In recent years concerns over the use of results of scientific advances, expectations about how medical decisions are made, and demographic changes have raised ethical questions about how resources are allocated, and how the principles of beneficence, and respect for patient autonomy are applied. The effect that bioethics can have on policy decisions and health care delivery demand an enhanced approach to our understanding of such complex issues. This volume opens a window to how empirical social research can be used to illuminate and answer such quandaries and offers a practical resource for those wishing to engage in this type of research. Through a thorough look at both quantitative and qualitative methods utilized in key research investigations in bioethics, the book examines the impact of such investigations on clinical and policy decision-making, scholarship and on the advancement of theory. The varied sociological and anthropological research examples that are presented allow readers to better understand the richness and breadth of such work as well as relevant practical and theoretical approaches.
Last, but not least, our aim with this book is to stimulate further discussion of avenues toward a more solid integration of bioethics and empirical social research and, in that process, further our understanding of the complex bioethical environment surrounding us.
PracticalOffers insights into clinical and policy implications of empirical research
In-depthEnhances understanding of methodologies as applied to bioethics
Comprehensive--Gives a range of examples of empirical bioethics studies
InterdisciplinaryGeared to a wide audience
Reference sourceincludes a largenumber of references

Solving intractable biotechnological questions of evolution, medicine, and genetics is now easier due to methods permitting the rapid analysis of molecular sequence data. These advances have exposed ethical and policy concerns. How would genomic information be used and by whom? Should individuals be able to make decisions regarding their own genomic data? How accurate are these genetic tests and how should they be regulated? These and other ethical conundrums are the subject of this book. Bioethicists, biomedical policy experts and lawyers, physicians, nursing and allied health students as well as science educators will find this book helpful and engaging in exploring the complexities of modern evolutionary, genetic and biomedical data.

Solving intractable biotechnological questions of evolution, medicine, and genetics is now easier due to methods permitting the rapid analysis of molecular sequence data. These advances have exposed ethical and policy concerns. How would genomic information be used and by whom? Should individuals be able to make decisions regarding their own genomic data? How accurate are these genetic tests and how should they be regulated? These and other ethical conundrums are the subject of this book. Bioethicists, biomedical policy experts and lawyers, physicians, nursing and allied health students as well as science educators will find this book helpful and engaging in exploring the complexities of modern evolutionary, genetic and biomedical data.

As the demand for organs continues to outstrip availability and waiting lists surge, the pressure to make morally questionable, unethical decisions becomes more likely and trust in transplant medicine starts to erode. Medical ethics expert and former health professional, Trevor Stammers, analyses the complex ethical web that constitutes the worldwide exchange of organs and tissues. Key philosophical questions concerning existence, consciousness, the nature of death and the right to life connect organ donation and transplantation to real-life case studies exploring difficulties with the 'dead donor rule' for deceased donation, organ donation euthanasia, xenotransplantation and the creation of organoids and 'organs-on-chips', alongside examples of human trafficking and systematic state murder to provide organs. Controversial cases from Japan, Germany, USA and Singapore are examined alongside the Spanish, Welsh, and Chilean experience of deceased donation opt-out schemes to highlight the variety of threats and challenges to public trust in transplant medicine. Charting these examples provides valuable material for debates and discussions in the philosophy of medicine and medical ethics more generally. Stammers suggests viable alternatives to current ethical failings by focusing on the moral arguments that define public trust, moving the debate on transplant ethics in vital new directions.

Having children is probably as old as the first successful organism. It is often done thoughtlessly. This book is an argument for giving procreating some serious thought, and a theory of how, when, and why procreation may be permissible. procreative ethics, procreation itself is often done Rivka Weinberg begins with an analysis of the kind of act procreativity is and why we might be justifiably motivated to engage in it. She then proceeds to argue that, by virtue of our ownership and control of the hazardous material that is our gametes, we are parentally responsible for the risks we take with our gametes and for the persons that develop when we engage in activity that allows our gametes to unite with others and develop into persons. Further argument establishes that when done respectfully, and in cases where the child's chances of leading a life of human flourishing are high, procreation may be permissible. procreating some serious thought, and a theory of how, when, Along the way, Weinberg argues that the non-identity problem is a curiously common mistake. Arguments intending to show that procreation is impermissible because life is bad for people and imposed on them without their consent are shown to have serious flaws. Yet because they leave us with lingering concerns, Weinberg argues that although procreation is permissible under certain conditions, it is not only a welfare risk but also a moral risk. Still, it is a risk that is often permissible for us to take and impose, given our high level of legitimate interest in procreativity. In order to ascertain when the procreative risk is permissible to impose, contractualist principles are proposed to fairly attend to the interests prospective parents have in procreating and the interests future people have in a life of human flourishing. The principles are assessed on their own merits and in comparison with rival principles. They are then applied to a wide variety of procreative cases.

