Medical Ethics in Clinical Practice

Description

This book discusses medicine from an ethical perspective, whereas books on medical ethics more commonly present ethics from a bio-medical standpoint. The book is divided into 23 chapters. The introductory chapters present some basic concepts of medical ethics, such as the relation between the legal system and ethics, ethical documents, ethical theories, and ethical analysis. The following chapters address issues of importance in all fields of medicine: respecting autonomy, communication, relations within a healthcare team, professional malpractice, limited resources, and the portrait of a physician. In turn, the third part of the book focuses on ethical aspects in a broad range of medical activities – preventive medicine, human reproduction, genetics, pediatrics, intensive care, palliative medicine, clinical research, unproven methods in diagnostics and treatment, and the role of physicians who aren’t directly responsible for patient care. The last part presents students’ seminars with case stories. The book offers a valuable resource for physicians of all specialties, students of medicine, professionals, and students from other fields devoted to human health, journalists, and general readers with an interest in medicine. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Ethics and Law (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 1-5 Ethical Codes and Declarations (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 7-13 Ethical Theories (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 15-22 Moral Status (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 23-27 Ethical Analysis (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 29-34 Autonomy and Its Limitations (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 35-44 Communication (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 45-52 Relations in the Medical Team (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 53-56 Professional Malpractice (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 57-62 Limited Resources, Priorities, and Corruption (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 63-71 Image of a Physician (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 73-80 Preventive Medicine (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 81-85 Ethics at the Beginning of Life (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 87-95 Pediatrics (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 97-104 Genetics (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 105-112 Emergency Medicine and Transplantation (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 113-118 The Elderly and the Mentally-Ill (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 119-126 Dying and Death (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 127-135 Research (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 137-149 Unproven Methods of Diagnostics and Treatment (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 151-156 Physicians Beyond Patient Care (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 157-164 Student Seminars (Matjaž Zwitter)....Pages 165-211