MacIntyre, Virtue Ethics and the Press (Ashgate 2007; Routledge 2009).