Countless public health agencies are trying to solve our most intractable public health problems - among them, the obesity and opioid epidemics - by partnering with corporations responsible for creating or exacerbating those problems. We are told industry must be part of the solution. But is it time to challenge the partnership paradigm and the popular narratives that sustain it? In The Perils of Partnership, Jonathan H. Marks argues that public-private partnerships and multi-stakeholder initiatives create "webs of influence" that undermine the integrity of public health agencies; distort public health research and policy; and reinforce the framing of public health problems and their solutions in ways that are least threatening to the commercial interests of corporate "partners". We should expect multinational corporations to develop strategies of influence - but public bodies can and should develop counter-strategies to insulate themselves from corporate influence in all its forms. Marks reviews the norms that regulate public-public interactions (separation of powers) and private-private interactions (antitrust and competition law), and argues for an analogous set of norms to govern public-private interactions. He also offers a novel framework to help public bodies identify the systemic ethical implications of their current or proposed relationships with industry actors. Marks makes a compelling case that the default public-private interaction should be at arm's length: separation, not collaboration. He calls for a new paradigm that avoids the perils of corporate influence and more effectively protects and promotes public health. The Perils of Partnership is essential reading for public health officials and policymakers - but anyone interested in public health will recognize the urgency of this book.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Personal autonomy is often lauded as a key value in contemporary Western bioethics. Though the claim that there is an important relationship between autonomy and rationality is often treated as uncontroversial in this sphere, there is also considerable disagreement about how we should cash out the relationship. In particular, it is unclear whether a rationalist view of autonomy can be compatible with legal judgments that enshrine a patient's right to refuse medical treatment, regardless of whether the reasons underpinning the choice are known and rational, or indeed whether they even exist. Jonathan Pugh brings recent philosophical work on the nature of rationality to bear on the question of how we should understand personal autonomy in contemporary bioethics. In doing so, he develops a new framework for thinking about the concept of autonomy, one that is grounded in an understanding of the different roles that rational beliefs and rational desires have to play in it. Pugh's account allows for a deeper understanding of d the relationship between our freedom to act and our capacity to decide autonomously. His rationalist perspective is contrasted with other prominent accounts of autonomy in bioethics, and the revisionary implications it has for practical questions in biomedicine are also outlined.

This book serves as an introduction to the concepts of medical biotechnology, with great details about fundamentals and early disciplines of study as well as emerging fields and the latest research. The book follows a chronological order from the earliest discoveries and breakthroughs of medical biotechnology to the latest areas of study. The book contains up-to-date citations for each chapter and section, which makes it easy for the reader to understand the concept and also to follow the latest developments in the particular area. It is an ideal book for undergraduate and graduate students who aspire to derive basic knowledge and are also keen on learning about the latest advancements in the field of medical biotechnology.

Human Embryos and Preimplantation Genetic Technologies: Ethical, Social, and Public Policy Aspects presents the first holistic analysis of PGD and PGS as it is practiced and regulated worldwide. In addition to scientific and technical aspects, the book provides perspectives on the ethical, legal, religious, policy and social implications of global assisted reproduction technologies, including in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Australia. Chapters cover history, ethics, feminism, family dynamics, psychological and interpersonal factors, the current state of PGD and PGS in 20 different sovereign nations and religious communities, and provide an analysis of public policy concerns and future directions.

Over the past decades, public trust in medical professionals has steadily declined. This decline of trust and its replacement by ever tighter regulations is increasingly frustrating physicians. However, most discussions of trust are either abstract philosophical discussions or social science investigations not easily accessible to clinicians. The authors, one a surgeon-turned-philosopher, the other an analytical philosopher working in medical ethics, joined their expertise to write a book which straddles the gap between the practical and theoretical. Using an approach grounded in the methods of conceptual analysis found in analytical philosophy which also draws from approaches to medical diagnosis, the authors have conceived an internally coherent and comprehensive definition of trust to help elucidate the concept and explain its decline in the medical context. This book should appeal to all interested in the ongoing debate about the decline of trust - be it as medical professionals, medical ethicists, medical lawyers, or philosophers.

