Poverty Vulnerability The Value Of Human Life And The Emergence Of Bioethics

Records the papers and discussions of an international conference convened to consider how bioethics and human rights can be applied in socioeconomic development aimed at a more equitable distribution of resources and privileges. The conference, which was attended by leading experts in ethics, health legislation, and human rights, gave particular attention to poverty and vulnerability as fundamental human conditions that should become central concerns of bioethics at the global level. Throughout, bioethics is regarded as a social movement concerned with human and ethical values in the formulation of health policy as well as in the practice of medicine.

Alongside globalization, the sense of vulnerability among people and populations has increased. We feel vulnerable to disease as new infections spread rapidly across the globe, while disasters and climate change make health increasingly precarious. Moreover, clinical trials of new drugs often exploit vulnerable populations in developing countries that otherwise have no access to healthcare and new genetic technologies make people with disabilities vulnerable to discrimination. Therefore the concept of ‘vulnerability’ has contributed new ideas to the debates about the ethical dimensions of medicine and healthcare. This book explains and elaborates the new concept of vulnerability in today’s bioethics. Firstly, Henk ten Have argues that vulnerability cannot be fully understood within the framework of individual autonomy that dominates mainstream bioethics today: it is often not the individual person who is vulnerable, rather that his or her vulnerability is created through the social and economic conditions in which he or she lives. Contending that the language of vulnerability offers perspectives beyond the traditional autonomy model, this book offers a new approach which will enable bioethics to evolve into a global enterprise. This groundbreaking book critically analyses the concept of vulnerability as a global phenomenon. It will appeal to scholars and students of ethics, bioethics, globalization, healthcare, medical science, medical research, culture, law, and politics.

A comparative analysis of the legislation in the field of bioethics in several Western countries, especially in European Union member states, shows that there is a profound difference both in legislative policies and in the ethical principles enshrined by the laws. Over the past few years bioethics, as a discipline, has attempted to elaborate individual and collective behavioural codes in several fields, but it has come up against enormous difficulties; it has not even been possible to reach a consensus between different countries on the general principles. An example of this is the recent Convention on Bioethics endorsed by the Council of Europe. The aim of the essays contained in this book is to highlight the differences between existing regulations in several countries, and to stress how necessary it is to elaborate a legal framework that could be shared by the widest range of national legislations. For there is no denying that technological advances in the fields of both biology and medicine, as well as progress in surgical treatments, mean that jurists the world over are faced with a common scientific reality. The task of the jurist must therefore be to engage in a comparative analysis so as to overcome the differences in national legislations.

This Dictionary presents a broad range of topics relevant in present-day global bioethics. With more than 500 entries, this dictionary covers organizations working in the field of global bioethics, international documents concerning bioethics, personalities that have played a role in the development of global bioethics, as well as specific topics in the field.The book is not only useful for students and professionals in global health activities, but can also serve as a basic tool that explains relevant ethical notions and terms. The dictionary furthers the ideals of cosmopolitanism: solidarity, equality, respect for difference and concern with what human beings- and specifically patients - have in common, regardless of their backgrounds, hometowns, religions, gender, etc. Global problems such as pandemic diseases, disasters, lack of care and medication, homelessness and displacement call for global responses.This book demonstrates that a moral vision of global health is necessary and it helps to quickly understand the basic ideas of global bioethics.

“His discussion of the ways in which those who try to make themselves invulnerable . . . undermine what makes us most human, is clear and bracing.” —Los Angeles Review of Books In a moving examination of life and the trials that beset it, Todd May shows that our fragility, our ability to suffer, is actually one of the most important aspects of our humanity. May starts with a simple but hard truth: suffering is inevitable. At the most basic level, we suffer physically—a sprained ankle or a bad back. But we also suffer insults and indifference. We suffer from overburdened schedules and unforeseen circumstances, from moral dilemmas and emotional heartaches. Even just thinking about our own mortality—the fact that we only live one life—can lead us to tremendous suffering. No wonder philosophies such as Buddhism, Taoism, Stoicism, and even Epicureanism—all of which counsel us to rise above these plights—have had appeal over the centuries. May highlights the tremendous value of these philosophies and the ways they can guide us toward better lives, but he also exposes a major drawback to their tenets: such invulnerability is too emotionally disengaged from the world, leading us to place too great a distance between ourselves and our experience. Rather than seeking absolute immunity, he argues most of us just want to hurt less and learn how to embrace and accept what suffering we do endure in a meaningful way. Offering a guide on how to positively engage suffering, May ultimately lays out a new way of thinking about how we exist in the world.

Human Lives: Critical Essays on Consequentialist Bioethics is a collection of original papers by philosophers from Britain, the USA and Australia. The aim of the book is to redress the imbalance in moral philosophy created by the dominance of consequentialism, the view that the criterion of morality is the maximization of good effects over bad, without regard for basic right or wrong. This approach has become the orthodoxy over the last few decades, particularly in the field of bioethics, where moral theory is applied to matters of life and death. The essays in Human Lives critically examine the assumptions and arguments of consequentialism, reviving in the process important concepts such as rights, justice, innocence, natural integrity, flourishing, the virtues, and the fundamental value of human life.

The rapidly evolving world of global health and medicine -- in the palm of your hand "The book's 17 multi-authored chapters cover contemporary global public health remarkably well....Overall, it is a superb introductory text for preclinical and public health novices in global health across a wide spectrum of health careers."--Family Medicine Journal "This is a welcome addition to the expanding roster of books on global health. It is well written and provides appropriate background information required to initiate any study program in global health. 3 Stars."--Doody's Review Service Understanding Global Health is the groundbreaking, go-to primer that puts global health and its many challenges into sharp focus like no other text. Written with the nonspecialist in mind, this powerful resource expertly reviews all the core topics that you must know in order to thrive in this decentralized new global health environment. It's all here: unique, authoritative coverage of public health concepts, plus insights into infectious diseases and clinical medicine-everything you need to truly comprehend how global medicine is dramatically affecting today's practice of medicine-and to prepare for your role in it.