Ethics and the Metaphysics of Medicine
Subtitle: Reflections on Health and Beneficence (Basic Bioethics)
Publisher: The MIT Press; MIT Press
Published: July 1, 2004
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 232
ISBN-13: 9780262182386
Subjects: Medical ethics; Medical / Nursing; Medical; Ethics; Medical / Ethics; Health Policy; Health; Hume, David,; Medicine; Philosophy
First sentence: Definitions of health and disease, rather than being of academic use only, are critically important in our society.
Description: "In Ethics and the Metaphysics of Medicine, Kenneth Richman develops an "embedded instrumentalist" theory of health and applies it to practical problems in health care and medicine, addressing topics that range from the philosophy of science to knee surgery." ""Embedded instrumentalist" theories hold that health is a match between one's goals and one's ability to reach those goals, and that the relevant goals may vary from individual to individual. This captures the normative implications of the term health while avoiding problematic relativism. Richman's embedded instrumentalism differs from other theories of health in drawing a distinction between the health of individuals as biological organisms and the health of individuals as moral agents. This distinction illuminates many difficulties in patient-provider communication and helps us understand conflicts between promoting health and promoting ethically permissible behavior. After exploring, expanding, and defending this theory in the first part of the book, Richman examines its ethical implications, discussing such concerns as the connection between medical beneficence and respect for autonomy, patient-provider communication, living wills, and clinical education."--BOOK JACKET.