Fletcher's Introduction to Clinical Ethics, Third Edition

John C. Fletcher, PhD, Edward Spencer, MD, and Paul Lombardo, JD, editors

2005. 370 pages.

Softcover: ISBN 978-1-55572-027-8.

$44.95 plus $6.75 S&H.

Please ask about instructors' discounts.

From the Foreword, by James F. Childress

The field of bioethics continues its creative ferment. Especially noteworthy are developments in clinical ethics, that is, ethics at the bedside. To keep pace in this rapidly changing arena, the new edition of this introductory text in clinical ethics carries forward an approach tested over time with clinicians, students in the health professions, and members of ethics committees.

The authors understand clinical ethics as a “bridge” between theoretical bioethics and the bedside. Ideas move both ways on the bridge — not merely from theorists to practitioners, but also from practitioners to theorists. In the process, both activities are enriched. While making a contribution to bioethics in general, this volume is primarily intended to provide a thoughtful, imaginative, and helpful introduction to ethics at the bedside.
 

The new edition is admirably current with, and informed by, the extensive literature in clinical, ethical, and legal topics relevant to these problems.

In many ways this text serves as an important model for creative work in bioethics. First, it is interdisciplinary and interprofessional, not merely multidisciplinary and multiprofessional. Members of different disciplines and professions talked, taught, and wrote with each other to develop clear and compelling ideas about clinical ethics. This text provides the fruits of their conversations. . . .

In short, this book reflects an ideal approach to both teaching and scholarship in bioethics.

Table of Contents

Foreword, James F. Childress
Editor’s Preface, Norman Quist

Part 1: Understanding the Field
1. Clinical Ethics: History, Content, and Resources, John C. Fletcher and Edward M. Spencer
2. Professional Ethics, Edward M. Spencer
3. Introduction to Organizational Ethics, Ann E. Mills and Edward M. Spencer
4. Law and Ethics: An Ongoing Conversation, Paul A. Lombardo
5. Research Ethics, Erika Blacksher and Jonathan D. Moreno
6. Working with Persons Who Have Psychiatric Illness, Edmund G. Howe

Part 2: Ethical Obligations in Each Case
7. Privacy and Confidentiality, Evan G. DeRenzo
8. Communicating, Truth-Telling, and Disclosure, Robert J. Boyle
9. Determining Patients’ Capacity to Share in Decision Making, Robert J. Boyle
10. The Process of Informed Consent, Robert J. Boyle

Part 3: Ethical Problems in Particular Cases
11. Treatment Refusals by Patients and Clinicians, Edmund G. Howe
12. Death and Dying, Charles A. Hite and Mary Faith Marshall
13. The Decision to Forgo Life-Sustaining Treatment When the Patient Is Incapacitated, John C. Fletcher and Walter Davis
14. Newborns, Infants, and Children, Robert J. Boyle
15. Ethical Issues in Reproduction, Cynthia B. Cohen
16. Healthcare Economics: Integral Aspects of Clinical Ethics, Edward M. Spencer and Ann E. Mills
17. Ethics Services in Healthcare Organizations: Assuring Integrity and Quality, John C. Fletcher and Edward M. Spencer

Appendixes
1. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations: Individual Rights and Organization Ethics
2. A Case Method for Consideration of Moral Problems, Edward M. Spencer
3. Training for Ethics Consultation: Mock Consultation Scenarios, Edward M. Spencer