This volume presents current controversial issues surrounding bioethical issues in a debate-style format designed to stimulate student interest and develop critical thinking skills. Bioethics is the study of controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy. This topic is framed with a general summary and introduction, and a postscript or challenge questions. This work features an annotated listing of selected World Wide Web sites and an online instructor's resource guide with testing material available. The "yes" and "no" readings, which represent the arguments of leading philosophers and social commentators, discuss topics such as death and dying; choices in reproduction; children and bioethics and genetics.

Medical decision making. Is informed consent still central to medical ethics? ; Should truth-telling depend on the patient's culture? ; Does direct-to-consumer drug advertising enhance patient choice? -- End-of-life dilemmas. Have advance directives failed? ; Do standard medical ethics apply in disaster conditions? ; Should physicians be allowed to assist in patient suicide? ; Should doctors be able to refuse demands for "futile" treatment? -- Choices in reproduction. Is abortion immoral? ; Should a pregnant woman be punished for exposing her fetus to risk? -- Children, adolescents, and bioethics. Should adolescents be allowed to make their own life-and-death decisions? ; Is it ethical to use steroids and surgery to stunt disabled children's growth? ; Should vaccination for HPV be mandated for teenage girls? -- Genetics. Is genetic enhancement an unacceptable use of technology? ; Are experiments that combine animal and human genes ethical? -- Human experimentation. Should prisoners be allowed to participate in research? ; Should new drugs be given to patients outside clinical trials? -- Bioethics and public policy. Does military necessity override medical ethics? ; Should performance-enhancing drugs be banned from sports? ; Is it ethical to remove patients' hearts for transplantation immediately after cardiac death? ; Should pharmacists be allowed to deny prescriptions on grounds of conscience? ; Should public health override powers over individual liberty in combating bioterrorism?.