Clinical Ethics in Anesthesiology
A Case-Based Textbook

Clinically focused compilation of expert opinion and international perspectives from leaders in anesthesiology, building on real-life case-based problems.

Gail A. Van Norman (Edited by), Stephen Jackson (Edited by), Stanley H. Rosenbaum (Edited by), Susan K. Palmer (Edited by)

9780521130646, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 October 2010

318 pages, 6 b/w illus. 23 tables
24.5 x 18.8 x 1.5 cm, 0.68 kg

'Rather than attempting to provide simple answers to … complex ethical problems, this book sets out to identify the principles underlying a wide variety of issues that a practising anaesthesiologist may encounter … [a] must-read textbook for all readers interested in addressing ethics issues in practice with the information essential to form proper and moral decisions.' Martin Dauber, Journal of the American Medical Association

Ethical issues facing anesthesiologists are more far-reaching than those involving virtually any other medical specialty. In this clinical ethics textbook, authors from across the USA, Canada and Europe draw on ethical principles and practical knowledge to provide a realistic understanding of ethical anesthetic practice. The result is a compilation of expert opinion and international perspectives from clinical leaders in anesthesiology. Building on real-life, case-based problems, each chapter is clinically focused and addresses both practical and theoretical issues. Topics include general operating room care, pediatric and obstetrical patient care, the intensive care unit, pain practice, research and publication, as well as discussions of lethal injection, disclosure of errors, expert witness testimony, triage in disaster and conflicts of interest with industry. An important reference tool for any anesthesiologist, whether clinical or research-oriented, this book is especially valuable for physicians involved in teaching residents and students about the ethical aspects of anesthesia practice.

Preface
Part I. Consent and Refusal: 1. Informed consent: respecting patient autonomy
2. Informed refusal: DNR orders in the patient undergoing anesthesia and surgery, and at the end of life
3. Informed refusal - the Jehovah's Witness patient
4. Surrogate decision-making
5. Informed consent and the pediatric patient
6. Do not resuscitate decisions in pediatric patients
7. Consent in laboring patients
8. Maternal-fetal conflicts: Cesarian delivery on maternal request
9. Consent for anesthesia for procedures with special societal implications: psychosurgery and electroconvulsive therapy
10. Ethical use of restraints
11. The use of ethics consultation regarding consent and refusal
12. Consent and cultural conflicts: ethical issues in pediatric anesthesiologists' participation in female genital cutting
13. Communitarian values in medical decision-making: Native Americans
14. Informed consent for perioperative testing: pregnancy testing and other tests involving sensitive patient issues
Part II. End-of-Life Issues: 15. The principle of double effect in palliative care: euthanasia by another name?
16. Surgical interventions near the end of life: 'therapeutic trials'
17. Withholding and withdrawing life support in the intensive care unit
18. Discontinuing pacemakers, ventricular assist devices and implanted cardioverter-defibrillators in end-of-life care
19. Brain death
20. Ethical issues in organ donation after cardiac death
21. Revising the uniform anatomical gift act: the role of physicians in shaping legislation
22. Physician aid in dying and euthanasia
Part III. Pain Management: 23. Ethical considerations in interventional pain management
24. Conjoining interventional pain management and palliative care: considerations for practice, ethics and policy
25. Opioid therapy in addicted patients: background and perspective from the United Kingdom
26. Opioid therapy in addicted patients: background and perspective from the United States
Part IV. Research and Publication: 27. Ethics in anesthesiology research using human subjects
28. Animal subjects research part I: do animals have rights?
29. Animal subjects part II: ethics of animal experimentation
30. Ethical function of human subjects review boards: a United States perspective
31. Research with vulnerable patients such as children and prisoners
32. The ethics of research on pain and other symptoms for which effective treatments already exist
33. Quality improvement initiatives: when is quality improvement actually a form of human subjects research?
34. Conflicts of interest in research funding
35. Publication ethics: obligations of authors, peer-reviewers and editors
Part V. Practice Issues: 36. The impaired anesthesiologist - addiction
37. The impaired anesthesiologist - sleep deprivation
38. Ethical considerations regarding the disabled anesthesiologist
39. The abusive and disruptive physician
40. Sexual harrassment, discrimination and faculty-student intimate relationships in anesthesia practice
41. Conflicts of interest - industry gifts to physicians
42. Disclosure of medical errors in anesthesiology practice
43. Physician conscientious objection in anesthesiology practice
Part VI. Anesthesiologists, the State, and Society: 44. The ethics of expert testimony
45. Ethical principles regarding physician response to disasters: pandemics, natural disasters and terrorism
46. Triage in civilian mass casualty situations
47. Triage and treatment of wounded during armed conflict
48. Physician facilitation of torture and coercive interrogation
49. Physician participation in execution
Index.

Subject Areas: Intensive care medicine [MMKL], Pain & pain management [MMBP], Anaesthetics [MMB], Medical ethics & professional conduct [MBDC]