Product Description

Bioethics, still in its infancy, is routinely called on by the government to provide political cover for controversial public health decisions involving the life and death of Americans. Doomsday or worst-case scenarios are often at the heart of these biopolitical decisions. A central feature of science fiction, these scenarios can impart useful insights. But worst-case scenarios, like Frankenstein's monster, can also be unpredictably destructive, undermining both preparedness and the very values bioethics seeks to promote. Discovering a new flu strain, for example, leads immediately to visions of the 1918 flu pandemic, the worst in human history. Likewise, a "ticking time bomb" scenario leads to the use of physicians for torture, and he all purpose worst case charge of "socialism" threatens to derail meaningful healthcare reform. In Worst Case Bioethics George Annas employs contemporary disputes involving death and disaster to explore the radical changes underway in public health pract

ISBN 9780195391732Edition 01Binding Paper