Bioethics beyond the headlines : who lives? who dies? who decides? /

This book succeeds as both a primer in bioethics and a prime to further exploration by the curious and concerned, an endeavor assisted by excellent topical lists of sources. Further, the book broadens the scope of traditional bioethics discussions by including cultural bioethics, animal ethics, and environmental ethics. Jonsen (emer., Univ. of Washington School of Medicine) provides a thorough review of numerous issues in bioethics, focusing each chapter on one or two headline cases but then exploring the specific topic broadly but in surprising depth. Under "Clinical Bioethics," Jonsen explores "defining death," forgoing life support, euthanasia, organ transplants, assisted reproduction, and abortion. Under "Scientific Bioethics," he looks at research with humans, genetics, neuroscience, cloning, and stem cell research. The final section, "The Wider World of Bioethics," includes topics such as animals in research and genetically engineered crops. This work offers overviews of various ethical positions underpinning bioethics discussions; includes the appendixes "Precis of Moral Philosophy," "Precis of History of Medical Ethics," and "The Frankenstein Analogy"; and discusses important policy statements. It provides a finely grained and clearly informative view of bioethics. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. All levels. J. A. Kegley California State University, Bakersfield