Michael L. Gross, Bioethics and Armed Conflict: Moral Dilemmas of Medicine and War

摘要

Do medical professionals face special ethical issues during times of war? And do standard principles of medical ethics-i.e., those that apply during peacetime-hold during wartime? Answering yes to the first question and no to the second, Michael Gross blasts open an important new field of inquiry for bioethics. Providing a historically and philosophically well-informed, original, and comprehensive treatment of poorly chartered terrain, Bioethics and Armed Conflict is an essential source for anyone concerned with military medical ethics and important reading for bioethics students and scholars in general. Because its conclusions are so provocative, this book will undoubtedly spark heated debate. Gross argues that cherished bioethical requirements of informed consent and confidentiality, and prohibitions against torture and biological and chemical weapons, among other things, sometimes are-and, more importantly, should be-themselves casualties of war.