Medicine and the Law
K. Kannan
Abstract
This book analyses various issues concerning the application of law to the field of medical practice, education, and research from a global perspective with particular focus on India. The volume, analytical in approach and comprehensive in coverage, ought to evoke vital public interest in that it examines technological advancements in the medical field that have legal, social, and ethical implications. The issues, including organ transplant, euthanasia, surrogacy and abortion, sex selection, the concept of consent, clinical trials, designer babies, cosmetic enhancement and confidentiality, are ... More
This book analyses various issues concerning the application of law to the field of medical practice, education, and research from a global perspective with particular focus on India. The volume, analytical in approach and comprehensive in coverage, ought to evoke vital public interest in that it examines technological advancements in the medical field that have legal, social, and ethical implications. The issues, including organ transplant, euthanasia, surrogacy and abortion, sex selection, the concept of consent, clinical trials, designer babies, cosmetic enhancement and confidentiality, are common to all countries but vary in their moral perception due to the diverse cultural underpinnings of each country. The author adopts an interdisciplinary approach combining law with medicine to address these issues. This book is also a comparative study with a special focus on Indian case law and jurisdictions from other countries including the US and the UK. Open ended, yet objective, written by a sitting judge of Punjab & Haryana High Court, the book does not fail to capture the inadequacies and improper approaches in the arena of legal regulation of medical education and medical practice. The book holds the key to informed public debates on issues of critical importance by providing deep insights into concepts like reservation and the constitutional goal of social justice, respect for patient autonomy, and setting the frontiers of ethical practice, policy initiatives for affordable healthcare and use of technology to assure good quality of treatment to the rural milieu as well.
Keywords:
law and medicine,
reservation in medical education,
medical ethics,
informed consent,
medical negligence,
medical research and patent,
healthcare and state policies,
cosmetic medicine
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2014 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198082880 |
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: April 2014 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198082880.001.0001 |