The Basics of Bioethics

by Robert M. Veatch, Laura Guidry-Grimes

The Basics of Bioethics, Fourth Edition offers an easy-to-follow introduction to this dynamic field, intended for healthcare professionals, teachers, students, and anyone interested in bioethics. Accessible and enjoyable for readers of all backgrounds, the book contains numerous cases--including ones that recently have dominated international headlines--to help anchor the broader discussion. The text is suitable for use in short courses in schools of medicine, nursing, and other health professions; continuing professional education; various undergraduate departments; and adult education. Chapters are organized around common moral themes in order to help readers understand the values and other connections that tie together different positions in bioethics. This fourth edition adds a new chapter on alternative frameworks in bioethics, including narrative ethics and casuistry, feminist approaches, care ethics, and virtue ethics. Due to significant advances in genetics and reproductive possibilities, this new edition devotes a full chapter to each. The combined teaching, research, and clinical experience of the two authors helps make this edition current with the evolving field of bioethics, while still embedding the major issues in a systematic framework that allows readers easily to navigate the larger field.



Key Changes to the Fourth Edition:
- An added chapter on new and emerging approaches in bioethics, including those based on virtue ethics, casuistry and narrative ethics, feminist ethics, and care ethics
- Updates throughout the book based on developments in ethical theory and new medical research
- Revisions and updates to the Learning Objectives, Key Terms, Bibliographies, and URLs
- The addition of multiple recent case studies, including:




Jahi McMath



an undocumented patient who needs a rule bent



a pediatrician who turns away unvaccinated patients



a minor eligible for pediatric bariatric surgery



a daughter suing a hospital for non-disclosure of her father's Huntington's diagnosis



CRISPR-edited newborn babies

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Science, Medicine, Textbooks

296 pages, Paperback

First published November 11, 1999

Reviews

[Carly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't express how much I've enjoyed being in the class that this book is required for. I feel like I've learned new viewpoints to different discussions and I've really learned that a lot of situations are not black and white, but fall into a grey area that can be hard to address. I thought I had concrete ideas about certain topics before the class, vaccinations, abortion, death with dignity, but the class really helped challenge my held ideals and learn more about opposing positions.

I thought this was a great intro book for introducing the concepts and ethical principles with their applications in bioethics. It wasn't a difficult book to read and I found the content to be interesting, much unlike various other books I have been assigned this term. Some terms take a few times of reading over to understand the meaning, but other than that it is actually very entertaining.

[Aidan Gibson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Damn bro get a proofreader next time lol

Half a brain cell would be nice too xoxo

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I think) this is a solid, brief introduction to bioethics. It explains the difficulties the field has encountered between highly theoretical ethics (metaethics) and highly practical ethics (cases and casuistry), and that the resolution of the difficulty appears to be that before adopting a particular ethic, it needs to be run through all levels to see how it operates and how it challenges other accepted ethical thinking or practice.

(I believe) I'm beginning to understand how social considerations may be ethical considerations, although it is difficult to leave ethics that focus solely on the individual behind. Weighing individual duties and rights against society is clearly challenging (and part of what the healthcare debate is about).

This book also provided a place for me to think about how we make trade-offs between values on a constant basis. Our well-being is about maximizing that trade-off. Some do it well and some do it poorly. This is also a part of the healthcare debate, but on a social level--how does society make value trade-offs between health and other goods? (I guess) I'll have a whole career to consider these questions further...

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to prepare for medical school interviews, and it was a great help in introducing me to a vast range of issues grouped under medical ethics. It started off with the levels of moral discourse, explaining the theoretical aspect of discussing ethics, and then went on to discuss the Hippocratic Oath, including its variations and objections to the Oath. It also presented the various viewpoints in a systematic manner, discussing consequentialist (beneficence and non-maleficence) and duty-based principles on both an individual and a social level, and illustrated how different priorities might conflict with one another. The book also covered a range of specific modern-day ethical issues, from death, abortion and advance directives to birth technologies on the other end of the spectrum of life. It then attempted to show ways that conflicts might be resolved, through a mixture of balancing and ranking priorities.

This is The Basics of Bioethics and so it would be unreasonable to expect an in-depth coverage of ethical issues, but it is an excellent and orderly introduction to the differing viewpoints in bioethics, and it is for the most part quite objective as well.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first time I've read/been taught ethics that came off completely unbiased. It was amazing. Even on topics that were very iffy like abortion, I was waiting for him to cross the line...but he maintained his balance on the fence. I'm incredibly impressed.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic introduction to bioethics from a trailblazer in the field. He covers both the accepted principles and the major controversies in a succinct fashion. This is definitely a textbook, but it reads very easily, and the liberal use of case studies brings the controversies to life.

[Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. So far the most comprehensive book on bioethics I ever read.