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Conveys all the core topics emphasising the interplay between medical law and medical ethics in a unique chapter structure.
Medical law and ethics are frequently referred to in conjunction, and appear together in many textbooks. But do they combine to form a cohesive unit, and do they benefit each other? It may be argued that they do not, but rather suffer a symbiotic relationship, clashing rather than cooperating. This book examines this relationship, and how the law sees medical ethics. It then considers whether medical ethics functions in the way that the law thinks that it does. After providing a historical perspective that identifies medical ethics discourse as disjointed and fragmented, the book continues by examining key medico-legal case law and reports that have an inherent ethical content for clues as to how they define medical ethics and its role. It also considers how medical ethics sees the law, concluding that a misapprehension by each party as to what the other does creates a mutually harmful relationship between them.
The book pays interest to a small and almost untouched topic: a health practitioner’ s duty to inform about alternatives. It covers both orthodox medicine practitioners and CAM practitioners. The topic is explored in a co mparative way, examining the laws of not only common law jurisdictions, such as the USA, England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, but also two East Asia jurisdictions ( China and Japan ) . It uses the collective wisdom of several common law jurisdictions, but also differentiates them. It places the issue of “disclosure of alternatives” in a clear and wider context, making a cogent distinction between diagnosis/treatment and information disclosure.
If a pregnant woman refuses medical treatment needed by the fetus - for instance for religious reasons - or conducts some aspect of her life in a way which risks fetal harm, there may arise an instance of "maternal-fetal conflict". This is an unfortunate term, since pregant women are generally renowned for their self-sacrificing behaviour, but it may well reflect the reality of certain maternal choices and actions. Should a pregnant woman have the legal right to refuse medical treatment needed by the fetus, or should she owe it a legal duty of care which precludes her acting in ways which may harm it? Does the debate hinge simply upon the appropriateness, or otherwise, of legally compelling ...
This book celebrates Professor Margaret Brazier’s outstanding contribution to the field of healthcare law and bioethics. It examines key aspects developed in Professor Brazier’s agenda-setting body of work, with contributions being provided by leading experts in the field from the UK, Australia, the US and continental Europe. They examine a range of current and future challenges for healthcare law and bioethics, representing state-of-the-art scholarship in the field. The book is organised into five parts. Part I discusses key principles and themes in healthcare law and bioethics. Part II examines the dynamics of the patient–doctor relationship, in particular the role of patients. Part III explores legal and ethical issues relating to the human body. Part IV discusses the regulation of reproduction, and Part V examines the relationship between the criminal law and the healthcare process. Chapter 10 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 3.0 license.
This book examines the regulation and practice of medical decision-making where the context is that of a multiple pregnancy and where the question is whether or not to carry out a fetal reduction procedure. It concerns three main lines of inquiry: first, the nature of fetal reduction and the legal ground(s) for termination typically relied upon; secondly, the extent to which legal, ethical, and professional norms guide or constrain this particular kind of decision-making; and, thirdly, the adequacy of these norms. The book uses empirical sources to develop its analysis, contributing new insight and the kind of evidence necessary to shape regulation, clinical practice, and future research. Th...
Dementia is a topic of enormous human, medical, economic, legal and ethical importance. Its importance grows as more of us live longer. The legal and ethical problems it raises are complex, intertwined and under-discussed. This book brings together contributions from clinicians, lawyers and ethicists – all of them world leaders in the field of dementia – and is a comprehensive, scholarly yet accessible library of all the main (and many of the fringe) perspectives. It begins with the medical facts: what is dementia? Who gets it? What are the current and future therapeutic and palliative options? What are the main challenges for medical and nursing care? The story is then taken up by the e...
Some developing biotechnologies challenge accepted legal and ethical norms because of the risks they pose. Xenotransplantation (cross-species transplantation) may prolong life but may also harm the xeno-recipient and the public due to its potential to transmit infectious diseases. These trans-boundary diseases emphasise the global nature of advances in health care and highlight the difficulties of identifying, monitoring and regulating such risks and thereby protecting individual and public health. Xenotransplantation raises questions about how uncertainty and risk are understood and accepted, and exposes tensions between private benefit and public health. Where public health is at risk, a precautionary approach informed by the harm principle supports prioritising the latter, but the issues raised by genetically engineered solid organ xenotransplants have not, as yet, been sufficiently discussed. This must occur prior to their clinical introduction because of the necessary changes to accepted norms which are needed to appropriately safeguard individual and public health.
The use of human tissue for medical research and scientific progress raises many ethical and legal challenges. This multi-authored interdisciplinary text provides a fascinating insight into interlinking research perspectives and serves as a comprehensive reference to the state of play ethically and legally in Europe.
Whenever the legitimacy of a new or ethically contentious medical intervention is considered, a range of influences will determine whether the treatment becomes accepted as lawful medical treatment. The development and introduction of abortion, organ donation, gender reassignment, and non-therapeutic cosmetic surgery have, for example, all raised ethical, legal, and clinical issues. This book examines the various factors that legitimatise a medical procedure. Bringing together a range of internationally and nationally recognised academics from law, philosophy, medicine, health, economics, and sociology, the book explores the notion of a treatment, practice, or procedure being proper medical ...