Books in the Reflective Bioethics series

The question of how societies respond to our bodies' ills is one which has had tremendous hold on contemporary imaginations. This reader includes selections by the best thinkers in the ethics of health care, bioethics and philosophy of health care.

Drawing on the work of writers such as Wittgenstein, Walker Percy, Paul Auster and Graham Greene, this book brings to the bioethical discussion larger philosophical questions about the sense and significance of human life.

Narratives have always played a prominent role in both bioethics and medicine. What kind of ethical work can stories do and what are the limits to this work? The essays in this volume offer reflections on the relationship between narratives and ethics.

The Fiction of Bioethics suggests that literary theory is a crucial component in the complete understanding of bioethics. It distills the idea that bioethicists study real-life cases, while philosophers contemplate fictional accounts.

The question of physician assisted suicide is not a simple matter. This cross-disciplinary collection of essays, offering views from a range of disciplines, including bioethics, law, medicine, and religion, draws attention to the variety of questions posed.

Jonathan Kaplan weighs the evidence for genetic determinism of such human traits as intelligence, depression, homosexuality and violence, and argues that neither genes nor the environment alone can explain the complex variations amongst humans.

Duty and Healing positions ethical issues commonly encountered in clinical situations within Jewish law. It looks at the role of the family, the question of informed consent and the responsibilities of caretakers.

These new essays offer insightful reflections on the relationship between narratives and ethics.

This offers an incisive look at the doctor's shifting roles and responsibilities in our rapidly changing health care system.

In this collection of eight essays, the author sets forth his views on the need to replace patient-centered bioethics with family-centered bioethics. It reflects on proxy decisions, the effects of elder care on the family, and the financial and lifestyle consequences of long-term care.

Patient in the Family examines the tensions between the two systems devoted to caring for people's deepest vulnerabilities, the health care system and the institution of the family and suggests how they could work better together.