Ethics in health care : a Canadian focus

Summary: Written by one of the leading Canadian authorities on health care ethics, Ethics in Health Care: A Canadian Focus presents the key ethical issues surrounding several health care topics with an emphasis on the application of theory and within the context of the Canadian social and legal system. Beginning with a brief introduction to ethical theory, this text provides students from various academic backgrounds with the necessary conceptual tools to identify the issues, analyze them, and determine practical solutions.

Record details

ISBN: 9780132708470
ISBN: 0132708477
Physical Description: print
xvi, 392 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Ethics as a discipline: Questions to keep in mind while reading this chapter; Ethical theories and their relevance to health care; Ethical principles in health care; Conflict among deontological principles and their derivative rights and duties; Other ethical theories; The structure of ethical justification -- Codes of ethics and the medical profession: The current CMA code; The ethical status of codes of ethics; A model code of ethics for physicians; Withdrawal of service: Physicians, the medical profession and society -- The health care professional-patient relationship: Questions to keep in mind while reading this chapter; Models of physician-patient relationships; Discussion; Emerging issues -- Informed consent: Patients and their medical records; Informed consent; Standards of disclosure; Standards of comprehension; Age and consent; Patient delegation of consent; Informed consent: Some considerations of practice; Types of consent; Factors affecting freedom of consent; Exceptions to informed consent -- Substitute decision-making: What constitutes competence?; Who should function as substitute decision-maker?; What values should a substitute decision-maker use? -- Research using human subjects: Experimentation: Some preliminary issues; The design of clinical trials; Consent in experimentation; The tri-council guidelines and consent in the research setting; Reward and enticement; Consent and collectivities; The role of pharmaceutical companies -- The ethics of deliberate death: The concept of death; Deliberate death; The morality of euthanasia: Arguments contra; The morality of euthanasia: Arguments pro; Assisted suicide; Euthanasia and brain death; Voluntary versus non-voluntary euthanasia -- Abortion: Framing the abortion issue: Some introductory considerations; Fetal rights; The ethical relevance of methods of abortion; Arguments for against abortion -- Health, health care and social justice: The definition of "health"; Right to health care; Health care as a right versus health care as a commodity; The canada health act (CHA) -- Resource allocation: Overall health care budgets within a socialized context; Macro-allocation; Special non-medically defined groups; Micro-allocation; Two final notes on allocation -- Reproductive ethics and the right to have children: Some legal and historical considerations; Some preliminary ethical considerations; Some arguments and their analysis; Is there a right to have children?; Commercial surrogate motherhood and related issues; Sex selection; Post-menopausal motherhood -- Biotechnology: Ectogenesis; Human cloning; Genetic testing and genetic information; Genetic engineering.