About the author

Richard E. Thompson, MD, has taught ethics at St. Petersburg College, St. Petersburg, Fla.; and Missouri State University, Springfield, Mo.; and Drury University in Springfield, Mo. He is a self-taught ethicist who studied under several mentors.

He has practiced in pediatrics and neonatology. He also has been a writer, speaker and consultant in credentialing, physician performance evaluation and medical staff bylaws. His MD is from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo.

Contents

  • Part I About Ethics
  • Chapter 1 What Ethics Is and Is Not
  • Chapter 2 Traditional Theoretical Ethics
  • Chapter 3 21st Century Neo-Ethics: GMI
  • Part II How to Think and Argue Like a Modern-Day Ethicist
  • Chapter 4 Critical Thinking (Uncommon Sense)
  • Chapter 5 Argumentation Skills: Socratic Dialogue/Debate
  • Chapter 6 The Fallacies
  • Part III About Health Care Ethics
  • Chapter 7 The Four Faces of 21st Century Health Care Ethics
  • Chapter 8 How to Think and Argue Like a Health Care Ethicist
  • Part IV About the Hospital’s 21st Century Ethics Committee
  • Chapter 9 The Ethics Committee: Why Have One, What Does It Do, and Who Is on the Ethics Committee
  • Chapter 10 Some Organizational Details
  • Chapter 11 Meeting Procedures and Standardized Agenda
  • Part V Case Studies for Discussion: Traditional Medical Ethics
  • Chapter 12 Living Wills and Surrogate Decision-Makers: Voluntary Passive Euthanasia; The Birth of Hospital Ethics Committees
  • Chapter 13 Assisted Self-Determination
  • Chapter 14 Purposeful Interruption of a Pregnancy
  • Part VI Case Studies for Discussion: Organizational Ethics Applied to Health Care
  • Chapter 15 A Hospital Board and Executive Staff Define “Reasonable Self-Interest”
  • Chapter 16 Integrity in Advertising
  • Part VII Case Studies for Discussion: Medical Bioethics
  • Chapter 17 Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis
  • Chapter 18 Nanotechnology