Medical ethics and professional conduct Books

Book SynopsisClinical Trials and the African Person aims to position the African notion of the self/person within the clinical trials context. As opposed to autonomy-based principlism, this other-regarding/communalist perspective is the preferred alternative model. This tactic draws further attention to the inadequacy of the principlist approach particularly in multicultural settings. It also engenders a rethink, stimulates interest, and re-assesses the failed assumptions of universal ethical principles. As a novel attempt that runs against much of the prevailing (Euro-American) intellectual mood, this approach strives to introduce the African viewpoint by making explicit the import of the self in a re-contextualized arena, meaning within the community and a given milieu. Thus, research ethics must go beyond autonomy-based considerations for the individual, to rightly embed him/her within his/her community and the environment.Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements List of Figures List of Abbreviations/Terms Introduction Part 1: Clinical Trials 1 Who is Responsible for Human Subjects (When Experiments Travel)?  1.1 Introduction  1.2 Experimentation with Human Subjects: A Selective Rehash   1.2.1 Burroughs Wellcome (Now GlaxoSmithKline) Experiments   1.2.2 Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932–1972)   1.2.3 Nuremberg Experiments   1.2.4 Radiation Experiments   1.2.5 Mustard gas Experiments   1.2.6 Thalidomide   1.2.7 Henry Beecher Report   1.2.8 Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital and Willowbrook Tests  1.3 Emergence of Research Ethics Codes  1.4 Outsourcing of Clinical Trials  1.5 Trovan Test Case  1.6 Concluding Thoughts 2 Transgenic Mosquitoes Project as Model  2.1 Introduction  2.2 Some Preliminaries  2.3 The GMM Model  2.4 GMM Model and Biodiversity  2.5 Environmental Ethics and Bioethics  2.6 Concluding Thoughts Part 2: Responsibility 3 Being Responsible  3.1 Introduction  3.2 Understanding Responsibility  3.3 Responsibility as a Virtue  3.4 Corporate Responsibility  3.5 Concluding Thoughts Part 3: Personhood 4 Re-Conceiving Responsibility: A Role For Personhood in African Thought  4.1 Introduction  4.2 The ‘African Man’  4.3 African vs. Euro-American Personhood  4.4 African Personhood and Bioethics  4.5 Summary  4.6 The Die is Cast  4.7 Concluding Thoughts  4.8 Study Limitations/Directions for Future Studies Bibiliography Index

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Book SynopsisMost public discussion has focused on those effects of genetic research that are considered in some way unwanted or unpleasant. For example, there has been much debate concerning the risks and the ethical appropriateness of genetic screening, gene therapy, and agricultural applications based on genetic techniques. It often claimed that genetic research may cause new problems such as genetic discrimination, stigmatization, environmental risks, or mistreatment of animals. Genes and Morality: New Essays adopts a critical attitude toward genetic research, on both a theoretical and a practical level. It presents some of the most important problems in the ethics of genetic engineering, including the questions of genetic health and disease, genetic testing, responsibility for health, patenting non-human and human life, and problems related to the disclosure of genetic information. The aim of the book is to focus on real ethical and conceptual issues. Consider, for instance, the concept of genetic disease. As one of the contributors, Ingmar Pörn, writes, fear of genetic disease, or anxiety, is not itself a disease any more than fear of becoming unemployed is a disease. Alleviating such emotions is not a medical task to be discharged by drug therapy. The book also examines the philosophical foundations of these issues by discussing the most influential bioethical theories of today, including utilitarianism and principlism.Trade Review"As a whole, the book is an indispensable piece of secondary literature on John Harris’s Wonderwoman and Superman and additionally contains interesting views on ethics and epistemology of genetics." - in: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy: A European Journal, Vol. 4, No. 3 (2001) "Thoughtfully edited … Has features not usually found in the recent plethora of books on ethics and genetics …useful analyses … [John] Harris develops an excellent, detailed argument that we owe equal health care opportunities to everyone, even if a lifestyle has contributed to someone’s illness … especially noteworthy is Angus Clarke’s thorough rebuttal of the theory that, if people learn their risks of susceptibility to future disease, it as effective for such people to initiate risk-reducing behaviors." - in: Ethics, Vol. 111, No. 4 (July 2001) "authoritative, easy to read, and pleasantly jargon-free" - in: Journal of Medical Ethics 26.6 (December 2000)Table of ContentsEditorial Foreword. Acknowledgements. Introduction. PART I: METHODOLOGICAL AND THEORETICAL ISSUES. ONE Matti HÄYRY: What the Fox Would Have Said, Had He Been a Hedgehog: On the Methodology and Normative Approach of John Harris's Wonderwoman and Superman. TWO Ingmar PERSSON: Does It Matter When We Begin to Exist? THREE Sirkku Kristiina HELLSTEN: Can We Do Wrong by Bringing Children into Being? FOUR Torbjörn TÄNNSJÖ: Impersonal Morality: A Defense. FIVE Søren HOLM: Principles of Health Care Ethics: Solution or Problem? SIX Juha RÄIKKÄ: On the Morality of Avoiding Information. PART II: PRACTICAL ISSUES. SEVEN John HARRIS: Genome Analysis and Responsibility for Health. EIGHT Ingmar PÖRN: Genetic Information and Care. NINE Anglus CLARKE: The Genetic Dissection of Complex Traits. TEN Rogeer HOEDEMAEKERS and Henk TEN HAVE: Genetic Health and Genetic Disease. ELEVEN Juhani PIETARINEN and Veikko LAUNIS: Patenting Non-Human and Human Life. TWELVE Christoph REHMANN-SUTTER: Hubris and Hybrids in the Myth of Frankenstein. Gregory L. FOWLER and Michael J. GARLAND: Translating the Human Genome Project into Social Policy: A Model for Participatory Democracy. Notes on Contributors. Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book follows two lines of inquiry in understanding nursing ethics in the historical-cultural context of modern China. Firstly, it scrutinizes the prescribed set of moral virtues for nurses in fulfilling their role requirements during different periods of nursing development over the past century. Based on empirical studies, the book, secondly, explores the nurses’ evaluations of their ethical responsibilities in current practice. It carefully examines the particular viewpoints of nurses in their ethical appraisal of nursing practice and patient care situations. Drawing upon traditional ethical outlooks, international norms, and the experiences of nurses as they face difficult care situations, this book concludes with recommendations for improving the quality of nursing in contemporary China.Trade Review"very constructive and insightful … This study has provided a new perspective of the ethical issues for the Chinese nursing profession, the health system, and Chinese society itself." - in: Nursing History Review, Vol. 13 (2005) "This is a seminal and fascinating text. It is also a first, in providing an in-depth, systematical analysis of the perceptions of nurses in China in relation to the ethical issues they face in daily nursing practice … a treasure trove of information …erudite but eminently readable … Essential reading, not only for those with a special interest in nursing ethics but for all nurses. It will also be of interest to other health care professionals and could provide a sound basis for much-needed multidisciplinary teaching and learning about health care ethics." - in: Nursing Ethics 11(1) (2004)Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Foreword by Gerhold K. Becker Acknowledgments ONE Introduction: In Search of the Voices of Nurses in China TWO Nursing Development Before China’s Modernization THREE Nursing in the Era of China’s Modernization FOUR The Ethical Mandate in Question FIVE Multiple Role Responsibilities SIX Dealing with Difficult Care Situations SEVEN From Virtue to Value: A Dialogue to be Continued Notes Bibliography Appendices About the Author Index

