"Medical Ethics" includes a wide variety of topics. When searching the library catalog or PubMed, it's a good idea to use MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), the controlled vocabulary terms chosen by the National Library of Medicine. These include:
Abortion, Legal: Termination of pregnancy under conditions allowed under local laws.
Animal Right: The moral and ethical bases of the protection of animals from cruelty and abuse. The rights are extended to domestic animals, laboratory animals, and wild animals.
Contraception/Ethics: Discussion and analysis of contraception with respect to human and social values.
Ethics, Medical: The principles of professional conduct concerning the rights and duties of the physician, relations with patients and fellow practitioners, as well as actions of the physician in patient care and interpersonal relations with patient families.
Bioethics: A branch of applied ethics that studies the value implications of practices and developments in life sciences, medicine, and health care.
Confidentiality: The privacy of information and its protection against unauthorized disclosure.
Ethics, Clinical: The identification, analysis, and resolution of moral problems that arise in the care of patients.
Ethics, Research: The moral obligations governing the conduct of research.
Euthanasia: The act or practice of killing or allowing death from natural causes, for reasons of mercy, i.e., in order to release a person from incurable disease, intolerable suffering, or undignified death.
Genetic Privacy: The protection of genetic information about an individual, family, or population group, from unauthorized disclosure.
Health Care Reform: Innovation and improvement of the health care system by reappraisal, amendment of services, and removal of faults and abuses in providing and distributing health services to patients.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act/ethics: Discussion and analysis of HIPPA with respect to human and social values.
Human Experimentation: The use of humans as investigational subjects.
Nursing ethics: The principles of proper professional conduct concerning the rights and duties of nurses themselves, their patients, and their fellow practitioners, as well as their actions in the care of patients and in relations with their families.
Patient Rights: Fundamental claims of patients, as expressed in statutes, declarations, or generally accepted moral principles.
Patient advocacy: Promotion and protection of the rights of patients, frequently through a legal process.
Pharmacists/ethics: Discussion and analysis of pharmacists with respect to human and social values.
Physician-Patient Relations: The interactions between physician and patient.
Privacy: The state of being free from intrusion or disturbance in one's private life or affairs.
Right to Die: The right of the patient or the patient's representative to make decisions with regard to the patient's dying.
Stem Cell Research: Experimentation on STEM CELLS and on the use of stem cells.
Suicide, Assisted: Provision (by a physician or other health professional, or by a family member or friend) of support and/or means that gives a patient the power to terminate his or her own life.
American Medical Association (AMA Ethics Page) - Being one of the largest professional organizations in the medical field, the AMA houses its own ethics council and institute.
American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) - This organization thrives on interdisciplinary aspects of medical ethics and provides another angle to the ethics debates.American Society of Law, Medicine, and Ethics (ASLME) - A non-profit organization promoting education, protection, and promotion of good practice in ethics issues.
American Academy of Medical Ethics (AAME) - Offers articles on a wide range of related ethics topics in their Current Issues section, a good start for introductions. Includes links to other ethics organizations.
MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics - The center, part of the University of Chicago Department of Medicine, provides a nice selection of links to resources around the country and the globe.
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics - The Santa Clara University center features a long list of online articles by the institution's fellows on the topic of medical ethics.
National Library of Medicine's Medline Plus: covers topics such as end of life care, abortion, genetic and prenatal testing, and organ donation.
Presidential Commission for the study of Bioethical Issues: The government council charged with "advising the President on ethical issues related to advances in biomedical science and technology." Readers can browse transcripts of council meeting by topic.
UNESCO: Bioethics - The scientific arm of the United Nations has combined its resources in one place, with links to the advisory bodies, the International Bioethics Committee (IBC) and the Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee (IGBC).
University of Washington School of Medicine: guidance on dealing with various scenarios in the medical setting.
HIPAA: (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
HIPAA Privacy Rule: (U. S. National Institutes of Health)
Understanding Health Information Privacy: (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
HIPAA: (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
Text of HIPAA (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
Medical Privacy: news, national and state privacy information, and links to other resources. (Electronic Privacy Information Center)
Bioethics by
With its initial publication in 1978, Bioethics became the first reference to focus solely on a then burgeoning field, in effect helping to define the discipline. The fourth edition offers hundreds of revisions or addenda to entries from previous editions as well as over 100 new or rewritten entries on topics such as key cases in bioethics, the human biome, genetically modified foods, emergency preparedness and response, social justice, sustainability, chemical warfare and torture, among many others. Revised articles will explain the events as well as legislation changes of the past decade. The work is also being expanded to include views of nations and cultures other than the United States on such issues as abortion, medical triage, social responsibility, access to health care, stem cell research, etc.
