Review by Choice Review
The advent of a paradigm shift is best seen retrospectively unless the initial voices are so powerful they command our attention in that way. Devettere starts with: "This book offers an alternative approach to health care ethics ..." and then fulfills this promise most adequately. This is both a thorough resource and an ideal course book on medical ethics. The work is deeply philosophic and eminently pragmatic. The leading disputations of our era and the principal judicial dilemmas are well vetted. All relevant aspects of medical practice in the post modern world are discussed in cogent and logical terms. The writing is lucid and direct. The structure of the book is progressive and well laid out. Recent examples are compelling, including fraudulent medical experiments, e.g., the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study. Seemingly impossible situations like that of Baby K, Karen Quinlan, and Nancy Cruzan are fully examined along with many others less well known. Most books on medical ethics are based on ethical theories emphasizing obligation and duty; this one redresses a very old position, prudent reasoning, as more realistic and pragmatic. Although doctrinal purists will not agree, the argument is satisfying, and over time this book will be the basis for constructive change in medical ethics. Upper-division undergraduate through professional. D. R. Shanklin University of Chicago
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
