In this book, developed by a group of collaborating scholars in bioethics from different European countries, an overview is given of the most salient themes in present-day bioethics. The themes are discussed in order to enable the reader to have an in-depth overview of the state of the art in bioethics. Introductory chapters will guide the reader through the relevant dimensions of a particular area, while subsequent case discussions will help the reader to apply the ethical theories to specific clinical problems and health policy queries. The book focuses on perspectives typical for the European context. This highlights not only particular bioethical themes such as social justice, choices in health care, and health policy (e.g., in post-communist countries), it also emphasizes specific approaches in ethical theory, in relation to Continental philosophies such as phenomenology and hermeneutics.
Because of its articulation of what is typical for the European health care setting as well as for bioethical debate, this book is unique in comparison to existing textbooks in bioethics.
The book is an introductory textbook acquainting the reader with the major issues in present-day health care as well as the various theoretical and practical approaches to clarify these issues.

Autorentext
Henk A. ten Have studied medicine and philosophy at Leiden University, the Netherlands. He received his medical degree in 1976 from Leiden University and his philosophy degree in 1983. He worked as a researcher in the Pathology Laboratory, University of Leiden (1976-77), as a practicing physician in the Municipal Health Services, City of Rotterdam (1978-79), and as a Professor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Limburg, Maastricht (1982-91). From 1991 he was a Professor of Medical Ethics and the Director of the Department of Ethics, Philosophy and History of Medicine in the University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. In September 2003 he joined UNESCO as Director of the Division of Ethics of Science and Technology. In 2010 he was appointed as Director of the Center for Healthcare Ethics, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh. Bert Gordijn is Chair of Ethics and Director of the Ethics Institute at Dublin City University. He has studied Philosophy and History at the Universities of Utrecht (Netherlands), Strasbourg (France) and Freiburg in Breisgau (Germany). In 1995 he was awarded a doctorate in Philosophy; in 2003 he received a doctorate in Bioethics. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics at Lancaster University (UK), the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University (USA) and the Fondation Brocher (Switzerland). Bert is Editor-in-Chief of the academic book series The International Library of Ethics, Law and Technology (published by Springer). In addition he is Editor-in-Chief of two peer reviewed journals: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy (also published by Springer) and Studies in Ethics, Law and Technology (published by Berkeley Electronic Press). Bert has been appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Patent Organization, the External Science Advisory Panel to the Long-Range Research Initiative of the European Chemical Industry Council and has served on the UNESCO expert committee on ethics and nanotechnology.

Inhalt
1.1 History of medical ethics.- 1.2 Theoretical models and approaches to ethics.- 2.1 The human body.- 2.2 What is a person?.- 3.1 Social justice and solidarity.- 3.2 Choices in health care: Waiting list, rationing and priorities.- 3.3 Health care ethics committees.- 4.1 In vitro fertilisation and ethics.- 4.2 Ethics, genetics, and human gene therapy.- 4.3 Genetic interventions and personal identity.- 4.4 Genetics and culture.- 5.1 Images of death and dying.- 5.2 Terminal care and ethics.- 5.3 Withholding and withdrawing treatment.- 5.4 Euthanasia.- 6: Practical Information.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.