Research on human beings saves countless lives, but has at times harmed the participants. To what degree then should government regulate science, and how? The horrors of Nazi concentration camp experiments and the egregious Tuskegee syphilis study led the US government, in 1974, to establish Research Ethics Committees, known as Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to oversee research on humans. The US now has over 4,000 IRBs, which examine yearly tens of billions of dollars of research - all studies on people involving diseases, from cancer to autism, and behavior. Yet ethical violations persist. At the same time, critics have increasingly attacked these committees for delaying or blocking important studies. Partly, science is changing, and the current system has not kept up. Since the regulations were first conceived 40 years ago, research has burgeoned 30-fold. Studies often now include not a single university, but multiple institutions, and 40 separate IRBs thus need to approve a single project. One committee might approve a study quickly, while others require major changes, altering the scientific design, and making the comparison of data between sites difficult. Crucial dilemmas thus emerge of whether the current system should be changed, and if so, how. Yet we must first understand the status quo to know how to improve it. Unfortunately, these committees operate behind closed doors, and have received relatively little in-depth investigation. Robert Klitzman thus interviewed 45 IRB leaders and members about how they make decisions. What he heard consistently surprised him. This book reveals what Klitzman learned, providing rare glimpses into the conflicts and complexities these individuals face, defining science, assessing possible future risks and benefits of studies, and deciding how much to trust researchers - illuminating, more broadly, how we view and interpret ethics in our lives today, and perceive and use power. These committees reflect many of the most vital tensions of our time - concerning science and human values, individual freedom, government control, and industry greed. Ultimately, as patients, scientists, or subjects, the decisions of these men and women affect us all.

Reproductive science continues to revolutionise reproduction and propel us further into uncharted territories. The revolution signalled by the birth of Louise Brown after IVF in 1978, prompted governments across Europe and beyond into regulatory action. Forty years on, there are now dramatic and controversial developments in new reproductive technologies. Technologies such as uterus transplantation that may enable unisex gestation and babies gestated by dad; or artificial wombs that will completely divorce reproduction from the human body and allow babies to be gestated by machines, usher in a different set of legal, ethical and social questions to those that arose from IVF. This book revisits the regulation of assisted reproduction and advances the debate on from the now much-discussed issues that arose from IVF, offering a critical analysis of the regulatory challenges raised by new reproductive technologies on the horizon.

The foundations of research ethics are riven with fault lines emanating from a fear that if research is too closely connected to weighty social purposes an imperative to advance the common good through research will justify abrogating the rights and welfare of study participants. The result is an impoverished conception of the nature of research, an incomplete focus on actors who bear important moral responsibilities, and a system of ethics and oversight highly attuned to the dangers of research but largely silent about threats of ineffective, inefficient, and inequitable medical practices and health systems. In For the Common Good: Philosophical Foundations of Research Ethics, Alex John London defends a conception of the common good that grounds a moral imperative with two requirements. The first is to promote research that generates the information necessary to enable key social institutions to effectively, efficiently, and equitably safeguard the basic interests of individuals. The second is to ensure that research is organized as a voluntary scheme of social cooperation that respects its various contributors' moral claims to be treated as free and equal. Connecting research to the goals of a just social order grounds a framework for assessing and managing research risk that reconciles these requirements and justifies key oversight practices in non-paternalistic terms. Reconceiving research ethics as resolving coordination problems and providing credible assurance that these requirements are being met expands the issues and actors that fall within the purview of the field and provides the foundation for a more unified and coherent approach to domestic and international research. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

There are more connections between spirituality and science than you might think... In 2004, biologist Dee Denver heard the Dalai Lama speak in Bloomington, Indiana. The famous Tibetan monk's speech that day exposed him to the centrality of impermanence in Buddhist thinking, a topic that directly connected to his mutation research in evolutionary biology. He left the event shocked and startled by the unexpected parallels between Buddhism and biology. This experience is not wholly unique to Denver. Spirituality and science are two inherently humane ways to approach our world. Why shouldn't more people look at them in tandem? In this book, Denver shares Buddhist ideas and the tradition's colonial and more recent interactions with biology. He then applies the scientific method to Buddhist principles and draws connections between Buddhist ideas and current research in biology. In doing this, he proposes a new approach to science, Bodhi science, that integrates Buddhist teachings and ethical frameworks. Denver's research supports a connected synergy between biological and Buddhist thinking. This scientific approach to Buddhism offers strong evidence supporting the validity of fundamentally Buddhist principles and logic. The book builds on historical evidence from Sri Lanka, Japan, and Tibetan Buddhism to illustrate these connections.

