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Ethics and the Good Doctor: Character in the Professional Domain (Character and Virtue Within the Professions)
by Andrew Peterson James Arthur Sabena JameelEthics and the Good Doctor brings together existing literature and an analysis of empirical research conducted by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues to examine the ethical nature of medical practice and explore medicine as a virtuous profession. The book is based on the idea that medical practice is an inherently moral profession, in which notions of trust, care and meaningful relationships form the foundations of being a good doctor. By taking into account the ethical dimensions of medical practice that have come under greater scrutiny and pressure over recent years, this book explores how personal and professional character is understood, enacted, and experienced by medical practitioners at various stages of their career. Ethics and the Good Doctor situates and presents the empirical data in a way that is accessible to practicing doctors, medical students, and medical educators. Clear implications for policy, practice, and research are offered, ensuring this book will be of great interest to a range of stakeholders involved in medical practice, including those working in medical policy.
Ethics by Committee: A History of Reasoning Together about Medicine, Science, Society, and the State
by Noortje JacobsHow liberal democracies in the late twentieth century have sought to resolve public concerns over charged issues in medicine and science. Ethics boards have become obligatory passage points in today’s medical science, and we forget how novel they really are. The use of humans in experiments is an age-old practice that records show goes back to at least the third century BC, and it has been popular as a practice since the early modern period. Yet in most countries around the world, hardly any formal checks and balances existed to govern the communal oversight of experiments involving human subjects until at least the 1960s. Ethics by Committee traces the rise of ethics boards for human experimentation in the second half of the twentieth century. Using the Netherlands as a case study, historian Noortje Jacobs shows how the authority of physicians to make decisions about clinical research in this period gave way in most developed nations to formal mechanisms of communal decision-making that served to regiment the behavior of individual researchers. This historically unprecedented change in scientific governance came out of the growing international wariness of medical research in the decades after World War II and was meant to solidify a new way of reasoning together in liberal democracies about medicine and science. But what reasoning together meant, and who was invited to participate, changed drastically over time. In detailing this history, Jacobs shows that research ethics committees were originally intended not only to make human experimentation more ethical but also to raise its epistemic quality and intensify the use of new clinical research methods. By examining complex negotiations over the appropriate governance of human subjects research, Ethics by Committee is an important contribution to our understanding of the randomized controlled trial and the history of research ethics and bioethics more generally.
Ethics for Bioengineering Scientists: Treating Data as Clients
by Howard WinetThis book introduces bioengineers and students who must generate and/or report scientific data to the ethical challenges they will face in preserving the integrity of their data. It provides the perspective of reaching ethical decisions via pathways that treat data as clients, to whom bioengineering scientists owe a responsibility that is an existential component of their professional identity. The initial chapters lay a historical, biological and philosophical foundation for ethics as a human activity, and data as a foundation of science. The middle chapters explore ethical challenges in lay, engineering, medical and bioengineering scientist settings. These chapters focus on microethics (individual behavior) and cases that showcase the consequences of violating data integrity. Macroethics (policy) is dealt with in the Enrichment sections at the end of the chapters, with essay problems and subjects for debates (in a classroom setting). The book can be used for individual study, using links in the Enrichment sections to access cases and media presentations like PBS’ "Ethics in America". The final chapters explore the impact of bioengineering science ethics on patients via medical product development, its regulation by the FDA, and the contribution of data integrity violation to product failure. The book was developed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in bioengineering. It also contains much needed material that researchers and academics would find valuable (e.g., FDA survey and lab animal research justification). This book Introduces an approach to ethical decision-making based on treating data as clients Compares the ethics of three professions; engineering, medicine, and bioengineering Provides five moral theories to choose from for evaluating ethical decisions, and includes a procedure for applying them to moral analysis, and application of the procedure to example cases Examines core concepts, like autonomy, confidentiality, conflict of interest, and justice Explains the process of developing a medical product under FDA regulation Explores the role of lawyers and the judiciary in product development, including intellectual property protection Examines a range of ethical cases, from the historical Tuskegee autonomy case to the modern CRISPR-Cas9 patent case. Howard Winet, PhD is an Adjunct Professor recall, Orthopaedic Surgery and Bioengineering at University of California, Los Angeles.
