Hippocratic, Religious, and Secular Medical Ethics

Robert M. Veatch is a professor of medical ethics at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities and a former member of the editorial board of the Journal of the American Medical Association. He is the author or editor of over forty books, including The Basics of Bioethics, Transplantation Ethics, and Patient, Heal Thyself.

• Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction: The Hippocratic Problem 1. The Hippocratic Oath and the Ethic of Hippocratism 2. The Hippocratic Tradition: A Sporadic Retreat 3. The Cacophony of Codes in Medical Schools and Professional Associations 4. The Limits of Professionally Generated Ethics 5. Religious Medical Ethics: Revealed and Natural Alternatives 6. Secular Ethics and Professional Ethics 7. Fallibilism and the Convergence Hypothesis Appendix: Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights Bibliography Index

Veatch is instantly recognizable to all specialists in the field of bioethics as the leading and long-term opponent of the effort of the Hippocratic tradition across two millennia to locate medical ethics solely within the medical guild and to assert the guild's right and duty to define - for both professionals and their patients ... It is the author's magnum opus on medical ethics set within a scholarly, historical framework. America Magazine A provocative and challenging starting point for discussion about the foundations of medical ethics. Ethics and Medicine Hippocratic, Religious, and Secular Medical Ethics is one of those books that provides us with a bigger picture of our everyday narrow topic of interest in the field of medical ethics. Fundamental questions lead us to the sources of the most important points of conflict in this field. Veatch does not leave us with these questions but suggests interesting solutions. The book is definitely worth reading. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy In many ways, the core argument of the book is what may be his most significant contribution to medical ethics: what Veatch describes as the problem of the generalization of expertize. Health Progress This is an important book for clinicians and all teachers of professional ethics, not only medical ethics. Choice