Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics

Medicine and health care generate many bioethical problems and dilemmas that are of great academic, professional and public interest. This comprehensive resource is designed as a succinct yet authoritative text and reference for clinicians, bioethicists, and advanced students seeking a better understanding of ethics problems in the clinical setting. Each chapter illustrates an ethical problem that might be encountered in everyday practice; defines the concepts at issue; examines their implications from the perspectives of ethics, law and policy; and then provides a practical resolution. There are 10 key sections presenting the most vital topics and clinically relevant areas of modern bioethics. International, interdisciplinary authorship and cross-cultural orientation ensure suitability for a worldwide audience. This book will assist all clinicians in making well-reasoned and defensible decisions by developing their awareness of ethical considerations and teaching the analytical skills to deal with them effectively.

'This is a comprehensive and carefully designed textbook that will attract many users in the health professions. The chapters, written by a group of distinguished authors, are presented in a format that is well suited to interactive educational use.' Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 'This is a very comprehensive text and very well organised. …the subject is treated from a systematic standpoint, concisely and precisely addressing ethics, law and policy and a practical resolution to the case studies is presented at the beginning of the 65 topics dealt with in separate chapters. … This is a significant achievement and for a rigourous approach to a subject for practitioners and a concise overview of a topic for teachers, this is innovative and successful.' Nursing Ethics, 'The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics achieves something significant - it provides an original and valuable addition to an already crowded marketplace. The list of contributors reads like a Who's Who of bioethics. Many well-respected authors are included and the quality of writing reflects the esteem in which the contributors are held. … The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics is a textbook of the highest standard, with erudite, thoughtful and thought-provoking contributions on 60 topics. … At the end, the reader is left reflecting not only on health care but on what it means to be altruistic, professional, ill, honest, vulnerable, political, dependent and simply human. This is a rare achievement for any book and is why this text is uniquely deserving of a place on even the most crowded bookshelves.' American Medical Association, 'Overall The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics is an invaluable tool for the clinician, student, professor, administrator and patient interested in improving the quality of healthcare in any clinical setting.' Critical Care Medicine, 'The Cambridge Textbook has a clear focus on providing practical guidance … all contributions are easily accessible, given their predefined and clear structure, concise and well referenced. Certainly, these features will make the Cambridge Textbook a greatly appreciated reference for health professionals in all disciplines.' Arthur Caplan

Peter A. Singer is Director Emeritus, University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics; Senior Scientist, McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, University Health Network; and Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto. A. M. Viens is a Senior Scholar at Hertford College, Oxford, and a Doctoral Student in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Oxford.