Description
Book SynopsisThat is, the public was reassured by bioethical oversight of biomedicine; in reality, however, bioethicists belonged to the same mainstream that produced the doctors and researchers whom the bioethicists were guiding.
Trade ReviewUltimately, the innovations and court decisions most associated with bioethics, Stevens shows, were less rooted in concern about the abuse of patients than in researchers' and biomedical institutions' desires for the freedom to pursue new medical technologies and their need for protection from legal liability. Bioethics has served more as a 'midwife' to new medical research and technologies than as a critic. These findings should concern all of us. Steven's critical analysis of bioethics is a valuable revision. -- Leslie J. Reagan American Historical Review An interesting and provocative book, well worth reading for the issues it raises as well as for the historical analysis of the bioethics movement. -- Audrey K. Gordon Perspectives in Biology and Medicine Bioethics in America merits our attention. It will encourage additional reflection on the sources and meaning of the rise of this new profession dedicated to moral arbitration. -- Raymond DeVries Journal of American History Stevens has a pithy prose style and a healthy willingness to challenge received wisdom. -- Robert Baker, Ph.D Journal of the History of Medicine A major contribution to the history of bioethics. Choice
Table of ContentsContents: Prologue The Tradition of AmbivalenceChapter One The Culture of Post-atomic AmbivalenceChapter Two "Leaders of Leaders": The Hastings Center, 1969 to the PresentChapter Three Redefining Death in America, 1968Chapter Four "Sleeping Beauty": Karen Ann Quinlan and the Rise of Bioethics in AmericaEpilogue Conclusion and Outlook
