| Description |
x, 291 pages ; 25 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Summary |
American law, not philosophy or medicine, is the major force shaping American bioethics. This is both because law at its best fosters individual rights, equality, and justice, and because violation of the legal duty or "standard of care" a physician owes a patient can lead to a malpractice suit. The law has therefore had two conflicting impacts on medical ethics: the positive effect of eroding paternalism and replacing it with a patient-centered ethic; and the negative effect of encouraging physicians to be more concerned with avoiding litigation than doing the "right" thing. Standard of Care explores the fundamental value conflicts confronting medicine and society by examining courtroom resolutions of real bioethical disputes, often of constitutional dimension. This case-based approach, which ranges from abortion to euthanasia, from AIDS to organ transplantation, from genetic research to the artificial heart and rationing, illuminates the value choices with which the power (and impotence) of medicine confronts us. George Annas urges health care professionals to go beyond the minimalist legal "standard of care" by promoting a vigorous, patient-centered medical ethics based on respect for human rights and responsibility to both patients and society. If modern medicine is to enhance human life, a reconceptualization of law as the beginning of ethical discourse, rather than as an instrument to end it, is essential. Such a discourse could enrich all our lives by helping us to articulate both a national and international agenda for human rights in health. |
| Contents |
I. The U.S. Constitution and Bioethics. 1. Brave New Medicine: Restricting Doctor-Patient Conversations. 2. Trend Surfing: The War on Drugs and Prisoners. 3. She's Going to Die: The Tragedy of Angela Carder. 4. The Supreme Court, Privacy, and Abortion. 5. The Short, Happy Life of Commercial Surrogacy. 6. A French Homunculus in a Tennessee Court. 7. The Insane Root Takes Reason Prisoner: The Supreme Court and the Right to Die. 8. In Thunder, Lightning, or in Rain: In the Laboratory of the States -- II. Private Sector Bioethics. 9. Not Saints but Healers: Legal Duties of Physicians in the AIDS Epidemic. 10. Faith (Healing), Hope, and Charity at the FDA: The Politics of AIDS Drug Trials. 11. Mapping the Human Genome and the Meaning of Monster Mythology. 12. Outrageous Fortune: Selling Other People's Cells -- III. Public Sector Bioethics. 13. The Politics of Fetal Tissue Transplants. 14. From Canada with Love: Death and Organ Donation. 15. Death and the Magic Machine: Consent to the Artificial Heart. |
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16. Rationing Medical Care. 17. Minerva v. National Health Agency, 53 U.S. 2d 333 (2020). 18. Siamese Twins: Killing One to Save the Other. 19. Killing Machines. 20. Health Law and Bioethics at the Millennium: Concluding Thoughts and a Proposal. |
| Subject |
Medical laws and legislation -- United States.
|
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Bioethics -- United States.
|
| Indexed Term |
Medicine Law |
|
United States |
| Subject |
Ethics, Medical -- United States.
|
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Legislation, Medical -- United States.
|
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Bioethics -- United States.
|
| ISBN |
0195072472 alkaline paper |
|
9780195072471 alkaline paper |
|
