Reviews

QOTD: Are you a hedgehog or a fox? Let me know down below! The🦔 knows 1 universal, organized system (Dante, Plato, …) while the🦊 knows many experiences & is more centrifugal than centripetal (Shakespeare, Aristotle…). I think I’m a🦊

Written by a medical doctor (psychiatrist) & professor of ethics at Oxford uni, this 154 page book is a quick intro into the world of medical ethics. I’m studying dentistry & have always been interested in med & healthcare, so it was natural for me to read this. I got it for a great price at @keatsandchapman . Ethics is such a complicated field, there’s so many twists & turns, a mix of philosophy & science. This covers the excitement of medical ethics, morality of euthanasia, preventing statistical deaths, assisted reproduction & it’s effect on possible future children, reasoning toolbox, ethics around treatment of mentally ill patients, modern genetics & traditional confidentiality, ethics of medical research, family medicine. It has some illustrations + lots of notes, references & further reading at the back. Mentioned the Gillick case- Children under age of 16 can consent to their own treatment if they're believed to have enough intelligence, competence & understanding to fully understand what's involved in their treatment (Gillick competent). We studied this in our class! Also, mentioned a scenario I found interesting: “If you were a geneticist & found out that John was not the father of the newborn baby, would you tell him of protect the mom’s confidentiality?” It’s interesting cause most geneticists would lie & protect the mother while 3/4 of civilians, especially women, think the man should be told the truth. Interesting difference. Overall, a thought provoking & difficult read, but one worth doing