Bioethics and the Law, Fourth Edition

Bioethics and the Law takes a multidisciplinary approach that combines legal discussion with jurisprudential, philosophical, and sociological materials. Strong expressions of different points of view highlight debates about bioethical issues. The text underscores the need to mediate between the law's focus on broad rules and the bioethicist's concern with context and detail. Students are required to consider the ethical implications of health care as a business, face the shifting parameters of the provider/patient relationship in healthcare, and understand the role of government in designing and implementing healthcare programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. Bioethics and the Law supplements the traditional focus of bioethics on the interest of the individual with a second focus on the socio-economic developments that shape healthcare. Connecting broad public healthcare issues to concerns of the individual patient/healthcare consumer, the text promotes understanding of unsettling and complex situations and shows the implications of bioethical developments for understandings of personhood. A helpful glossary defines basic terms and several short appendices summarize recent developments in science and technology.