Product Description

Investigates trust and honesty in medicine and the doctor-patient relationship, raising questions of patients' autonomy and self-determination. Of interest to those working in medical ethics and applied philosophy, and for medical practitioners.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #953199 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From the Back Cover
How should doctors resolve conflicts between their duty to be truthful and their other duties? What does the duty to be truthful actually involve? Is lying for the benefit of patients a betrayal of trust? Is the deliberate concealment of truth necessarily dishonest?
Jennifer Jackson investigates the notions of trust and honesty in medicine. She questions whether honesty and openness are of equal importance in maintaining the trust necessary in a doctor-patient relationship. The book begins with the assumption that doctors, nurses and counsellors have a basic duty to be worthy of the trust their patients place in them. Yet our understanding of what being trustworthy means, in the practices of modern medicine, is confused and uncertain. Doctor-patient relationships have recently come under serious scrutiny in ethical debates over issues such as: withholding information, obtaining consent, and employing covert practices in psychiatric , palliative and paediatric contexts. This book boldly raises these questions which disturb our very modern notions of a patient's autonomy, self-determination and informed consent.
Truth, Trust and Medicine will be of interest to all those in medical ethics and applied philosophy, and a valuable resource for practitioners of medicine.

About the Author
Jennifer Jackson is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Business and Professional Ethics at the University of Leeds, UK.