First published in 1997, this volume explores how we live in a society which is developing beyond human experience and comprehension – fast. Advances in technology and medicine are profoundly affecting the manner of human living from the beginning through to the end of life. These advances present exciting and demanding challenges to law-makers, policy-makers and healthcare providers, who make decisions about genetics, human reproduction, competence, medical treatment priorities and dying. They also compel us to pay attention to human rights. This international collection of essays combines the thoughts and ideas of women scholars writing about these complex developments and aims at provoking debate and dissension as well as an opportunity for reflection. The writers explore a range of common themes in different areas and provide a coherent framework for law and policy-making, to serve as a foundation for the challenges ahead.
This title was first published in 2002: A collection of articles focused on women within a general study of medicine, ethics and the law. Topics covered include: areas where the institutions of medicine, ethics and the law intersect in women's reproductive and sexual lives; the impact of legal policies and dominant ethical beliefs on many aspects of women's health; and the health practices and policies of bioethics and health law. The editors recognise that it is important not to lose sight of social differences other than gender, such as race, ethnicity, class, age, sexuality, religion, level of physical and mental ability, and family relationships. In their approach they seek to consider the lives and experiences of women as primary. Hence, they focus on the question of how women's encounters with the health-care system are structured by gender and other socially significant dimensions of their lives (rather than the question of how women differ from the male "norm").
Within contemporary society the themes of globalization, health and regulation interlock in complex patterns, changing in response to the mix of cultural differences, regulatory preferences and available resources. To turn the kaleidoscope and to change the mix is to change the pattern. This book is about those patterns as they arise in the contemporary legal, health and ethical context, exploring the transformations and challenges brought by technological change and the regulatory options in the contemporary global village.
This collection, which stems from the International Conference on Comparative Non-Discrimination Law held at Utrecht, The Netherlands, in June 1998, covers both the general aspects of equality and non-discrimination law (Part I), as well as the specific grounds for discrimination, adverse impact or indirect discrimination, and affirmative action (Part II). Part III discusses diverse aspects of the enforcement of non-discrimination law; Part IV contains conclusions and an agenda for change. This book is unique in that it both provides a comparative view of anti-discrimination law in theory and practice, and looks at a wide range of grounds for discrimination, such as gender, race, religion and health. Its comparative and international approach renders this publication not only of interest to civil rights lawyers, but to all those engaged in human rights and comparative law.
This book replaces the successful Controversies in Health Law. Under the same editorship and much the same authorship, it is substantially larger (30 chapters instead of 18) and correspondingly more comprehensive. It retains the lively analysis and the focus on controversial and cutting-edge problems. The chapters are broken up into parts covering Litigation and Liabilty; Reproductive Technologies; The Sequelae of the End of Life; Public Health; Ethical Frameworks and Dilemmas; Regulation; Human Rights and Therapeutic Jurisprudence; Research and Vulnerability and Information, Privacy and Confidentiality . They consider issues raised by new technologies, changing legislation and altering community expectations; by new regulatory processes for medicine and all of the health professions; by the fundamental changes to civil liability for medical negligence; by the fierce debate over the role of coroners. Disputes and Dilemmas in Health Law covers questions on property in human tissue and on the ethical and legal aspects of the genetics revolution; provides a modern take on "old" issues such as reproductive law; takes account of changes relating to expert evidence; and discusses how difficult cases in relation to psychiatric injury and wrongful life are pushing compensability to its edges.
This arrestingly novel work develops a normative synthesis of medical humanities, virtue ethics, medical ethics, health law and human rights. It presents an ambitious, complex and coherent argument for the reconceptualisation of the doctor-patient relationship and its regulation utilising approaches often thought of as being separate, if not opposed (virtue-based ethics and universal human rights). The case is argued gracefully, with moderation, but also with respect for opposing positions. The book's analysis of the foundational professional virtue of therapeutic loyalty is an original departure from the traditional discourse of "patient autonomy," and the ethical and legal "duties" of the medical practitioner. The central argument is not merely presented, as bookends, in the introduction and conclusion. It is cogently represented in each chapter and section and measured against the material considered. A remarkable feature is the use of aptly selected "canonical" literature to inform the argument. These references run from Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game" in the abstract, to Joyce's "Ulysses" in the conclusion. They include excerpts from and discussion about Bergman, Borges, Boswell, Tolstoy, de Beauvoir, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Samuel Johnson, Aristotle, Orwell, Osler, Chaucer, Schweitzer, Shakespeare, Thorwalds, Kafka and William Carlos Williams. Such references are used not merely as an artistic and decorative leitmotif, but become a critical, narrative element and another complex and rich layer to this work. The breadth and quality of the references are testimony to the author's clear understanding of the modern law and literature movement. This work provides the basis of a medicalschool course. As many medical educators as possible should also be encouraged to read this work for the insights it will give them into using their own personal life narratives and those of their patients to inform their decision-making process. This thesis will also be of value to the judiciary, whose members are often called upon to make normatively difficult judgments about medical care and medical rules. The human rights material leads to a hopeful view of an international movement toward a universal synthesis between medical ethics and human rights in all doctor-patient relationships.
This new book provides a clear and accessible analysis of the various ways in which human reproduction is regulated. A comprehensive exposition of the law relating to birth control,abortion, pregnancy, childbirth, surrogacy and assisted conception is accompanied by an exploration of some of the complex ethical dilemmas that emerge when one of the most intimate areas of human life is subjected to regulatory control. Throughout the book, two principal themes recur. First, particular emphasis is placed upon the special difficulties that arise in regulating new technological intervention in all aspects of the reproductive process. Second, the concept of reproductive autonomy is both interrogated and defended. This book offers a readable and engaging account of the complex relationships between law, technology and reproduction. It will be useful for lecturers and students taking medical law or ethics courses. It should also be of interest to anyone with a more general interest in women's bodies and the law, or with the profound regulatory consequences of new technologies.
Drawing on recent feminist discussions, this collection critically reassesses ideas about agency, exploring the relationship between agency and coercion in greater depth and across a range of disciplinary perspectives and ethical contexts.
With scientific progress occurring at a breathtaking pace, science and technology policy has never been more important than it is today. Yet there is a very real lack of public discourse about policy-making, and government involvement in science remains shrouded in both mystery and misunderstanding. Who is making choices about technology policy, and who stands to win or lose from these choices? What criteria are being used to make decisions and why? Does government involvement help or hinder scientific research? Shaping Science and Technology Policy brings together an exciting and diverse group of emerging scholars, both practitioners and academic experts, to investigate current issues in science and technology policy. Essays explore such topics as globalization, the shifting boundary between public and private, informed consent in human participation in scientific research, intellectual property and university science, and the distribution of the costs and benefits of research. Contributors: Charlotte Augst, Grant Black, Mark Brown, Kevin Elliott, Patrick Feng, Pamela M. Franklin, Carolyn Gideon, Tené N. Hamilton, Brian A. Jackson, Shobita Parthasarathy, Jason W. Patton, A. Abigail Payne, Bhaven Sampat, Christian Sandvig, Sheryl Winston Smith, Michael Whong-Barr
This book argues that the foundational terms and concepts, which form the basic building blocks of dialogue about health, are now in flux. While the forces in play differ, and the pace of change is varied, there is now a brave new world of health which characterises policy debate about health (and illness or disability). This permeates even the more narrow technical issues within clinical medicine, the law and medical science. This construction and reconstruction of health has important implications for the development of law and policy.
