Well and Good presents a combination of "classic" and little-known but real-life cases.  Included are a range of cases involving nurses and other health professionals as well as many involving doctors. The cases in the main body of the book are accompanied by the editors' impartial discussions of the issues involved. The final section is comprised of unanalysed cases for further study.

For the new edition, the introduction has been expanded to include discussions of feminist bioethics and of virtue ethics, alongside the Kantian, Rossian and utilitarian frameworks discussed in previous editions. Most of the existing cases have been updated to reflect these additional foci, and four analysed cases have been added.  Several cases have been added to the group of unanalysed cases, which now includes questions for discussion. Among cases new to this edition are the "mercy killing" case of Robert Latimer, the assisted suicide of Sue Rodriguez, the pregnancy solvent-abuse case of Ms. G., and a case involving sex-selection and abortion on gender grounds.

Comments:

"superb...wide in scope but concrete in the way it grapples with these problems. It illuminates both the moral and the technical aspects of the field." - Daniel Callahan, Hastings Center

 "There are so few books like this...very helpful in showing how ethical theory can be applied in real life." - Mary Bockover, University of California, Santa Barbara

 "Well and Good covers a diverse range of issues using medically detailed cases. I particularly like how it addresses clinic and home settings as well as hospitals." - Connie Perry, Allegheny University of the Heath Sciences

 "Many of the cases hit on the crucial issues in an illuminating way; I will adopt this book for my students." - Nancy Matchett, University of Maryland

Special Combined Price: Please note that a special discount price is available when this book is ordered shrinkwrapped together with Readings in Health Care Ethics.

Wilfrid Waluchow is a professor in the Philosophy Department at McMaster University. His other works include Inclusive Legal Positivism (OUP); John Thomas, one of Canada's leading bioethicists, died in 1997.

Table of Contents: [Back to Top]

Preface to the Third Edition
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Ethical Resources for Decision-Making

1. Moral Philosophy
2. Morality versus Ethics
3. Levels of Moral Response
4. A Variety of Perspectives
5. Some Basic Concepts
6. Five Ethical Theories
7. The Language of Rights
8. Concluding Thoughts

Chapters

1. The Doctor-Patient Relationship
   1. When Physician and Family Disagree
   2. Prescribing Birth Control to Minors
2. Fetal Rights?
   1. When a couple Disagrees Over Abortion
   2. The Role of Chantal Daigle's Boyfriend in Her Abortion Decision
   3. Protecting an "Unborn Child": The Case of Ms. G.
3. Pre-Natal Screening and Non-Treatment of "Mentally Disabled" Newborn Infants
   1. Should Fetuses with "Milder" Defects be Aborted?
   2. Should Treatment be Withheld from Patients with Severe Mental Disabilities?
4. Medical Intrusion into Human Reproduction
   1. Difficulties With Therapeutic Donor Insemination
   2. The Legality and Morality of Surrogate Motherhood
5. Research Involving Human Subjects
   1. Using Infants in Medical Research Projects
   2. Research Involving Alzheimer Patients
6. Mental Illness
   1. Non-Consensual Electro-Convulsive Shock Therapy
   2. Discontinuing Forced Feeding of an Anorexia Nervosa Patient
7. Esoteric Medicine
   1. A Baboon Heart for Baby Fae
   2. Did Family Instability Warrant Non-Treatment of Baby Jesse?
   3. A Jarvik-7 Heart: Experimentation or Therapy?
8. Death, Dying and Euthanasia
   1. "Don't Let My Mother Die"
   2. "Please Let Me Die"
   3. Sue Rodriguez: "Please Help Me to Die"
   4. Tracy and Robert Latimer: "It Was Right For Me to Kill My Daughter"
   5. The Brain Dead as Teaching Materials
   6. Religious Conflict Over a Life-Saving Blood Transfusion
9. Scarce Medical Resources
   1. Dialysis Machine Shortages: Who Shall Live?
   2. Budget Cutting in Neonatology and Perinatology
10. Organ and Tissue Donation
    1. Anencephalic Infants as Donors
    2. Fetal Tissue Transplantation
11. AIDS
    1. Fear of Contracting AIDS in a Community College
    2. Canada's Tainted Blood Scandal
12. Unanalysed Cases and Questions for Further Study
    1. Should Cattle Prods be Used to Correct Self-Destructive Behavior?
    2. Stephen Dawson: Should Severely Retarded Patients be Treated?
    3. Ought We to Save Mother or Child?
    4. Should Patients be Informed of Remote Risks of Procedures?
    5. Whistle Blowing on Hepatitis B Carriers
    6. Minors as Organ Donors
    7. Failed Contraception, Genetic Defect, and Parental Conflict
    8. Sex Selection for Non-Medical Reasons
    9. To Resuscitate or Not to Resuscitate
    10. CPR and a Nurse's Responsibility
    11. CPR and a Nurse's Responsibility 2
    12. "Please Don't Tell My Husband He Has Cancer"
    13. "Don't Start the Respirator"
    14. Queue-Jumping in the OR
    15. An "Over-the-Hill" Surgeon

Index