Reconceiving Medical Ethics

Exploring alternative approaches to medical ethics emerging from the latest research in a broad range of philosophical disciplines and traditions, Reconceiving Medical Ethics brings together an international team of leading scholars to explore some of the most important topics in the field. Drawing on insights from Continental, Feminist and Religious thought that are often neglected in discussions of the field, the book takes as its focus a philosophical exploration of the doctor-patient relationship that lies at the heart of any consideration of medical ethics. From this starting point the book goes on to consider such important subjects as attitudes to the body, informed consent, paternalism and the role of the law in medicine. Including discussion of case studies in each chapter, Reconceiving Medical Ethics opens up new avenues for discussion of this crucial topic in practical ethics today.

Contributors \ Introduction Christopher Cowley \ Part I. The suffering patient, the suffering body \ 1. The body: property, commodity or gift? Alastair V. Campbell \ 2. Ricœur's medical ethics: the encounter between the physician and the patient Gaëlle Fiasse \ 3.Bringing the lived body to medical ethics evaluation: learning to see the suffering other Kristin Zeiler \ Part II. When high-tech medicine fails: old age, dying, and mental illness \ 4. Old age and dependency Eric Matthews \ 5. An ethical enquiry into the concept of palliative care Rien Janssens and Guy Widdershoven \ 6. Mental illness and medical ethics: Insights from Heidegger and Values-Based Medicine Steve Ramplin and Julian C. Hughes \ 7. Depression, physician-assisted suicide and the Dutch Chabot case Christopher Cowley \ Part III. Autonomy and autonomous decision-making \ 8. Autonomy: presumptively precluding consequentialism in medical ethics D.K. Levy \ 9. Respecting patients' religious beliefs David Albert Jones \ 10. Luck and risk in medicine Nafsika Athanassoulis and Allison Ross \ 11. The lay patient and genetic illness Ruth Stirton \ Part IV. The law, the profession and ethics \ 12.Law at the limits at the limits of life? Richard Huxtable \ 13. Bringing the profession into disrepute - an ethical or legal issue? Cliona McGovern \ 14. Conscientious objection in medicine Mark Wicclair \ 15. Clinical and ethical judgement Julian C. Hughes and Steve Ramplin \ Notes \ Bibliography \ Index