Giving Voice to Values As a Professional Physician ― An Introduction to Medical Ethics

Giving Voice to Values as a Professional Physician provides students with the theoretical background and practical applications for acting on their values in situations of ethical conflict. It is the first medical ethics book that utilizes the Giving Voice to Values methodology to instruct students in medical ethics and professionalism.

In doing so, it shifts the focus of ethics education from intellectually examining ethical theories and conflicts to emphasizing moral action. Each section of the book explains how moral decision-making and action can be implemented in the healthcare arena. Medical ethics cases are provided throughout in order to assist students in giving voice to their values and developing skills for professional action. The Giving Voice to Values methodology, and the cases in this book, do not focus on the big questions of academic ethics, but rather on the ethics of the everyday, even if the challenges presented are difficult. In other words, the ethical questions students will have to face, in this book and in medical education and practice, are about how to interact with others, whether they be patients or colleagues, who might have different ethical positions.

The book provides a unique guide for professional identity formation and the teaching of ethics in medical schools.

Ira Bedzow is the director of the Biomedical Ethics and Humanities Program at New York Medical College and Senior Scholar at the Aspen Center for Social Values. He is the author of numerous books, articles, and chapters on law, ethics, and social values.