Ethics for Nursing and Healthcare Practice
by Kath MeliaEveryday clinical practice is steeped in ethical considerations, but discussion of ethics is often removed from these real-life situations. Kath M Melia's new book works in the gap between theory and practice. The chapters tackle the main theories which form the discussion on ethics, and include practical case examples, which bring these theories into the clinical context. These classic and everyday cases challenge the reader to critically reflect on his/her own experiences and outlook. The social, legal and professional regulation context is brought into the discussion throughout, to equip students with the knowledge that they need to make clinical decisions. Topics covered include: - Beauchamp and Childress' four principles of bioethics - Rights - Personal and individual conscience - Moral philosophy - The virtues/virtue ethics of the practitioner. This book will be essential reading for pre-registration nursing students taking modules in ethics and law. It will also be a valuable text for postgraduates and qualified nurses, and students of health who need to gain an appreciation of ethics. www.sagepub.co.uk/melia
Ethics for Psychotherapists and Counselors: A Proactive Approach
by Sharon K. Anderson Mitchell M. HandelsmanEthics for Psychotherapists and Counselors utilizes positive discussions accompanied by a variety of thought-provoking exercises, case scenarios, and writing assignments to introduce readers to all the major ethical issues in psychotherapy. First book designed to engage students and psychotherapists in the process of developing a professional identity that integrates their personal values with the ethics and traditions of their discipline Authors take a positive and proactive approach that encourages readers to go beyond following the rules and to strive for ethical excellence Utilizes a variety of thought-provoking exercises, case scenarios, and writing assignments Authors present examples from their own backgrounds to help clarify the issues discussed Text emphasizes awareness of one’s own ethical, personal, and cultural backgrounds and how these apply to one’s clinical practice
Ethics for Radiation Protection in Medicine (Series in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering)
by Friedo Zölzer Gaston Meskens Jim Malone Christina SkourouThis book presents an up to date ethical framework for radiological protection in medicine. It is consistent with the requirements of the system of radiation protection and with the expectations of medical ethics. It presents an approach rooted in the medical tradition, and alert to contemporary social expectations. It provides readers with a practical framework against which they can assess the safety and acceptability of medical procedures, including patients’ concerns. It will be an invaluable reference for radiologists, radiation oncologists, regulators, medical physicists, technologists, other practitioners, as well as academics, researchers and students of radiation protection in medicine. Features: An authoritative and accessible guide, authored by a team who have contributed to defining the area internationally Includes numerous practical examples/clinical scenarios that illustrate the approach, presenting a pragmatic approach, rather than dwelling on philosophical theories Informed by the latest developments in the thinking of international organizations
Ethics in Everyday Places: Mapping Moral Stress, Distress, and Injury (Basic Bioethics)
by Tom KochAn exploration of moral stress, distress, and injuries inherent in modern society through the maps that pervade academic and public communications worlds.In Ethics in Everyday Places, ethicist and geographer Tom Koch considers what happens when, as he puts it, “you do everything right but know you've done something wrong." The resulting moral stress and injury, he argues, are pervasive in modern Western society. Koch makes his argument "from the ground up," from the perspective of average persons, and through a revealing series of maps in which issues of ethics and morality are embedded.The book begins with a general grounding in both moral stress and mapping as a means of investigation. The author then examines the ethical dilemmas of mapmakers and others in the popular media and the sciences, including graphic artists, journalists, researchers, and social scientists. Koch expands from the particular to the general, from mapmaker and journalist to the readers of maps and news. He explores the moral stress and injury in educational funding, poverty, and income inequality ("Why aren't we angry that one in eight fellow citizens lives in federally certified poverty?"), transportation modeling (seen in the iconic map of the London transit system and the hidden realities of exclusion), and U.S. graft organ transplantation.This uniquely interdisciplinary work rewrites our understanding of the nature of moral stress, distress and injury, and ethics in modern life. Written accessibly and engagingly, it transforms how we think of ethics—personal and professional—amid the often conflicting moral injunctions across modern society.Copublished with Esri Press
Ethics in General Practice: A Practical Handbook for Personal Development
by John Spicer Anne Orme-SmithA working understanding of medical ethics is becoming ever more important to all practising doctors. There are many ethical issues which present, often unexpectedly, to healthcare professionals which can seem impossible to resolve. This is an introductory text for everyday general practice. Key issues and relevant legal aspects are illustrated with examples and case histories, and the book is structured so particular topics can be found with ease. For added benefit, chapters have pointers for further reflection and analysis, references to journal articles and useful reading lists. The book can be used as a resource for group discussion or by individual general practitioners including GP registrars and their trainers.
