What is the best/most current Medical Ethics book?

[simran]

Just wondering what are books for medical ethics do you recommend?

[Daedalus]

For the practicalities of medical ethics in the UK, I found the following an easy and fairly interesting read:

"The Practical Guide to Medical Ethics and Law" by Baxter, Brennan and Coldicott, published by Pastest (ISBN1901198766)

A very interesting book on the theoretical angle, but with a US perspective on the legal aspects is:
"Classic Cases in Medical Ethics" by Pence, published by McGraw Hill, ISBM 0073039861

It would be wonderful if there was a book like that with a UK law viewpoint, but I haven't found one, alas.

HTH

[Ben]

Didn't know you took an interest in ethics, Daedalus :wink:

[spk76]

Medical Ethics and Law: the Core Curriculum by Hope, Savulescu and Hendrick (Churchill Livingstone, 2003) is a good introduction.

[simran]

Thank you.

[caster]

A really good book about medical ethics for medical students is

"Ward Ethics: dilemmas for medical students and doctors in training" by Kushner and Thomasma (Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521664527)

This is divided up into various chapters on issues of ethics which are of particular relevance/interest to students and junior doctors. Each chapter starts with a series of very short case histories about situations that people have been in. There are then a series of commentaries by a variety of ethicists, who often take opposing viewpoints, which look at the cases and also consider the wider issues. It is a very readable book which I would highly recommend, and makes you think in that it doesn't offer "correct" answers, but different viewpoints which you may or may not agree with. It is genuinely an ethics book rather than a legal one - it does not tell you what you "should" do, or offer opinion on legal issues. However, it is probably more suitable for your own private reading than as a "textbook" for an ethics course.

If you are asking about this because you want a textbook giving you legal answers to what doctors "should" do in the UK, including discussion of test cases and short examples (which is really medical legislation rather than medical ethics strictly speaking) then I would recommend Mason & McCall Smith "Law and Medical Ethics", published by Butterworths. A new edition of this book is coming out in September 2005 so you might want to wait for that edition if you are not going to be using it straight away, as that will have the most up-to-date laws and cases in it.