Encyclopedia of bioethics /

The third edition of this landmark reference work extends its role in defining, shaping, and documenting the field of bioethics. Like its predecessors (CH, Nov'79; Oct'95), it widens the boundaries of intellectual and professional concern and investigation and will stimulate academic discourse and steer professional practice and public policy, especially regarding issues of emerging biotechnologies and changes in health care delivery. Post admirably builds on the achievement of Warren T. Reich, editor of the first two editions, adding more than 110 new topics, assigning entirely new articles for over 100 previous topics, and requiring thorough updating of remaining entries. Half the third edition is entirely new and the remainder deeply revised to address new voices, biotechnological development, and the expansion of bioethics. Its more than 450 lengthy entries for each topic integrate historical background, ethical theory, current issues, comparative cultural and religious perspectives, public policy, professional practice trends, and future implications. Prepared by established experts, the articles are definitive, current, and informed by a broadening of international cultural perspectives. Many new themes group around two concerns: "posthumanism" (fundamental alteration of what it means to be human) and the "business" of health care. New articles appear on cloning, cybernetics, stem cell research and therapy, human gene transfer, nanotechnology, and transhumanism, and, concerning the business of health care, on corporate compliance, health services management ethics, managed care, private ownership of inventions, profit, and commercialism. New entries reflecting current concerns treat bioterrorism, dementia, medical mistakes, and expanding religious viewpoints (new entries on bioethical thought in Daoism and Mormonism). The "Cloning" entry illustrates the entries' multidimensional nature: nearly 20 pages long, it covers the scientific background, variability in "identical" clones, potential applications, therapeutic uses, characteristics of cloned animals, use of cloning in human reproduction, and religious perspectives from Judaism, Christianity, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Buddhism. All entries supply useful selected bibliographies and see also references. The appendix "Codes, Oaths, and Directives" (nearly 300 pages) reproduces recent documents like AMA's updated Current Opinions of the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, which addresses more than 175 ethical issues. Other appendixes supply key legal cases, governmental and professional bioethics organizations, and a bibliography of literature and medicine. The editor includes Web addresses in the bibliographies and in appendixes. Appropriate for undergraduates, graduate students, scholars, practitioners, and public policy makers, this extraordinary encyclopedia reflects and influences a dynamic field, will increase in value and importance, and is priced reasonably; even libraries holding previous editions should acquire it. ^BSumming Up: Essential. Academic, medical, and large public libraries. J. A. Adams-Volpe University at Buffalo, SUNY

When the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Bioethics0 appeared in 1978, the discipline was new and relatively undefined. The second edition, in 1995, kept pace with the rapid changes in the field. Continuing advances in biological and medical research have created the need for yet another edition. Bioethics has become a recognized field, "the interdisciplinary examination of the moral and ethical dimensions of human conduct in the areas of life sciences and health care." With such a broad, rapidly changing subject area to cover, editor Post (Department of Bioethics, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University) has assembled an international group of more than 500 scholars from 18 major disciplines-- behavioral sciences, medicine, economics, ecology, philosophy, religion, and so on--to write 448 articles. The third edition has 120 new articles, among them Artificial nutrition and hydration, Bioterrorism, Cloning, Cybernetics, Dementia, Managed care0 , and Nanotechnology.0 Some 200 articles have been extensively revised, and 100 additional articles have new bibliographies. The alphabetical entries address a wide range of topics that raise difficult and important questions. Abortion, genetic screening, female genital mutilation, the right to die, health issues of immigration, and corporate responsibility are but a few. The contributors discuss the issues from many points of view. The abortion article includes sections covering medical perspectives, contemporary ethical and legal aspects, andewish, Catholic, Protestant, and Islamic religious perspectives. There are also articles about bioethics in Buddhism, eugenics, health policy, women as health-care professionals, whistle-blowing in health care, and veterinary ethics. All of the articles are signed, and all have bibliographies. Ample cross-references help readers find related useful material. A list of all the articles and a topical outline appear in volume 1. A series of appendixes offers codes, oaths, and directives related to bioethics; additional resources; key legal cases; and an annotated bibliography of literary works that have a medical component. A detailed index helps users find material that may be scattered over numerous entries, such as information about surrogate motherhood. This new edition of a classic work, which addresses timely issues such as same-sex marriages and direct advertising of prescription drugs, belongs in all academic libraries and all but the smallest public libraries. It is an outstanding resource for students, professionals, and the interested public. -- RBB Copyright 2004 Booklist