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Book SynopsisLooking Beneath the Surface explores Arab-Islamic and Western perspectives on medical ethical issues: genetic research and treatment, abortion, organ donation, and palliative sedation and euthanasia. The contributions in this volume discuss the state of the (medical) art, the role of laws, counseling, and spiritual counseling in the decision-making process. The different approaches to the ethical issues, ways of moral reasoning, become clear in these contributions, especially the role of tradition for Islam and the importance of autonomy for the West. Beneath the differences, however, the reader will also discover common values, such as the role of dignity and the value of life, and similar practices. Some of the main differences are sociocultural in nature, rather than religious as such. Well-known experts in the fields of medicine and ethics have contributed to this volume from different religious and secular backgrounds. The book offers a carefully written introduction and final chapter on intercultural comparisons. Looking Beneath the Surface is more than a collection of writings on issues in medical ethics: it helps the reader to compare different paradigms of accountability and moral reasoning.Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: Looking Beneath the Surface: Commonalities and Differences between Islamic and Western Perspectives in Medical Ethics Marzouk Aulad Abdellah: The Sources of Islamic Ethics and Fiqh Martina C. Cornel: Genetic Medicine: Facts and Moral Issues from a Western Perspective Ahmed Ragaa A. Ragab and Gamal Serour: Can Facts about Genetic Research Play a Role in Moral Reasoning? Muslim Perspectives Pascal Borry, Marieke Teeuw, and Martina C. Cornel: Genetic Testing and Counseling in the Case of Consanguinity: Facts, Ethical and Legal Consequences Oka Storms and Edien Bartels: “Notre huile est dans notre farine”: An Exploration into the Meaning of Consanguinity in Northern Morocco against the Backdrop of the Medical Risk of Disabled Offspring Ayman M. Nassar, Serag El Din Mansour, and Gamal I. Serour: The Treatment of Embryos from an Islamic Perspective Egbert Schroten: The Moral Status of the Human Embryo: Christian Perspectives and the Impact of New Technologies Leo P. ten Kate: Reflections on Termination of Pregnancy for Genetic or Nongenetic Congenital Disorders Guido de Wert: Treatment of the Embryo: Facts and Moral Questions Moustafa H. Hegab: Abortion: Medical and Moral Aspects in Islamic Perspectives Ahmed Ragai El‐Gindi: Human Organ Transplantation K. Schipper, M. Ghaly, and T.A. Abma: Receiving a Donor Organ and Muslims in Europe: Theological and Intercultural Dimensions Theo A. Boer: Palliative Sedation: An Exploration from a Christian Ethical Point of View Arslan Karagül: Islamic Care Ethics between Law and Conscience Mostafa Salem: The Islamic Legal System vis‐à‐vis Euthanasia and Organ Transplantation Arend Soeteman: The Right to Moral Independence and its Meaning for Medical Issues Petra Verdonk and Hendrik M. Vroom: Observations and Comparisons Index of Subjects Index of Names Contributors

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