2007-01-15 Clear, concise and comprehensive

This is an excellent text for those studying this area, covering all of the issues which are important in this area with a clarity and simplicity that is admirable, especially given some of the subject matter. The authors tackle controversial issues with sensitivity, but do not refrain from giving their own views about the law, views which are backed up with case law, legislation and their own extensive knowledge of relevant and contemporary academic debates. The book will leave the student with a thorough knowledge of what the law is and how it may be reformed.

This book provides a superb overview of the law in each of the chapters (detailed below), although those wanting particularly detailed knowledge of theory and case law in a particular area would be well advised to consult academic journals alongside reading this textbook. Nonetheless, this will be a good starting point for research where the subject matter is unfamiliar, and the authors are very good theorists in their own right.

Chapters in this volume are:
1. Medical Ethics and Medical Practice
2. Public Health and the State/Patient Relationship
3. Health Rights and Obligations in the European Union
4. The Management of Infertility and Childlessness
5. The Control of Fertility
6. Civil and Criminal Liability in Reproductive Medicine
7. Genetic Information and the Law
8. Medical Confidentiality
9. Liability for Medical Injury
10. Consent to Treatment
11. Health Resources and Dilemmas in Treatment
12. Treatment of the Aged
13. The Diagnosis of Death
14. The Donation of Organs and Transplantation
15. The Body as Property
16. Medical Futility
17. Euthanasia
18. Biomedical Human Research and Experimentation
19. Research on Children, Fetuses and Embryos
20. Mental Health and Human Rights.