Emerging medical technologies are changing our views on human nature and what it means to be alive, healthy, and leading a good life. Reproductive technologies, genetic diagnosis, organ transplantation, and psychopharmacological drugs all raise existential questions that need to be tackled by way of philosophical analysis. Yet questions regarding the meaning of life have been strangely absent from medical ethics so far. This book brings phenomenology, the main player in the continental tradition of philosophy, to bioethics, and it does so in a comprehensive and clear manner. Starting out by analysing illness as an embodied, contextualized, and narrated experience, the book addresses the role of empathy, dialogue, and interpretation in the encounter between health-care professional and patient. Medical science and emerging technologies are then brought to scrutiny as endeavours that bring enormous possibilities in relieving human suffering but also great risks in transforming our fundamental life views. How are we to understand and deal with attempts to change the predicaments of coming to life and the possibilities of becoming better than well or even, eventually, surviving death? This is the first book to bring the phenomenological tradition, including philosophers such as Martin Heidegger, Edith Stein, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Paul Sartre, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur, Hans Jonas, and Charles Taylor, to answer such burning questions.

The Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, 2005, marked a significant step towards the recognition of universal standards in the field of science and medicine. This book provides an overview of the ethical and legal developments which have occurred in the field of bioethics and human rights since then. The work critically analyzes the Declaration from an ethical and legal perspective, commenting on its implementation, and discussing the role of non-binding norms in international bioethics. The authors examine whether the Declaration has contributed to the understanding of universal or global bioethics, and to what degree states have implemented the principles in their domestic legislation. The volume explores the currency of the Declaration vis-a-vis the more recent developments in technology and medicine and looks ahead to envisage the major bioethical challenges of the next twenty years. In this context, the book offers a comprehensive ethical and legal study of the Declaration with an in-depth analysis of the meaning of the provisions, in order to clarify the extension of human rights in the field of medicine and the obligations incumbent upon UNESCO member States, with reference to their implementation practice.

Most people believe that parents have moral rights and responsibilities regarding their children. These rights and responsibilities undergird the nuclear family and are essential to the flourishing of its members. However, their basis and contents are hotly contested. Do a child's genetic parents have a right to parent her? The importance of genetic ties is affirmed by many people's gut responses, everyday talk, and many court decisions, but the moral justification for tying parenthood rights to genetics is unclear. Parents are routinely permitted to make far-reaching decisions about their children's medical care, education, religious practice, and even how to punish them. When can parental rights be limited by the interests of the child or society? Matters are no more settled when it comes to parental responsibilities. It is commonly thought that if a man conceives a child through voluntary sexual intercourse he acquires parental responsibilities, even if he took every precaution against conception. On the other hand, sperm donors are widelythough not universallythought to have no responsibilities towards their progeny. What is the basis for these disparate judgments? Parents are expected to do a lot for their children as they raise them. But there are surely limits. Sometimes parents have to balance the needs of multiple family members or just want to have time for themselves. What is the extent of their parental responsibilities? In The Moral Foundations of Parenthood, Joseph Millum provides a philosophical account of moral parenthood. He explains how parental rights and responsibilities are acquired, what those rights and responsibilities consist in, and how parents should go about making decisions on behalf of their children. In doing so, he provides a set of frameworks to help solve pressing ethical dilemmas relating to parents and children.

Everyone has a view about animal ethics. Each of us, for example, has an opinion about whether we should eat meat; whether animals should be used for scientific research, or whether the use of animals in sport is acceptable. But very few of us stop to wonder about the basis of our views, or to rationalise them. In this book, Madeleine Campbell aims to enable us to do so, by addressing a series of questions such as `When does animal use become abuse?'; `Why do we treat some animals differently from others?'; `Are there some things which we should never do to animals?', and `Just because we can, should we?'. Drawing on her experience as a Veterinarian; a European Diplomate in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law; a researcher and teacher, the author takes ethical argument beyond academia and applies it to the question which currently dominates societal debate about human-animal interactions: what (if anything) is a reasonable use of an animal? Animals, Ethics, and Us offers a stripped back, balanced and moderate perspective, based on logical argument, philosophical principles and sound science. It is a thought-provoking read aimed at a broad readership including informed owners and animal enthusiasts, as well as useful a primer for students of animal ethics, welfare and veterinary medicine.

Since the therapeutic value of umbilical cord blood (UCB) stem cells was first recognised in the late 1980s, there has been a proliferation of both public and private UCB banks worldwide. However, the ability to utilise such a potentially valuable resource has provoked a number of controversies. In a distinctly accessible style, this book unpacks the socio-legal implications of the UCB collection process and constructs a detailed analysis of the law and ethics that surrounds UCB banking in the UK, including ownership of the cells. Its enquiry is located within the theoretical framework of altruism versus self-interest and explores the notions of risk and choice associated with this distinctive blend of public/private healthcare provision. The book evaluates the impact of the Human Tissue Act 2004 and the European Union Tissues and Cells Directive (2004/23/EC) on the UCB industry and provides a unique insight into the effect that the law may have on the NHS whose maternity staff and premises are used to collect UCB. This book would be of interest primarily to a UK readership in addition to expectant families, health professionals, students, academics, practitioners and the UCB industry elsewhere in the world.