End-Of-Life Decisions in Medical Care by
Those involved in end-of-life decision making must take into account both legal and ethical issues. This book starts with a critical reflection of ethical principles including ideas such as moral status, the value of life, acts and omissions, harm, autonomy, dignity and paternalism. It then explores the practical difficulties of regulating end-of-life decisions, focusing on patients, healthcare professionals, the wider community and issues surrounding 'slippery slope' arguments. By evaluating the available empirical evidence, the author identifies preferred ways to regulate decisions and minimize abuses at the end of life, and outlines an ethical theory which can provide practical guidance for those engaged in end-of-life decisions
Religion, Religious Ethics and Nursing by
"[This] is a book that challenges you to step back and broaden your thinking about religion in general and religion in nursing...Nurses at all levels will appreciate the applications to nursing practice, theory, and research."--Journal of Christian Nursing "The Reverend Dr. Marsha Fowler and her colleagues have written a landmark book that will change and enlighten the discourse on religion and spirituality in nursing. The authors address the awkward silence on religion in nursing theory and education and with insightful scholarship move beyond the current level of knowledge and limited discourse on religion in nursing theory, education and practice. This book is path-breaking in that [it] gives many new ways to think about the relationships between ethics, health, caregiving, moral imagination, religion and spirituality." From the Foreword by Patricia Benner, PhD, RN, FAAN Professor Emerita of Nursing Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Nursing University of California, San Francisco The past 25 years have witnessed an escalating discussion on the role of spirituality within health care. This scholarly volume is rooted in the belief that not only is religion integral to nursing care, but the religious beliefs of both nurse and patient can significantly influence care and its outcome. It offers an in-depth analysis of the ways in which religion influences the discipline of nursing, its practitioners, and treatment outcomes. Through the contributions of an international cadre of nurse scholars representing the world's major religious traditions, the book explores how theories, history and theologies shape the discipline, bioethical decision making, and the perspective of the nurse or patient who embraces a particular religion. It examines the commonalities between the values and thinking of nursing and religion and identifies basic domains in which additional research is necessary. The authors believe that ultimately, scholarly dialogue on the relationship between religion and nursing will foster and enhance nursing practice that is ethical and respectful of personal values. Key Features: Offers in-depth analysis of how religion influences the discipline of nursing, its practitioners, and treatment outcomes Uses critical theories to explore the intersections of religion, ethics, culture, health, gender, power, and health policy Includes an overview of all major world religions Focuses on the implications of religion for nursing practice rather than nursing interventions Designed for graduate and upper-level undergraduate students, nurse academicians and clinicians.
Ethics, Aging, and Society by
"Ethics, Aging and Society...is the first major work in ten years to critically address issues and methodologies in aging and ethics...This well-organized volume begins theoretically and offers new ways of thinking about ethics that can handle the complexities and realities of aging in particular social contexts."--Choice "This new research-based book, by experts in the field of ethics, is excellent and much-needed...I challenge you toconsider reading this book and seeing all the ways in which you might be forced to rethink things that most of us take as given for ethics and aging. I know you will not be disappointed and I guarantee you will end up thinking long and hard about personal and professional decisions you may have made as well as your assumptions about aging in America."--CFLE Network Newsletter (National Council on Family Relations) "This is a book that should be required reading for all involved in the ethical provision of services to the aging on any level, as well as for policy makers and administrators in positions of influence over the lives of older patients."--PsycCRITIQUES "...the authors' application of feminist ethics to frail elders rings true to both my clinical experience working with frail elders, and my research experience trying to understand their quality of life concerns...there were true gems of ideas [in this book] that illuminated the limitations of the dominant paradigm of autonomy in bioethics. [The authors] make a compelling critique of end-of-life care."--GeriPal: A Geriatrics and Palliative Care Blog This book presents second generation issues in ethics, aging, and society by presenting critical outcomes that arise when ethics is applied to the practical concerns that occur in day-to-day elder care. The first volume in over 10 years to address ethics and gerontology, it is unparalleled in its comprehensiveness and integration of well-developed philosophical arguments with empirical research, humanistic scholarship, and insights gained from practical experience. This book challenges the tried and true approaches to ethical issues in aging and opens avenues for creative problem-solving. The authors' diverse backgrounds bring the advantages of both interdisciplinary scholarship and practical experience to this comprehensive textbook. It is an essential resource for those interested in, and working with, older people, from upper-level undergraduate students and graduate-division students, to gerontology practitioners in training. Key Features: Presents the first major work in over 10 years to integrate the disciplines of ethics and aging Includes case studies derived from day-to-day practice Addresses individual/clinical ethics in health and long-term care and ethical issues raised by public policy, cultural norms and social attitudes Examines such critical issues as Alzheimer's disease, long-term care, ageism, public policy, anti-aging medicine, elder abuse, and natural disasters Explores new directions in ethical and social philosophy as they pertain to gerontology and care
Global Health and Global Health Ethics by
Provides interdisciplinary discussion of the state of global health and current challenges, and offers innovative proposals for change.
Choosing Tomorrow's Children by
To what extent should parents be allowed to use reproductive technologies to determine the characteristics of their future children? And is there something morally wrong with parents who wish to do this? Choosing Tomorrow's Children provides answers to these (and related) questions. In particular, the book looks at issues raised by selective reproduction, the practice of choosing between different possible future persons by selecting or deselecting (forexample) embryos, eggs, and sperm.Wilkinson offers answers to questions including the following. Do children have a 'right to an open future' and, if they do, what moral constraints does this place upon selective reproduction? Should parents be allowed to choose their future children's sex? Should we 'screen out' as much disease and disability as possible before birth, or would that be an objectionable form of eugenics? Is it acceptable to create or select a future person in order to provide lifesaving tissue for an existingrelative? Is there a moral difference between selecting to avoid disease and selecting to produce an 'enhanced' child? Should we allow deaf parents to use reproductive technologies to ensure that they have a deaf child?