Ethics in Health Services and Policy
by Dean M. HarrisThis comprehensive textbook analyzes the ethical issues of health and health care in global perspective. Ideal for students of public health, medicine, nursing and allied health professions, public policy, and ethics, the book helps students in all these areas to develop important competencies in their chosen fields. Applying a comparative, or multicultural, approach, the book compares different perspectives on ethical issues in various countries and cultures, such as informed consent, withholding or withdrawing treatment, physician-assisted suicide, reproductive health issues, research with human subjects, the right to health care, rationing of limited resources, and health system reform. Applying a transnational, or cross-border, approach, the book analyzes ethical issues that arise from the movement of patients and health professionals across national borders, such as medical tourism and transplant tourism, ethical obligations to provide care for undocumented aliens, and the "brain drain" of health professionals from developing countries. Comprehensive in scope, the book includes selected readings which provide diverse perspectives of people from different countries and cultures in their own words. Each chapter contains an introductory section centered on a specific topic and explores the different ways in which the topic is viewed around the globe. Ethics in Health Services and Policy is designed to promote student participation and offers methods of activity-based learning, including factual scenarios for analysis and discussion of specific ethical issues.
Ethics in Hospice Care: Challenges to Hospice Values in a Changing Health Care Environment
by Bruce JenningsEthics in Hospice Care: Challenges to Hospice Values in a Changing Health Care Environment explores the pressures and challenges facing hospice and aims to produce new studies and educational materials on hospice ethics to help professionals in the field. Many of the tensions felt by caregivers and practitioners in hospice stem from uncertainty about the ethical mission of hospice and the ethical dilemmas arising in practice. This volume, a result of The Hastings Center and the Hospice Foundation of America’s project on Ethical and Policy Issues in Hospice Care, addresses these issues in a clear, accessible way.Ethics in Hospice Care outlines the economic, social, and cultural challenges facing hospice care in a changing society and a changing health care environment. Issues of concern include: financial pressures as policymakers limit Medicare spending organizational pressures as hospice organizations enter a variety of new relationships with managed care organizations, home health agencies, and hospitals cultural and social challenges as Americans wrestle with moral and legal issues of death and dying and physician-assisted suicide the rapid and unplanned growth of the movement--from a single hospice in 1973 to over 2500 todayWhile primarily for practicing hospice professionals, Ethics in Hospice Care is vital reading for everyone concerned with assisted suicide, patients’rights, quality of life, managed care, physician referral, professional development, pain management, quality of care, and ethics committees.
Ethics in Intensive Care Medicine (Lessons from the ICU)
by Andrej Michalsen Nicholas Sadovnikoff Jozef KeseciogluIn this book, part of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) textbook series, experts in the field of clinical ethics describe basic principles of clinical ethics and ethical reasoning, the fundamental pillars of intensive care medicine as well as the decision-making processes necessary to arrive at appropriate decisions for each individual patient. Specifically, the complex decision-making process, with regard to limiting life-sustaining therapies and integrating palliative care into intensive care, are expounded. Furthermore, the still controversial topics of ethical climate, proportionate care, and prioritization are elaborated upon. The so-called “soft skills” of inter-professional communication and co-operation are given the attention they deserve in order to overcome the gap between technological progress and interpersonal standstill. Finally, widely accepted ethical values and principles were challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing clinicians to elaborate recommendations regarding the prioritization of scarce resources. The book will be an invaluable tool for clinicians to understand ethical principles and reasoning to contend ethical challenges in intensive care medicine across the boundaries of disciplines and professions, in order to provide an appropriate individual plan of treatment for their patients.
Ethics in Medicine
by Shabih H. ZaidiThis book both presents a succinct history of medical ethics and discusses a wide range of important ethical dilemmas in the provision of modern health care. A synopsis is provided of ethics through the ages and the role of ethics in the evolution of medicine. Principles and sources of medical ethics, as well as different religious and secular perspectives, are explained. Ethical concerns in relation to a variety of specific issues are then examined. These issues include, for example, human experimentation, stem cell research, assisted reproductive technologies, termination of pregnancy, rationing of health care, euthanasia, and quality of life issues. The author's many years of practicing medicine in different cultures and countries and his passion for theology works, philosophy, literature, poetry, history, and anthropology have informed and enriched the contents of this stimulating book.