Human Dignity in Bioethics brings together a collection of essays that rigorously examine the concept of human dignity from its metaphysical foundations to its polemical deployment in bioethical controversies. The volume falls into three parts, beginning with meta-level perspectives and moving to concrete applications. Part 1 analyzes human dignity through a worldview lens, exploring the source and meaning of human dignity from naturalist, postmodernist, Protestant, and Catholic vantages, respectively, letting each side explain and defend its own conception. Part 2 moves from metaphysical moorings to key areas of macro-level influence: international politics, American law, and biological science. These chapters examine the legitimacy of the concept of dignity in documents by international political bodies, the role of dignity in American jurisprudence, and the implications-and challenges-for dignity posed by Darwinism. Part 3 shifts from macro-level topics to concrete applications by examining the rhetoric of human dignity in specific controversies: embryonic stem cell research, abortion, human-animal chimeras, euthanasia and palliative care, psychotropic drugs, and assisted reproductive technologies. Each chapter analyzes the rhetorical use of 'human dignity' by opposing camps, assessing the utility of the concept and whether a different concept or approach can be a more productive means of framing or guiding the debate.

Prenatal diagnosis, especially noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT), has changed the experience of pregnancy, prenatal care and responsibilities in Israel and Germany in different ways. These differences reflect the countries' historical legacies, medico-legal policies, normative and cultural identities. Building on this observation, the contributors of this book present conversations between leading scholars from Israel and Germany based on an empirical bioethical perspective, analyses about the reshaping of 'life' by biomedicine, and philosophical reflections on socio-cultural claims and epistemic horizons of responsibilities. Practices and discussions of reproductive medicine transform the concepts of responsibility and irresponsibility.

Situated at the intersection of natural science and philosophy, Our Genes explores historical practices, investigates current trends, and imagines future work in genetic research to answer persistent, political questions about human diversity. Readers are guided through fascinating thought experiments, complex measures and metrics, fundamental evolutionary patterns, and in-depth treatment of exciting case studies. The work culminates in a philosophical rationale, based on scientific evidence, for a moderate position about the explanatory power of genes that is often left unarticulated. Simply put, human evolutionary genomics - our genes - can tell us much about who we are as individuals and as collectives. However, while they convey scientific certainty in the popular imagination, genes cannot answer some of our most important questions. Alternating between an up-close and a zoomed-out focus on genes and genomes, individuals and collectives, species and populations, Our Genes argues that the answers we seek point to rich, necessary work ahead.

Introduction to Bioethics provides a comprehensive and yet concise coverage of the broad field of bioethics, dealing with the scientific, medical, social, religious and, where appropriate, political and international concerns. The book introduces the various modes of ethical thinking and then helps the reader to apply that thinking to issues relating to the environment, to plants and animals and to humans. Written in an accessible manner, Introduction to Bioethics focuses on key issues directly relevant to those studying courses ranging from medicine through to biology and agriculture. Ethical analysis is threaded throughout each chapter and supplementary examples are included to stimulate further thought. In addition there are numerous mini-case studies to aid understanding, together with key references and further reading.

Elizabeth Anscombe is now recognised as one of the most important philosophers of the second half of the 20th century. She left a large corpus of work, wide-ranging in content, always original and bold. Her monograph Intention, published in 1957, is a modern classic, and was described by Donald Davidson as "the most important treatment of action since Aristotle." Her writings in ethics have inspired countless discussions, and she has been credited with having changed the face of Anglophone moral philosophy by reviving and arguing for virtue ethics, now a major field. Since Anscombe's death in 2001, her philosophical work has received a steadily increasing level of attention worldwide. Anscombe is often difficult to read, and she has certainly been frequently misunderstood, but the sympathetic interest in her work which is now evident in so many quarters is making it possible for a true picture to begin to emerge of the range, depth, and power of her contribution to philosophy. The Oxford Handbook of Elizabeth Anscombe conveys something of that emerging picture of Anscombe's overall philosophy-showing the great fecundity of her ideas in essays that develop and expand on those ideas-and allows contributors to engage critically with Anscombe, not merely to expound what she said. The handbook opens with an introduction that addresses the question of the unity in diversity of Anscombe's philosophy, relating this to the twenty-two essays that follow. The handbook is divided into parts along broadly thematic lines, addressing: intention, ethical theory, human life, the first person, and Anscombe on other philosophers.