Health Care Ethics is a comprehensive study of significant issues affecting health care and the ethics of health care from the perspective of Catholic theology. It aims to help Christian, and especially Catholic, health care professionals solve concrete problems in terms of principles rooted in scripture and tested by individual experience; however, its basis in real medical experience makes this book a valuable resource for anyone with a general interest in health care ethics.

This fifth edition, which includes important contributions by Jean deBlois, C.S.J., considers everyday ethical questions and dilemmas in clinical care and deals more deeply with issues of women's health, mental health, sexual orientation, artificial reproduction, and the new social issues in health care. The authors devote special attention to the various ethical theories currently in use in the United States while clearly presenting a method of ethical decision making based in the Catholic tradition. They discuss the needs of the human person, outlining what it means to be human, both as an individual and as part of a community.

This volume has been significantly updated to include new discussions of recent clinical innovations and theoretical issues that have arisen in the field:

• the Human Genome Project• efforts to control sexual selection of infants• efforts to genetically modify the human genotype and phenotype• the development of palliative care as a medical specialty• the acceptance of non-heart beating persons as organ donors• embryo development and stem cell research• reconstructive and cosmetic surgery• nutrition and obesity• medical mistakes• the negative effects of managed care on the patient-physician relationship• recent papal allocution regarding care of patients in a persistent vegetative state and palliative care for dying patients

Benedict M. Ashley, OP, a priest of the Dominican Order, Chicago Province, is Emeritus Professor of Moral Theology at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis. He is a senior fellow of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. He has been honored with the medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice conferred by John Paul II and the Thomas Linacre Award from the National Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds. He is coautor of Ethics of Health Care: An Introductory Textbook, Third Edition (with Kevin O'Rourke, OP).

Jean deBlois, CSJ, is director of the Master of Arts in Health Care Mission program at Aquinas Institute of Theology. She also acts as sponsor liaison to Ascension Health for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and serves on the Ascension Health Board of Directors. She is a former Vice President for Mission and Sponsorship at the Catholic Health Association.

Kevin O'Rourke, OP, is professor emeritus and founder of the Center for Health Care Ethics at the Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center. He is a professor of bioethics at the Neiswanger Institute of Bioethics and Public Policy, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University, Chicago. He is author of Medical Ethics: Sources of Catholic Teachings, Third Edition and coauthor of A Primer for Health Care Ethics: Essays for a Pluralistic Society, Second Edition.

Introduction

List of Abbreviations Used in the Text and in Citations

Part I: Health Care Ethics and Human Needs

1. Bioethics in a Multicultural AgeOverviewThe Emergence of Secular BioethicsThe Foundations of the Ethics of Health CareCurrent Methodologies in BioethicsFaith and Reason in Health Care EthicsConclusion

2. Ethics and Needs of the Common Person OverviewAn Ethics Based on Innate Human NeedsJesus Christ, Healer, as Ethical ModelCharacter and the Major Moral VirtuesPrudent Decision MakingMoral Norms Especially Relevant to Health CareConclusion

Part II: Clinical Issues

3. Sexuality and ReproductionOverviewThe Meaning of Human SexualityWhen Does Human Life Begin?Ethical Issues in ReproductionPastoral Approach to Ethical Problems Arising from SexualityConclusion

4. Reconstructing and Modifying the Human Body: Ethical PerspectivesOverviewModifying the Human BodyGenetic InterventionGenetic Screening and CounselingOrgan TransplantationReconstructive and Cosmetic SurgeryExperimentation and Research on Human SubjectsConclusion

5. Mental Health: Ethical Perspective OverviewWhat is Mental Health?Medical/Surgical TherapiesPsychotherapiesThe Christian Model of Mental HealthEthical Problems in Mental TherapyAddictionConclusion

6.Suffering and Death: A Theological Perspective OverviewMystery of DeathFear of DeathDefining DeathTruth Telling to the DyingCare for the Corpse or CadaverSuicide, Assisted Suicide, and EuthanasiaAllowing to Die: Withholding or Withdrawing Life SupportCare of Permanently Unconscious PatientsTreatment of PainConclusion

Part III: Social and Pastoral Responsibilities

7. Social Responsibility OverviewProfessions: Depersonalizing TrendsCharacteristics of Medicine as a ProfessionHealth Care CounselingProfessional Communication and ConfidentialityThe Political Situation of Health Care TodayPrinciples of Health Care PolicyHealth Care Ethics and Public PolicyResponsibilities of Catholic Health Care FacilitiesConclusion

8. Pastoral Care OverviewThe Goals of Pastoral MinistryPastoral Care of the Health Care StaffPastoral Care and Ethical CounselingSpiritual Counseling in Health CareCelebrating the Healing ProcessConclusion

GlossaryReferencesIndex