Ethics in Mental Health-Substance Use (Mental Health–Substance Use)
by David B CooperEthics in Mental Health-Substance Use aims to explore the comprehensive concerns and dilemmas occurring from mental health and substance use problems, and to inform, develop, and educate by sharing and pooling knowledge, and enhancing expertise, in this fast developing region of ethics and ethical care and practice. This volume concentrates on ethical concerns, dilemmas, and concepts specifically interrelated, as a collation of problem(s) that directly or indirectly affect the life of the individual and family. Whilst presenting a balanced view of what is ethically best practice today, this title challenges concepts and stimulates debate, exploring all aspects of the development in treatment, intervention and care responses, and the adoption of research-led best practice.
Ethics in Participatory Research for Health and Social Well-Being: Cases and Commentaries
by Mary Brydon-Miller Sarah BanksParticipatory research is well-established as an approach involving people with a direct interest in, or experience of, the issue being studied in carrying out research. However, it raises unique and challenging ethical issues. Traditional concerns with respect for the rights to confidentiality, consent, privacy and protection of ‘research informants’ do not translate easily into participatory research. Boundaries between researchers and those researched are often blurred; research trajectories may be emergent and unpredictable; and major ethical issues revolve around partnership, power, equality and respect for diverse knowledges. The book introduces the key ethical issues in participatory research, drawing on ethical theory and relevant literature before presenting seven substantive chapters, each on a different theme, such as power, ownership, confidentiality and boundaries. The chapters feature an introductory overview of the topic with reference to the literature, followed by four real-life case examples written by participatory researchers and short commentaries on each case. Drawn from around the world (from Denmark to Tanzania), the cases illustrate a range of ethical issues, outlining how they were handled and the reflections and feelings of the contributors. Focusing on developing ethical awareness, confidence and courage to act in ethically challenging situations in everyday research practice, this book is an invaluable resource for all participatory researchers.
Ethics in Pediatrics: Achieving Excellence When Helping Children
by Ian Mitchell Juliet R. GuichonThis book offers easy access to the everyday ethics problems that occur in the medical care of children. It contains practical guidance on how physicians and other healthcare practitioners may manage both straightforward and complex ethics problems. The book provides a readable and comprehensive introduction to ethics issues for beginners and is also extremely valuable to experienced practitioners.This work covers important "classical" ethical issues such as privacy, confidentiality, truth telling, and discusses the elements of the relationships that might exist between parents and healthcare providers. However, the book also provides a resource for new and emerging areas of bioethics. These include issues arising in the new population of children who are beginning to survive the neonatal and infant periods with a multitude of problems – “children with medical complexity". Finally, it also includes a section on the advantages and pitfalls of social media use.
Ethics in Pharmacy Practice: A Practical Guide
by Dennis M. Sullivan Douglas C. Anderson Justin W. ColeThis textbook offers a unique and accessible approach to ethical decision-making for practicing pharmacists and student pharmacists. Unlike other texts, it gives clear guidance based on the fundamental principles of moral philosophy, explaining them in simple language and illustrating them with abundant clinical examples and case studies. The strength of this text is in its emphasis on normative ethics and critical thinking, and that there is truly a best answer in the vast majority of cases, no matter how complex. The authors place high trust in a pharmacist’s moral judgment. This teaches the reader how to think, based on ethical principles, not necessarily what to think. This means navigating between the two extremes of overly theoretical and excessively prescriptive. The cogent framework given in this text uses the language of competing duties, identifying the moral principles at stake that create duties for the pharmacist. This is the balancing act of normative ethics, and of deciding which duties should prevail in a given clinical situation. This work presents a clear-cut pathway for resolving ethical dilemmas encountered by pharmacists, based on foundational principles and critical thinking.Presents a clear-cut pathway for resolving the ethical dilemmas encountered by pharmacists, based on foundational principles and critical thinking.Jon E. Sprague, RPh, PhD, Director of Science and Research for the Ohio Attorney General
Ethics in Psychiatry: European Contributions
by Norman Sartorius Hanfried HelmchenEthics in Psychiatry: (1) presents a comprehensive review of ethical issues arising in psychiatric care and research; (2) relates ethical issues to changes and challenges of society; (3) examines the application of general ethics to specific psychiatric problems and relates these to moral implications of psychiatry practice; (4) deals with recently arising ethical problems; (5) contains contributions of leading European ethicists, philosophers, lawyers, historians and psychiatrists; (6) provides a basis for the exploration of culture-bound influences on morals, manners and customs in the light of ethical principles of global validity.
