Synopsis

"This most noteworthy and authoritative collection of 67 essays...represents 'the Penn way of doing bioethics' ....The Penn Center is widely known for multidisciplinary scholarship that emphasizes empirical inquiry on bioethical issues coupled with practical application(s)....The book provides excellent coverage of...both classical topics (e.g., informed consent, infertility, eugenics) and emerging issues (e.g., cloning, nonprofessional caregiving, privacy of thought in the age of brain imaging). The contributors, including the three editors, are either well-established or emerging scholars. Each essay offers historical background, an overview of relevant issues, a conclusion, and a list of references....Summing Up: Highly recommended."

—Choice

"This well-written book addresses a wide-ranging assortment of traditional bioethics issues that persist in the field as well as contemporary bioethics concerns that have evolved with new technologies and medical advances. This is a great resource for scholars in bioethics as well as various other relevant disciplines concerned with bioethical issues." Score: 96, 4 stars

—Doody's

The Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania is the internationally recognized leader in bioethical education and research. Its interdisciplinary faculty is drawn from the fields of medicine, law, nursing, education, philosophy, psychology, and religious studies. Arthur L. Caplan, the Center's founding director, is recognized as one of the most influential experts in bioethics. He has authored numerous books and articles, and served as the Chair of the Advisory Committee to the United Nations on human cloning.

The Penn Center's leading fellows, Autumn Fiester and Vardit Ravitsky, have combined their expertise with Dr. Caplan and over 80 other contributors to create The Penn Center Guide to Bioethics—the foremost authority on both traditional and cutting-edge bioethical issues. The Penn Guide navigates uncharted ethical terrains, undoubtedly shaping both academic and public discourses on the challenging controversies generated by new technologies, theories, and medical advances.

This volume represents the Penn Center's distinct, pioneering approach to bioethics, one that emphasizes empirical treatment of bioethical issues, and the integration of bioethical scholarship with practical application.

Learn what the Penn Center has to say about:

• Neuroethics and brain imaging: Is my mind mine?
  
• Choosing future people: reproductive technologies and identity
  
• Eugenics and survival of the fittest in the modern world
  
• Bioethics and national security
  
• Vaccination, abortion, nanotechnology, organ transplantation, end-of-life issues, and more
  

The Penn Guide will be the definitive text for policy makers, health practitioners, researchers, and students. This book will also inform the general public, patients, and family members as they seek answers to the bioethical issues of the day.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Holly A Bante, MPH, MS(Saint Louis University)
Description:This book addresses traditional bioethics issues such as withdrawal of life support and human research subject protections as well as emerging issues in areas of neuroethics, biotechnology, and genetic screening. This comprehensive collection of topics is written by a variety of bioethics experts from the University of Pennsylvania and scholars previously affiliated with the Penn Center.
Purpose:The purpose is to provide a broad overview of bioethical quandaries that are continuously evolving and presenting daily challenges. Through empirical and normative ethical approaches, the book addresses numerous bioethics issues and controversies.
Audience:This is intended to be read and used as a tool to confront key bioethical issues not only by bioethics scholars but also by individuals engaging in public policy and industry. The book bridges bioethics scholarship with practical application. It includes perspectives that impact education, policy, and consultation. Arthur Caplan, the Center's founding director and a coauthor of the book, is a leading expert in bioethics and has authored numerous books and articles on a wide variety of bioethical issues.
Features:The book is organized into 12 overarching topics such as vaccines, organ transplantation, and access to healthcare, with numerous chapters in each. Each chapter provides a historical synopsis of the topic and then discusses how it has evolved, where it stands today, and where it's heading. Although the chapters are brief and provide merely a brief overview of the subject matter, key aspects are addressed and various perspectives are provided.
Assessment:This well-written book addresses a wide-ranging assortment of traditional bioethics issues that persist in the field as well as contemporary bioethics concerns that have evolved with new technologies and medical advances. This is a great resource for scholars in bioethics as well as various other relevant disciplines concerned with bioethical issues.

Biography

Arthur L. Caplan is the Emmanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics, Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and the Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Prior to coming to Penn in 1994, Caplan taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of Pittsburgh, and Columbia University. He was the Associate Director of the Hastings Center from 1984-1987. He is the author or editor of twenty-five books and over 500 papers in refereed journals of medicine, science, philosophy, bioethics and health policy.

Caplan is the recipient of many awards and honors including the McGovern Medal of the American Medical Writers Association, Person of the Year-2001 from USA Today, one of the fifty most influential people in American health care by Modern Health Care magazine and one of the ten most influential people in America in biotechnology by the National Journal. He holds six honorary degrees from colleges and medical schools. He is a fellow of the Hastings Center, the NY Academy of Medicine, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He writes a regular column on bioethics for MSNBC.com and is a frequent guest and commentator on National Public Radio, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and many other media outlets.

Autumn Fiester, PhD is the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Medical Ethics. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for Bioethics. She received her PhD in moral philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania and her AM in sociology from Harvard University. Her research interests include animals & bioethics, clinical professionalism, and moral theory.

Vardit Ravitsky, PhD,is a faculty member at the Department of Medical Ethics and a senior fellow at the Center for Bioethics, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Previously, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Clinical Bioethics at the NIH and at the Social and Behavioral Research Branch (SBRB) of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).