This completely revised and expanded edition offers an up-to-date analysis of developments in biomedical technology of the past 10 years. James B. Nelson and Jo Anne Smith Rohricht examine the social, political, legal, and moral dimensions of abortion, human experimentation, reproductive technologies, genetics, death and dying transplants, and health care systems.
Table of Contents:
Preface to the Revised and Expanded Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Caring for Human Health
The Christian Faith and Health
What Is Health?
the "Human" in "Human Being"
On Caring
Caring for Human Health: A Pardigm Shift
The Humanity in Abortion
Cases
The Public Debate
U.S. Policy Results: Some Statistics
Worldwide Legal and Social Factors
The Biomedical Consensus
The Indications for Abortion
Attitudes Toward Abortion: A Historical Sketch
Moral Argument One: The Antiabortion Position
Moral Argument Two: The Prochoice Position (Elective Abortion)
Further Ethical Reflections
Looking Ahead
Human Experimentation
Cases
The Question and Its Context
Research: Its Need, Its Design, Its Investigator
The Ethics of Free, Informed Consent
Professional Supervision and Public Policy
Further Ethical Reflections
Human Factors in Reproductive Technologies
Cases
The Past and Present of Artificial Insemination
In Vitro Fertilization, Ovum Transplants, and the Use of Surrogate Mothers
The Legal Factors in Reproductive Technology
Weighing the Psychological Factors
Social Policy Questions
Theological Questions and Moral Decisions
Genetics and the Control of Human Development
Cases
The Biological Revolution
The Genetic Dilemma
Genetic Counseling
Genetic Screening
Genetic and Fetal Therapy and Research
Germinal Choice: Artificial Insemination for Genetic Improvement
Sex Selection
Cloning: Carbon-Copy People
Further Ethical and Theological Reflections
Humanizing the Dying Process
Cases
Contexts of the Death-and-Dying Debates
How Shall We Define Death?
Option One: "Stiving Officiously to Keep Alive"
Option Two: Cooperating with the Patient's Dying
Option Three: "Drinking the Hemlock"
Death, the Law, and Public Policy
The Defective Newborn
Caring for the Dying
Organ Transplants-Their Human Dimensions
Cases
The Development of Organ Transplants
The "Just" Organ Transplant
The Last Resort
The Just Intent
The Just Declaration
Just Conduct: Noncombatant Immunity
Just Conduct: Right Attitudes
Just Conduct: Proportionality
The Just End
The Future of Organ Transplants
Medical Care for a More Human Society
Cases
A Health Care Crisis?
Taking Stock
The Right to Health Care
Allocation: A Societal Responsibility
Responsible Human Medicine
Notes
About the Author :
James B. Nelsonwass Professor of Christian Ethics at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University and has done postdoctoral study at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Before joining the seminary faculty he served parishes in Connecticut and South Dakota. Among his previous books are Human Medicine: Ethical Perspectives on New Medical Issues; and Rediscovering the Person in Medical Care.
Jo Anne Smith Rohricht, graduate of Duke University, received her M.A. degree from United Theological Seminary. She serves on the United Church of Christ Advisory Board on Health and Human Services.
