Global Bioethics and Human Rights: Contemporary Issues - Tapa dura

There is something paradoxical and honest about this book: though its title patently suggests there is such a thing as global bioethics (for many, a rather volatile concept), its contents challenge and support that notion in equal measure, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions. This in itself makes the volume recommendable. The book is organized into four sections ranging from the theoretical perspectives of global bioethics to issues of human rights, culture, and public health. The theoretical perspectives are well balanced between those who support the notion-Bernard Gert and Tom Beauchamp-and those who challenge it-Soren Holm, quite eloquently. The remaining sections offer a similar degree of equilibrium, and the articles are consistently interesting, though some seem more convincing than others, perhaps depending on readers' previous views of global bioethics. In sum, this is a thought-provoking, interesting volume for those who want to better understand what global bioethics may or may not be and the sorts of issues it addresses. For those looking for a body of doctrine about global bioethics, this book, paradoxically, may cause doubt about the very existence of such a notion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. * CHOICE * The ethical challenges of modern medicine and healthcare are no respecters of national boundaries. We are increasingly faced with problems which are inherently global. This important collection takes a wide range of key ethical issues in global health and examines them in the context of human rights theory and practice. It is the first collection of its kind and it could not be more useful or more timely. -- Richard Ashcroft, Professor of Bioethics, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London Combine authors from a Who is Who list in ethics with global issues that interest us all - care for the elderly, Fukushima, immigration detention and more - and you achieve this book. Well done to the editors! -- Doris Schroeder, director of the Centre for Professional Ethics, UCLan, UK

Editors Wanda Teays, John-Stewart Gordon, and Alison Dundes Renteln have assembled the works of an interdisciplinary, international team of experts in bioethics into a comprehensive, innovative and accessible book. Topics covered range from torture and lethal injection to euthanasia, sex selection, vulnerable human subjects, to health equity, safety and public health, and environmental disasters like Bhopal, Fukushima, and more.