Legal and Ethical Aspects of Healthcare

his book provides wide-ranging coverage of the most important ethical and moral issues that face healthcare professionals, lawyers and the general public alike.

S.A.M. McLean (Author), J.K. Mason (Author)

9780521734509, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 12 March 2009

268 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 0.1 cm, 0.4 kg

There can be few aspects of life which have altered so dramatically in the past few decades as the relationship between medicine and the law. Treatments become more and more sophisticated as each advance in medicine is made. At the same time, the legal and moral issues surrounding such treatments have multiplied and have become increasingly sensitive and complex. Introducing the reader to important topics which include genetics, consent, negligence, research, assisted reproduction and mental health, the book outlines what the current law is, why it is so and what it may become in the future. This book provides wide-ranging coverage of the most important ethical and moral issues that face healthcare professionals, lawyers and the general public alike and it offers a unique insight into the problems that healthcare providers and patients can be expected to encounter both today and in the future.

Acknowledgements
Dedication
Preface
A note on abbreviations
1. About medicine and the law
2. Resources - who decides
3. The confidential relationship
4. The therapeutic partnership
5. Refusal of consent
6. Medical negligence
7. Using people for research
8. Assisted reproduction
9. Genetics and pregnancy
10. Termination of pregnancy
11. Genetics, insurance and employment
12. Is life worth living?
13. Disposal of the body and body parts
14. Sex, gender and the law
15. Mental health and mental capacity
16. The law and the elderly.

Subject Areas: Medicolegal issues [MBQ]