Bioethics for Beginners: 60 Cases and Cautions from the Moral Frontier of Healthcare

Bioethics for Beginners maps the giant dilemmas posed by new technologies and medical choices, using 60 cases taken from our headlines, and from the worlds of medicine and science. This eminently readable book takes it one case at a time, shedding light on the social, economic, and legal side of twenty-first-century medicine while giving the reader an informed basis on which to answer personal, practical questions such as:

• Should we test and modify our genes?
• How much is too much in the world of designer food and pets?
• Should we enhance ourselves, and, if so, how far beyond our natural abilities?
• Must we design our children?
• How long should we plan to live, and how should we think about dying in the twenty-first century?

Unlocking the debate behind the headlines, this book combines clear thinking with the very latest from the frontiers of science and medicine, enabling readers to decide for themselves exactly what the scientific future should hold.

Bioethics for Beginners maps the giant dilemmas posed by new technologies and medical choices, using 60 cases taken from our headlines, and from the worlds of medicine and science. This eminently readable book takes it one case at a time, shedding light on the social, economic, and legal side of twenty-first-century medicine while giving the reader an informed basis on which to answer personal, practical questions such as:

• Should we test and modify our genes?
• How much is too much in the world of designer food and pets?
• Should we enhance ourselves, and, if so, how far beyond our natural abilities?
• Must we design our children?
• How long should we plan to live, and how should we think about dying in the twenty-first century?

Unlocking the debate behind the headlines, this book combines clear thinking with the very latest from the frontiers of science and medicine, enabling readers to decide for themselves exactly what the scientific future should hold.

Dr. Glenn McGee is President of the Division of Research Ethics at Celltex Therapeutics, a stem cell research company in Houston, Texas. He held two successive endowed chairs in bioethics after serving for a decade as professor at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Medical Ethics. He is the founding editor of The American Journal of Bioethics and a leading authority on ethical issues in science and medicine. McGee has been a columnist for The Scientist, New York Times News Service, and MSNBC, and a frequent guest and commentator for National Public Radio, CNN, Fox, CBS, the New York Times, Washington Post, and Oprah, among others. McGee’s books include The Perfect Baby (2nd edn., 2000), The Human Cloning Debate (with A. Caplan, 4th edn., 2004), and the best-selling Beyond Genetics: The User’s Guide to DNA (2004). In addition, he has authored hundreds of scholarly papers about ethical, legal, and social issues in medicine.