Life and Death
Philosophical Essays in Biomedical Ethics

How should modern medicine's dramatic new powers to sustain life be employed? How should limited resources be used to extend and improve the quality of life? In this collection, Dan Brock, a distinguished philosopher and bioethicist and co-author of Deciding for Others (Cambridge, 1989), explores the moral issues raised by new ideals of shared decision making between physicians and patients. The book develops an ethical framework for decisions about life-sustaining treatment and euthanasia, and examines how these life and death decisions are transformed in health policy when the focus shifts from what is best for a patient to what is just for all patients. Professor Brock combines acute philosophical analysis with a deep understanding of the realities of clinical health policy. This is a volume for philosophers concerned with medical ethics, health policy professionals, physicians interested in bioethics, and undergraduate courses in biomedical ethics.

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"Dan Brock is one of the brightest scholars in the whole field of biomedical ethics, and this collection of essays serves as proof of why he deserves such praise. He is provocative even when writing about topics that seem mundane, and persuasive even when one ultimately disagrees with him. His writing style is crisp and generally quite clear. What Brock has to say about bioethics is always important....if one is interested in contemporary bioethics, reading Dan Brock's work is a must, whether one agrees with him or not." Academic Medicine

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Product details

• Date Published: January 1993
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9780521428330
• length: 452 pages

• dimensions: 227 x 151 x 30 mm
• weight: 0.674kg
• availability: Available