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More About This Title Bioethics for Beginners: 60 Cases and Cautions from the Moral Frontier of Healthcare
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Bioethics for Beginners maps the giant dilemmas posed by new technologies and medical choices, using 60 cases taken from our headlines, and from the worlds of medicine and science. This eminently readable book takes it one case at a time, shedding light on the social, economic and legal side of 21st century medicine while giving the reader an informed basis on which to answer personal, practical questions. Unlocking the debate behind the headlines, this book combines clear thinking with the very latest in science and medicine, enabling readers to decide for themselves exactly what the scientific future should hold.
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Dr. Glenn McGee is President of the Division of Research Ethics at Celltex Therapeutics, a stem cell research company in Houston, Texas. He held two successive endowed chairs in bioethics after serving for a decade as professor at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Medical Ethics. He is the founding editor of The American Journal of Bioethics and a leading authority on ethical issues in science and medicine. McGee has been a columnist for The Scientist, New York Times News Service, and MSNBC, and a frequent guest and commentator for National Public Radio, CNN, Fox, CBS, the New York Times, Washington Post, and Oprah, among others. McGee's books include The Perfect Baby (2nd edn., 2000), The Human Cloning Debate (with A. Caplan, 4th edn., 2004), and the best-selling Beyond Genetics: The User's Guide to DNA (2004). In addition, he has authored hundreds of scholarly papers about ethical, legal, and social issues in medicine.
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Acknowledgements xv
Caution 1 Tip-Toe When Walking on the Bleeding Edge 1
Case 1 The Dangers of Creating Life in the Lab 1
Case 2 Design: More Intelligent Every Day 3
Case 3 “Shroom” Science: Safe and Effective? 4
Case 4 A Robot Code of Ethics 6
Case 5 No More Periods, Period 8
Case 6 Search Me, Shape Me, Any Way You Want Me 10
Case 7 A Bloody Mess 11
Case 8 Stem Cells: The Goo of Life and the Debate of the Century 14
Caution 2 Everybody Lies 17
Case 9 Lies, Damn Lies . . . and Scientific Misconduct 17
Case 10 Conflict of Interest Means Business at NIH 18
Case 11 While You’re Here, How about a Spinal Tap? 21
Case 12 Study Subject or Human Guinea Pig? 22
Case 13 The New Tuskegee: Exploiting the Poor in Clinical Trials 23
Case 14 Salt in the Wound: Will India Rise up
Against the Oppression of Foreign Clinical Trials? 26
Case 15 Dr. Hwang and the Bad Apple Theory of Scientific Misconduct 27
Caution 3 The Genome Isn’t What It Used to Be 34
Case 16 Becoming Genomic: Just What Does it Mean Anyway? 34
Case 17 Enhancement Comes from Insecurity 36
Case 18 Wearing Genes from the Gulf War 37
Caution 4 Reproduce at Your Own Peril 40
Case 19 Tomorrow’s Child: Making Babies in the Twenty-First Century 40
Case 20 An Argument against Human Cloning 42
Case 21 Two Genetic Moms: High-Tech Trouble or Double the Love? 49
Case 22 Grave Robbing the Cradle 51
Case 23 Baby Banking 53
Case 24 Cash Strapped American Fertility Docs Cry Out for Mercy 54
Caution 5 Don’t Sweat the Nano-Sized Stuff 57
Case 25 “Nanoethics”: The ELSI of Twenty-First-Century Bioethics? 57
Case 26 The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea 62
Case 27 The Merging of Man and Machine 64
Case 28 My Eye’s on You 66
Caution 6 The State Will Protect Your Health Right Up Until It Doesn’t 69
Case 29 Has the Spread of HPV Vaccine Marketing Conveyed Immunity to Common Sense? 69
Case 30 Is the New Cigarette a Smoking Gun? Eclipse Unethical, Unregulated Research 71
Case 31 “Universal” Healthcare: A Long Way Off 73
Case 32 Newborn Screening with a Twist 75
Case 33 HIV Testing Must Be Routine 76
Case 34 Re-creating Flu: A Recipe for Disaster 78
Case 35 Pandemic Influenza Requires Trust in Government Healthcare 79
Case 36 A Hostile Environment for Environmental Protection Documents 82
Case 37 To Quarantine or Not to Quarantine, Is That the Question? 83
Caution 7 “Do No Harm” Has Become “Care for Yourself ” 86
Case 38 Medicine Is Not a Steel Mill 86
Case 39 Does Your Doctor Have Skeletons? Good Luck Finding Them 87
Case 40 Medicine’s Dirty Laundry 89
Case 41 Dr. Koop: Meet Dr. Ethics 91
Case 42 Organ Donation: Why Isn’t There an App for That? 94
Case 43 Docu-Medical Shows Lack Reality 95
Caution 8 You Aren’t Dead Until Someone Tells You So 98
Case 44 Redefining Retirement: Beyond Rest and Recreation 98
Case 45 Medicare Is Going South: What Do We Owe the Aging? 99
Case 46 The Fight to Die Well: We Will Expect More from Death Than Our Ancestors Did 100
Case 47 The Case of the Body Snatchers 102
Case 48 A Few Conclusions from the Terri Schiavo Case 104
Case 49 Living Wills Save Money? Dude, Did You Really Say That Out Loud? 106
Case 50 The Plural of Anecdote Is Not Ambien 107
Caution 9 Eat Only Food for Thought 110
Case 51 Fat in America 110
Case 52 Breakfast for Thought 111
Case 53 Want Fish? Ethics First, Please 113
Case 54 Dying for Food 115
Caution 10 Beware of Ideologues and Demagogues 117
Case 55 Bioethics for Christians, Corporate Whores, and Atheists 117
Case 56 Pharma Owns Bioethics (and Other Fables) 120
Case 57 The Kevorkianization of Cloning 123
Case 58 Not in the Bush Leagues Anymore 125
Case 59 Professor Hurlbut, Your 15 Minutes Are Up 128
Case 60 The Heady Days of Proposition 71: Stem Cell Research in the California Sun 139
Conclusion: Move Slowly and Stay Cool 146
A Hot and Cold Running Genius 146
Science Must Slow Its Speed 148
Sources and Credits 150
Index 160
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-Chris Mooney, author, The Republican War on Science and The Republican Brain
In a concise and matter-of-fact fashion, McGee stacks explosive issue upon explosive issue, from abhorrent clinical trials to the radical research that undermines our sense of humanity. An essential guide to the bioethics powder keg.
-Richard Gallagher, Editor-in-Chief at Lives: New Answers for Global Health and co-founder of Hopeful Monster Publishing
With its approachable style and diverse content, Bioethics for Beginners is proof that bioethics is neither stale nor reserved for the ivory towers of academia.
- Nathan A. Kottkamp, Founder, National Healthcare Decisions Day; Partner, McGuireWoods, LLP
