Originally published in 1986, this book examines the extent to which existing ethical theory can provide an adequate framework for the resolution of practical moral issues. The contributors, all leading moral philosophers, provide an authoritative and comprehensive account of developments in ethical theory, with emphasis on issues in applied ethics. They explain the dominant ethical theories, survey major field of applied ethics and speculate about the future of ethics.

Originally published in 1986, this book examines the extent to which existing ethical theory can provide an adequate framework for the resolution of practical moral issues. The contributors, all leading moral philosophers, provide an authoritative and comprehensive account of developments in ethical theory, with emphasis on issues in applied ethics. They explain the dominant ethical theories, survey major field of applied ethics and speculate about the future of ethics.

This vitally important book attempts to move beyond the current death-denying culture. The use of euphemistic and defiant phrases when dealing with terminal disease such as "She lost her battle with cancer" was more appropriate when medical doctors could do little to prolong life. But treatments and technologies have significantly changed. Now life prolonging interventions have outpaced our willingness to use medical intervention to secure patient control over death and dying. We now face a new question: When is it morally appropriate for medical intervention to hasten the dying process? LiPuma and DeMarco answer by endorsing expanded options for dying patients. Unwanted aggressive treatment regimens and protocols which reject hastening death should be replaced by a patient's moral right, in carefully defined circumstances, to hasten death by means of medical intervention. Expanded options range from patient directed continuous sedation without hydration to physician assisted suicide for those with progressive degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's. The authors' overriding goal is to humanize the dying process by expanding patient centered autonomous control.

This vitally important book attempts to move beyond the current death-denying culture. The use of euphemistic and defiant phrases when dealing with terminal disease such as "She lost her battle with cancer" was more appropriate when medical doctors could do little to prolong life. But treatments and technologies have significantly changed. Now life prolonging interventions have outpaced our willingness to use medical intervention to secure patient control over death and dying. We now face a new question: When is it morally appropriate for medical intervention to hasten the dying process? LiPuma and DeMarco answer by endorsing expanded options for dying patients. Unwanted aggressive treatment regimens and protocols which reject hastening death should be replaced by a patient's moral right, in carefully defined circumstances, to hasten death by means of medical intervention. Expanded options range from patient directed continuous sedation without hydration to physician assisted suicide for those with progressive degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's. The authors' overriding goal is to humanize the dying process by expanding patient centered autonomous control.

Too often, discussions of ethical issues in health care and medicine are detached from the legal contexts which guide the practice of health care providers. In this book, Gary Jones and Joseph DeMarco aim to connect ethical theory, medicine, and the law, guiding readers toward a practical and legally-grounded understanding of the issues. While health care law is not always in the right, an understanding of laws and legal precedents, and of the reasoning behind them, can help us to participate in discussion of policy and to address current legal rights as well as complex ethical questions as they arise during health care provision. This book is uniquely up-to-date in its discussion of health care law, and unpacks the complex web of American policies, including the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, so as to make it intelligible to those without legal expertise. Bioethics in Context covers a wide range of topics, including: appropriate measures one should take to obtain informed consent and to protect patient privacy, dealing with patients who exhibit signs of mental illness, responding to sensitive cultural and religious concerns, and balancing the needs of medical researchers with those of patients participating in clinical trials. Useful case studies and examples are embedded throughout, and a companion website offers a thorough curated database of relevant legal precedents as well as additional case studies and other resources.