Engaging Bioethics: An Introduction with Case Studies

Presuming readers start with no background in philosophy, this enhanced introduction to bioethics first provides balanced, philosophically based coverage of moral reasoning, moral theories, and the law. It then leads the newly equipped reader to explore a range of important ethical issues in health care and biomedical research.

Engaging Bioethics, Second Edition is designed for undergraduates throughout the humanities and social sciences as well as for health care professionals-in-training, including students in medical school, pre-medicine, nursing, public health, and those studying to assist physicians in various capacities. Along with coverage of standard bioethical issues--like vaccination, access to health care, new reproductive technologies, genetics, research on human and animal subjects, abortion, medical confidentiality, and disclosure--it now addresses ethical aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the US Supreme Court's Dobbs-v-Jackson decision, use of CRISPR for human gene editing, and the expansion of medically assisted death globally.

Key Features

• Flexibility for the instructor, with chapters that can be read independently and in an order that fits the course structure
• Integration with case studies and primary sources
• Attention to issues of gender, race, cultural diversity, and justice in health care
• Pedagogical features to help instructors and students, including:
• Chapter learning objectives
• Text boxes and figures to explain important terms, concepts, and cases
• End-of-chapter summaries, key words, and annotated further readings
• Discussion cases and questions
• An index of cases discussed in the book and extensive glossary/index
• A companion website (COMPANION WEBSITE URL) with a virtual anthology linking to key primary sources, a test bank, topics for papers, and PowerPoints for lectures and class discussion

Key Updates to the Second Edition

• An expanded treatment of vaccination ethics
• A new chapter wholly devoted to the tools of moral thinking
• About 300 new entries in "References," many of which are annotated in the "Further Reading" section at the end of each chapter
• Additional topics on the patient-healthcare professional relationship such as social nudging in healthcare and public health, and the limits of beneficence in connection with the burnout of frontline healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic
• New, up-to-date cases and questions for further discussion throughout the chapters
• Updated learning objectives and overviews for each chapter
• A simpler general structure with no appendices (relevant materials from two previous appendices appear now in the chapters on moral reasoning, abortion, and medically assisted death)