Medical Ethics: Accounts of Ground-Breaking Cases

by Gregory E. Pence

Now in its twentieth year of publication, this rich collection, popular among teachers and students alike, provides an in-depth look at major cases that have shaped the field of medical ethics. The book presents each famous (or infamous) case using extensive historical and contextual background, and then proceeds to illuminate it by careful discussion of pertinent philosophical theories and legal and ethical issues.

Genres: Medicine, Textbooks

416 pages, Paperback

First published July 11, 2007

Reviews

[Samuel Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A surprising number of errors in this popular textbook. Its utility lies in the breezy, even journalistic, accounts of major cases in ethics.

[Jordan Matz · Rating 2 out of 5]

The thing I found worrisome about this book was that many parts of it seemed to show quite a bit of author bias. the way it was written seemed as though he was anti-feminist in a way that showed he obviously did not even understand the concept of feminism and only used it to describe women who are progressive, left-wnged, hippies. Also, the way he depicted certain topics made him seem a bit fascist. While the material was easy to follow, I just did not enjoy the author's voice.

[Akshay Jaggi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting journalistic play-by-play of some important cases in medical ethics through history. However, Pence's commentary on these cases leaves much to be desired. Pence varies the structure of his chapters significantly, formatting some as a dialectic between opposing sides while writing others as a survey of different stances. While some variety is necessary, the differences made some chapters engaging while others a drag. Furthermore, Pence shows some personal bias in the viewpoints and research he references. An easy example is the serious overrepresentation of UAB in the book. He also frequently strawmans standpoints, framing them as unreasonably extreme when this is often not the case. Altogether, the book is a good introduction and should open the doors for more detailed reading on topics of interest to the reader.

[Regina Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapter 10 is quite gory.

[Lillian Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in Dr. Pence's Bioethics course.

[Julia Wood]

W 50

[Mary Gilmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Pence’s Bioethics course. Controversial, but insightful

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of various cases that have set the tone for bioethics today. Pence's writing style is difficult to follow as he is detailed in his description of events, but he often includes extraneous information (e.g. Life sent its first female reporter to Seattle to cover the story about the dialysis "God Committee"; is it really important that she was the first female reporter for that magazine?). He is also weak on theology even though he sometimes attempts to speak from a religious person's viewpoint.

However, this is a good introductory overview of the classic cases in bioethics and it was worth the time to read these accounts.

[Adriana Orta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very good over view of ethical theories on the first section of the book. The author covers different theories along with their main arguments and some examples. However, many of the chapters regarding bioethical issues have irrelevant examples, case studies and arguments. In some chapters the author only argues one point of view in detail, while other plausible arguments or points of view are briefly explained or not shown at all.
I don't recommend this book to someone seeking for strong and sound arguments regarding bioethical issues.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very good book. Interesting topics and gets you to look at issues from a different perspective.