Bücher der Reihe Cambridge Law, Medicine and Ethics

This analysis of the ethical and legal basis for healthcare decision-making provides detailed analysis of the legal position in England and Wales together with substantial discussion of comparative material, especially from the United States, and a strong human rights focus. It is intended for lawyers, ethicists and medical professionals.

Alasdair Maclean examines the ethical basis for consent to medical treatment, arguing that consent should be approached in the context of the healthcare professional-patient relationship. Suggestions for reform are compared with the possible future development of the law if Neil Manson and Onora O'Neill's model of genuine consent is implemented.

The legal status of posthumous interests is explored and analysed, specifically in three categories of interest arising in the medico-legal context: the proprietary interest in the body of the deceased, the testamentary interest in determining the disposal of one's body after death and the interest in post-mortem confidentiality.

This book is a wide-ranging synthesis of market developments in body tissue.

Dr Syrett argues that court involvement in disputes over the rationing of healthcare resources may be viewed more positively than has traditionally been the case. English, Canadian and South African cases are analysed to illustrate how courts may contribute to the attainment of legitimacy in this field.

Mason assesses the historic and contemporary legal reactions to the management of a pregnancy that is unwanted or undesired as a result of medical mismanagement or negligence. The text also explores the legal regulation of the treatment of the disabled fetus or newborn child.

The genetic information that is available to insurance companies has often been regulated to avoid certain ethical difficulties. However, regulation may not be the solution, argue the authors, and suggest instead the resurrection of collectively funded public insurances. This will interest academic researchers and professionals involved with genetics and insurance.

Deficiencies and shortfalls in the supply of human organs for transplantation and human tissue for research generate policy dilemmas across the world and have often given rise to major and deleterious controversies, such as those relating to organ and tissue retention practices following post-mortem examination. They also create an environment in which illegitimate commercial activities flourish. At the same time, patients are denied the therapy they desperately require and researchers are impeded from carrying out vital work into the causes of, and efficacious treatments for, major illnesses and diseases. David Price sets out a clear and integrated legal and policy framework which emanates from the tissue source but protects the interests of donors and relevant professionals through tailored property entitlements, but without presupposing rights to trade in 'original' materials.

Should we make people healthier, smarter, and longer-lived if genetic and medical advances enable us to do so? Matti Hayry asks this question in the context of genetic testing and selection, cloning and stem cell research, gene therapies and enhancements. The ethical questions explored include parental responsibility, the use of people as means, the role of hope and fear in risk assessment, and the dignity and meaning of life. Taking as a starting point the arguments presented by Jonathan Glover, John Harris, Ronald M. Green, Jurgen Habermas, Michael J. Sandel, and Leon R. Kass, who defend a particular normative view as the only rational or moral answer, Matti Hayry argues that many coherent rationalities and moralities exist in the field, and that to claim otherwise is mistaken.

The Medical Biobank of Umea in Sweden, deCODE's Health Sector Database in Iceland, the Estonian Genome Project and the UK Biobank contain health data and genetic data from large populations. Some include genealogical or lifestyle information. They are resources for research in human genetics and medicine, exploring interaction between genes, lifestyle, environmental factors and health and diseases. The collection, storage and use of this data raise ethical, legal and social issues. In this book, first published in 2007, bioethics scholars examine whether existing ethical frameworks and social policies reflect people's concerns, and how they may need to change in light of new scientific and technological developments. The ethical issues of social justice, genetic discrimination, informational privacy, trust in science and consent to participation in database research are analyzed, whilst an empirical survey, conducted in the four countries, demonstrates public views of privacy and related moral values in the context of human genetic databases.

This book examines the ethical controversies that have surrounded the design and conduct of international medical research sponsored by industrialized countries or industry, and carried out in developing countries. The chief concern is that research subjects in developing countries may be exploited because sponsors of research employ double standards. One debate focuses on whether the standard of care provided to subjects of medical research in developing countries should be the same as what research subjects receive in North America and Europe. Other concerns are whether the process of obtaining informed consent in developing countries is adequate, and whether prior ethical review of research meets standards that are well established in the industrialized world. Recent international developments show that essential medications can be made affordable and accessible to developing countries, and that double standards need not prevail.

This volume maps the areas of ethical concern in the debate regarding the governance of genetic information, and suggests alternative ethical frameworks and models of regulation in order to inform its restructuring.

Sara Fovargue explores the law's ability to protect people from the risk posed by xenotransplantation (cross-species transplantation). By exploring regulatory approaches to biotechnologies in the UK and elsewhere, she highlights how such biotechnologies challenge existing legal and ethical norms and how this influences their regulation.

Organ shortage is a problem in many countries, and has resulted in needless death and suffering. This investigation of the problem examines a range of ethically-principled and pragmatic solutions which could be implemented by policy-makers and healthcare professionals.

This volume maps the areas of ethical concern in the debate regarding the governance of genetic information, and suggests alternative ethical frameworks and models of regulation in order to inform its restructuring.