Ethics for Health Care encourages students to develop their skills in ethical reasoning, and shows techniques for dealing effectively with contemporary ethics issues faced by professionals in the everyday health care setting.

The text illustrates the way in which ethics values underpin decision making in personal contexts. It then explores how the same standards and ideals can inform professional decision-making in all health care disciplines - from nursing and social work to community, allied and public health. Using a ‘treatment sequence’ approach, blended with new 4th edition chapters addressing the phases of life, the text takes students through the process of training to work in health care, to meeting a patient, and contributing to that person’s care. It is clearly written and contains pedagogical aids throughout, which make the language and concepts of ethics easier to grasp.

NEW TO THIS EDITION

Chapter 10 (from 3rd edition) has become Chapter 1. The new chapter 1 presents the ethical theories and how they will be covered throughout the chapters of the book.‘From Theory to Practice’ boxes throughout the textNew chapters blend ‘phases of life’ approach to ethics into the text:  ‘At the Beginning of Life’ is now an entire chapter (6) ‘When the Patient is Young’ is now an entire chapter (7) ‘Mid-Life and Health Care Challenges (New chapter) (8) ‘Declining Phases of Life and End of Life Challenges’ is now an entire chapter (9).