Increasingly, notions of individual autonomy, personal “choice” and preference have become woven into our reproductive expectations. With respect to prenatal screening, the choices sought, offered or denied are shaped and interpreted through a range of social, personal, institutional and philosophical lenses. While prenatal screening seeks to promote parental choice and early intervention, for the most part, the genetic anomalies commonly targeted are inherently “unfixable.” Frequently, the only further intervention on offer is selective termination. Hence, the practice of prenatal screening raises complex ethical questions, forcing judgement on the desirability or undesirability of certain traits in our future offspring. This book explores the numerous factors that shape how such ethical choices are interpreted from the perspective of individual mothers and health care providers, and considers the impact of these factors on personal autonomy and consent to prenatal screening.

This edited collection seeks to map the landscape of contemporary informational interests, to evaluate a range of recognised and putative rights and wrongs associated with modern information societies, and to consider how law, regulation, and governance should be deployed in response. New technologies and new applications constantly disrupt our values, our framing of our world, and our sense of where we are and who we are. In our ‘information societies’, we entertain mixed hopes and expectations, as well as significant fears and concerns. At the root of these, there are a number of informational interests, on the basis of which certain rights are claimed and particular wrongs denounced. This book addresses these interests, considering them as relating primarily to the integrity of the informational ecosystem, to the accessibility, accuracy, and authenticity of public information, and to our individual ability to control the outward and inward flows of information that relates directly to ourselves. Covering a wide range of subjects, the book’s interrogation of our contemporary information society is oriented around two questions: first, whether the information society in which we live is the kind of society that we think it should be and, second, if not, what we can reasonably expect law, regulation, and governance to do in providing the basis for improving it. This book will be of considerable interest to those working at the intersection of law and technology, as well as others concerned with the legal, political, and social aspects of our information society.

Clinical Genome Sequencing: Psychological Aspects thoroughly details key psychological factors to consider while implementing genome sequencing in clinical practice, taking into account the subtleties of genetic risk assessment, patient consent and best practices for sharing genomic findings. Chapter contributions from leading international researchers and practitioners cover topics ranging from the current state of genomic testing, to patient consent, patient responses to sequencing data, common uncertainties, direct-to-consumer genomics, the role of genome sequencing in precision medicine, genetic counseling and genome sequencing, genome sequencing in pediatrics, genome sequencing in prenatal testing, and ethical issues in genome sequencing. Applied clinical case studies support concept illustration, making this an invaluable, practical reference for this important and multifaceted topic area within genomic medicine. - Features contributions from leading international researchers and practitioners versed in the psychosocial dimensions of genomic medicine implementation - Presents clinical case studies that support concept illustration, making this an invaluable reference for students, researchers, and clinicians looking for practical guidance in this important and multifaceted topic area - Details the current state of genomic testing, expectations of genome sequencing, patient consent, patient responses to sequencing data, uncertainties in genome sequencing, direct-to-consumer genome sequencing, and more

Provides expert help you need to make difficult bio-ethical decisions, covering a broad range of current and future health care issues, as well as institutional and social issues applicable to multiple disciplines and settings.

Prenatal and Postnatal Care Situate pregnancy in the emotional and physical life of the whole person with this bestselling guide Prenatal and postnatal care are important and dynamic areas in healthcare research and practice. The needs of the childbearing person before and after birth are complex and intensely personal, combining significant physiological impact with broader emotional needs. In order to supply optimal care, providers must account not only for physiological factors, but also for cultural, social, experiential, and psychological ones. Prenatal and Postnatal Care takes a holistic, person-centered approach to prenatal and postnatal care. Emphasizing the pregnant person and their unique needs, this book presents prenatal and postnatal care as foundational care for a healthy start to family life. This accessible, comprehensive book provides unique knowledge and skills to practitioners so that they can make a positive difference to the people they serve. Readers of the third edition of Prenatal and Postnatal Care will also find: New chapters covering health equity, ethics in perinatal care, exercise, and more All chapters updated to reflect evidence concerning health disparities and inequities Concrete ways for clinicians to disrupt the systems of harm and exclusion that can mediate care at every level Prenatal and Postnatal Care is essential for midwives, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other healthcare providers who work with childbearing people.

This first-of-its-kind volume addresses the myriad of issues relating to—and reviews the plethora of responses to--premature births in the United States, both in national context and compared with other countries. In addition to current clinical data, it examines how preterm births in the U.S. fit in with larger social concerns regarding poverty, racial disparities, reproductive rights, gender expectations, and the business of health care. Comparisons with preterm birth phenomena in Canada, the U.K., and other Western European countries illustrate cultural narratives about motherhood, women’s status, differences across social welfare and abortion policies , and across health care financing and delivery sytems, and how these may affect outcomes for newborns. The book sorts out these intersecting complexities through the following critical lenses: · Clinical: causes, treatments, and outcomes of preterm birth · Population: the distribution of preterm births · Cultural: how we understand preterm birth · Health care: delivering care for high-risk pregnant women and preterm infants · Ethical: moral decision-making about preterm births Preterm Birth in the United States synthesizes a wide knowledge base for maternal and child health professionals across diverse disciplines, including public health, social work, nursing, medicine, and health policy. Social scientists with interests in reproduction and gender issues will gain access to historical, clinical and epidemiological knowledge that can support their work. There is also an audience for the book among childbirth activists such as supporters of midwifery and less medicalized childbirth.

A comprehensive, practical guide to professional ethics in obstetrics and gynecology for those with or without training in medical ethics.

Nursing Ethics: Across the Curriculum and Into Practice continues to provide a solid ethical foundation for nursing students in an updated sixth edition. This comprehensive, easy-to-read text covers ethics across the nursing curriculum, making it a perfect fit for any undergraduate course. Logically divided into three parts, Nursing Ethics, Sixth Edition underscores how ethics is interwoven with nearly every aspect of professional nursing practice. It guides students through the foundations of ethics in nursing, ethical considerations across the lifespan, and ethical considerations for areas such as leadership and public health. Engaging learning features, including case studies, legal perspectives, and research notes bring concepts to life and serve to remind students that ethics really does sit at the heart of professional nursing practice and quality patient care.

What are the ethical and political implications when the very foundations of life—things of awe and spiritual significance—are translated into products accessible to few people? This book critically analyses this historic recontextualisation. Through mediation—when meaning moves ‘from one text to another, from one discourse to another’—biotechnology is transformed into analysable data and into public discourses.

Beginning with a focus on the ethical foundations of caregiving in health and expanding towards problems of ethics and justice implicated in a range of issues, this book develops and expands the notion of care itself and its connection to practice. Organised around the themes of culture as a restraint on caregiving in different social contexts and situations, innovative methods in healthcare, and the way in which culture works to position care as part of a rhetorical approach to dependency, responsibility, and justice, The Ethics of Care presents case studies examining institutional responses to end-of-life issues, the notion of informed consent, biomedicine, indigenous rights and postcolonialism in care and theoretical approaches to the concept of care. Offering discussions from a variety of disciplinary approaches, including sociology, communication, and social theory, as well as hermeneutics, phenomenology, and deconstruction, this book will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in healthcare, medicine, justice and the question of how we think about care as a notion and social form, and how this is related to practice.