Engaging Bioethics

Presuming readers start with no background in philosophy, this enhanced introduction to bioethics first provides balanced, philosophically based coverage of moral reasoning, moral theories, and the law. It then leads the newly equipped reader to explore a range of important ethical issues in health care and biomedical research.

Engaging Bioethics, Second Edition is designed for undergraduates throughout the humanities and social sciences as well as for healthcare professionals-in-training, including students in medical school, pre-medicine, nursing, public health, and those studying to assist physicians in various capacities. Along with coverage of standard bioethical issues—such as vaccination, access to health care, new reproductive technologies, genetics, research on human and animal subjects, abortion, medical confidentiality, and disclosure—it now addresses ethical aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs v Jackson decision, use of CRISPR for human gene editing, and the expansion of medically assisted death globally.

Key Features






Flexibility for the instructor, with chapters that can be read independently and in an order that fits the course structure
Integration with case studies and primary sources
Attention to issues of gender, race, cultural diversity, and justice in health care
Pedagogical features to help instructors and students
A companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/seay) with a virtual anthology linking to key primary sources, a test bank, topics for papers, and PowerPoints for lectures and class discussion

Key Updates to the Second Edition



An expanded treatment of vaccination ethics
A new chapter wholly devoted to the tools of moral thinking
Additional topics on the patient–healthcare professional relationship such as social nudging in health care and public health, and the limits of beneficence in connection with the burnout of frontline healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic
New, up-to-date cases and questions for further discussion throughout the chapters
Updated learning objectives and overviews for each chapter