Ethics in Psychiatry: European Contributions (The International Library of Bioethics #110)
by Norman Sartorius Hanfried Helmchen Jakov GatherThis book presents a comprehensive review of ethical issues arising in psychiatric care and research. Compared to the first edition, ten of the 40 chapters comprising the book are new, dealing with topics that were not covered in the previous edition. A further 28 chapters have been updated by the previous authors or completely rewritten by new authors. Containing contributions by leading European ethicists, philosophers, legal scholars, and psychiatrists, this book presents an excellent resource of information and insights for both psychiatrists and other professionals who wish to develop knowledge, understanding, and awareness about ethical issues arising in their practice, research and public health action. Chapter 6 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Ethics in Public Health Practice in India
by Arima Mishra Kalyani SubbiahThis edited volume draws on ten original contributions that locate ethics at the centre-stage of public health practice. The essays explicate ethical issues, challenges, deliberations and resolutions covering a broad canvas of public health practice including policies, programmes, research, training and advocacy. The contributors are academics and practitioners in varying roles and long-standing engagement with public health in diverse settings within India. Their expertise in disciplines range from anthropology, sociology, health communications, gender studies, economics, epidemiology, social work and medicine. Their chapters deal with dimensions of ethical dilemmas that can rarely be defined and contained within ethical guidelines and protocols alone. Instead, they throw light on the associated factors, value systems and contexts in which such complexities occur and require response or redressal. This volume aims to articulate the growing awareness among practitioners that public health ethics is not merely an advanced grouping of possible problems and solutions. It hopes to facilitate robust platforms for dialogue and debate on the subject through the lenses of these contributions. The book is conceptualized to reach broader audiences such as public health practitioners and researchers in several roles within Government health systems, NGOs/Grass root organizations/CSR initiatives/advocacy groups; as well as researchers in academic settings and facilitators involved in teaching ethics and imparting training for students and young practitioners of public health.
Ethics in Public Health and Health Policy: Concepts, Methods, Case Studies
by Irene Hirschberg Daniel Strech Georg MarckmannEthical issues associated with public health and health policy--related, for example, to pandemic plans and vaccination policies (c.f. SARS or pandemic influenza), preventive measures like screening (e.g. for breast cancer or dementia) or health information campaigns, social inequalities or health care rationing--are increasing in worldwide importance. Evidence-based information for valid benefit-harm assessment is often rare and hard to get for participants in public health interventions. Program implementation often disregards requirements of fair decision-making processes (like public participation, transparency, etc.). Originating from an international conference (based on a call for abstracts and external review), this volume contains contributions from a group of experts from multiple disciplines and countries. It covers (i) conceptual foundations of public health ethics, (ii) methodological approaches and (iii) normative analyses of specific issues and cases. Bridging theoretical foundations with practical applications, this volume provides a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners and students concerned with public health practice and policy.
Ethics in Rehabilitation: A Clinical Perspective
by Ann Burkhardt Barbara KornblauEthical decision-making is a critical component in the broad spectrum of rehabilitation and health care professions today. Ethics in Rehabilitation: A Clinical Perspective, Second Edition was developed to give health and rehabilitation professionals the knowledge and tools they need to approach and solve the ethical dilemmas that challenge them in everyday practice.Following an introduction to ethical theories and principles, Drs. Kornblau and Burkhardt furnish readers with a brief overview of legal principles that may impact ethical decision making, then examine the relationship between ethical and legal principles that clinicians may encounter. The second section provides readers with an opportunity to apply what they have learned and includes more than 100 ethical dilemmas covering a wide variety of practice-related topics. Further reinforcing the concepts, the final sections consist of ethical dilemma worksheets and a set of additional learning resources to assist in the examination and resolution of ethical dilemmas.Features:• More than 100 sample ethical dilemmas extracted from actual practice experiences • Ethical dilemma worksheets to guide learning and illustrate course of action • Extensive set of appendices including sample laws and regulations • Online access to internet resources of state licensure and related lawsEthics in Rehabilitation: A Clinical Perspective, Second Edition offers readers a practical approach to ethics within a clinical context to allow practitioners, educators, and researchers to raise questions, attempt to answer them, and promote and improve ethical practice in rehabilitation.
Ethics in Research: Principles and Practical Considerations (UNIPA Springer Series)
by Antonio Russo Francesco Lo Piccolo Lorella Congiunti Mario SerioThis book draws a connection between ethics and research across social sciences, philosophy, medical sciences and legal sciences, and demonstrates that any research activity needs to be conducted by means of rules deriving from the field of ethics. Although having a common core, such rules assume different characteristics depending on the branch of science, as the contributions on philosophy, medicine, dentistry, law, biotechnology, robotics and architecture highlight. It also investigates the more complex ethical concerns and places them in a larger, technological context. Starting with an introduction to common-sense ethical principles, the contributions then guide the reader, helping them develop and understand a comprehensive knowledge on the field. Notably, it appeared interesting to analyze recent events related to the arrival of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic in light of ethical principles, highlighting in what terms their applicability can still be confirmed. Moreover, the book makes these topics accessible to a non-expert audience, while also offering alternative reading pathways to inspire more specialized readers.
Ethics in Social Networking and Business 2: The Future and Changing Paradigms
by Pierre MassotteThis book, the second of two volumes dedicated to ethics in social networking and business, presents the future and changing paradigms related to ethics, and morality in our interconnected society. This volume analyzes advanced topics, including new technologies, transhumanism and uberization, to provide a more complex, shared and collective environment into why business ethics is essential for managing risks and uncertainties. The Ethics in Social Networking and Business series is the result of a cross-integration of real experiences (from IBM, society and the Rotary Club), transdisciplinary works in decision making, and advances at the boundaries of several scientific fields.
Ethics in Veterinary Practice: Balancing Conflicting Interests
by Bernard E. Rollin Barry KippermanEthics IN Veterinary Practice An incisive examination of relevant and contemporary ethical issues facing veterinary practitioners, students, instructors, and animal researchers In Ethics in Veterinary Practice: Balancing Conflicting Interests, a team of distinguished scholars delivers a foundational exploration of animal ethics and a guide to examining contemporary issues and dilemmas that arise regularly in veterinary practice. The book offers comprehensive, quickly accessible, and up-to-date information on veterinary ethics with content devoted to unique issues by practice type. The authors offer a primary resource for veterinary ethics useful for veterinarians, faculty, instructors, senior undergraduates, and veterinary students that focuses on recognizing and addressing real-life ethical dilemmas and relevant philosophical discussions about the moral status of animals, animal rights, and interests. Ethics in Veterinary Practice presents material on integrative medicine, animal pain, moral stress, and the future of veterinary ethics. Readers will also find: A thorough introduction to a theoretical basis for veterinary ethics, including discussions of animal welfare, ethical theories, and legal issues Comprehensive explorations of clinical veterinary ethics, including discussions of veterinary advocacy, ethical dilemmas, professionalism, economic issues, and medical errors Practical discussions of ethical concerns by practice type, including companion animals, equines, and animals used for food In-depth examination of emerging ethical concerns including animal use in veterinary education and animal maltreatment Perfect for practicing veterinarians, veterinary students, and veterinary technicians and nurses, Ethics in Veterinary Practice: Balancing Conflicting Interests will also earn a place in the libraries of instructors teaching veterinary ethics, as well as biomedical and animal ethicists.
Ethics in an Epidemic: AIDS, Morality, and Culture
by Timothy F. MurphyAIDS strikes most heavily at those already marginalized by conventional society. With no immediate prospect of vaccination or cure, how can liberty, dignity, and reasoned hope be preserved in the shadow of an epidemic? In this humane and graceful book, philosopher Timothy Murphy offers insight into our attempts—popular and academic, American and non-American, scientific and political—to make moral sense of pain.Murphy addresses the complex moral questions raised by AIDS for health-care workers, politicians, policy makers, and even people with AIDS themselves. He ranges widely, analyzing contrasting visions of the origin and the future of the epidemic, the moral and political functions of obituaries, the uncertain value of celebrity involvement in anti-AIDS education, the functional uses of AIDS in the discourse of presidential campaigns, the exclusionary function of HIV testing for immigrants, the priority given to AIDS on the national health agenda, and the hypnotic publicity given to "innocent" victims.Murphy's discussions of the many social and political confusions about AIDS are unified by his attempt to articulate the moral assumptions framing our interpretations of the epidemic. By understanding those assumptions, we will be in a better position to resist self-serving and invidious moralizing, reckless political response, and social censure of the sick and the dying.