Books for Pediatricians Interested in Bioethics
Please note: The following information has not been approved or endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics or by the Section on Bioethics.
Note from the Web Editor: This listing of books was compiled for the Section on Bioethics of the American Academy of Pediatrics by: Ed Forman, MD, FAAP, Lainie Friedman Ross, MD, PhD, FAAP, and Brenda Jean Mears, MD, FAAP and is updated yearly.
This list includes books we believe may be of value to pediatricians interested in bioethics and includes some novels as well as more traditional reference works. We attempted to exclude books of more general interest. Exceptions include the area of transplants where we found no books dedicated entirely to pediatrics. The Web links are intended to help you locate at least one edition of a book. Please remember Web links change over time and not everything is easily available. We were able to find most books on either Amazon at or Alibris.
The arrangement is alphabetical by author within topical areas. Since many works might easily be classified is several areas, check alternate headings. For example, if you are interested in deaths in neonatal units, check both end-of-life care and neonatology.
If you are interested in journal articles for this subject area, check the separate Classic Articles listing and Current Articles listing. For journal articles prior to 2003, please check the American Board of Pediatrics Web site. American Board of Pediatrics. Bioethics Bibliography. 2004. (Please note that it is currently 61 pages long and downloads slowly)
By subject
Abuse & Neglect
Westman JC. Licensing Parents: Can We Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect? Kluwer Academic Publishers. 1994. ISBN 0306447665.
Cloning
Ishiguro, K. Never Let Me Go. Knopf. 2005. ISBN: 1400043395.
To view reviews of this novel please visit the NY Times Web site or Amazon.com.
Kass LR. Human Cloning and Human Dignity: The Report of the President's Council on Bioethics. Public Affairs. Washington, D.C. 2002. ISBN 1586481762. Also available on Amazon.com
SE. Clone Being: Exploring the Psychological and Social Dimensions. Lanham, Md, Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. ISBN 0-7425-2990-8. This is reviewed in JAMA 2004;292:1497.
Communication
Fadiman A. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1997. ISBN 0374267812.
Complementary and alternative medicine
Cohen MH, et al. Pediatric Use of Complementary Therapies: Ethical and Policy Choices. Pediatrics. 2005;116:e568-e575.
Consent/Assent (including parental consent)
Buchanan AE, Brock DW. Deciding for Others: The Ethics of Surrogate Decision Making. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1989. ISBN 0521311969.
Gaylin W, Macklin R. Who Speaks for the Child? The Problems of Proxy Consent. New York: Springer. 1982. ISBN 0306408600.
Disability
Dreger AD. One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal. Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0674012941. This book is reviewed in multiple places including: Hastings Center Report in the December 2004 issue. JAMA. 2004;291:2761-2762. Disability Studies Quarterly 2005:25(1)
Levine, C. Acceptance, Avoidance, and Ambiguity: Conflicting Social Values about Childhood Disability. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 2005;15(4):371-384.
Moskop JC, Kopelman LM. Ethics and Mental Retardation. Springer. 1984. ISBN. 9027716307.
Powers, R. Operation Wandering Soul a Novel. William Morrow & Co. 1993. ISBN 0688115489.
Duty
Belkin L. First, Do No Harm. Simon & Schuster. 1994. ISBN 044922290X.
Eating Disorders
Giordano S. Understanding Eating Disorders. Conceptual and Ethical Issues in the Treatment of Anorexia. Oxford University Press. 2005. ISBN 0199269742.
Economics and financing/Business of Medicine/ Second Opinion
Hirschman AO. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. 1970. ISBN 0674276604.
Kopelman LM, Moskop JC. Children and Health Care. Springer, 1989. ISBN 1556080786.
Zelizer VA. Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children. Princeton University Press. 1994. ISBN 0691034591.
Education
Frankel LR, Goldworth A, Rorty MV, Silverman WA. (eds). Ethical Dilemmas in Pediatrics: Cases and Commentaries. Cambridge University Press. 2005. ISBN 0521847443
Klass, P. Baby Doctor. Random House. 1992. ISBN 0679409572.
Mohrmann ME. Attending Children: A Doctor's Education. Georgetown University Press. 2005. ISBN 158901054X.
Pence G. Classic Cases in Medical Ethics: Accounts of Cases That Have Shaped Medical Ethics. 3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill. 1999. ISBN 0073039861.
Education and Mentors
On Mash
Enhancement
Rothman SM, DJ Rothman. The Pursuit of Perfection: the Promise and Perils of Medical Enhancement. New York, New York. Pantheon 2003. ISBN 0679439803. This book is reviewed in NEJM 2005;350(13):1368.
End-of-Life Care/Dying
Bearison DJ. How Medicine Cares for Dying Children. 2006. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19515-612-9. This is reviewed on page 1234 of the April issue of Pediatrics and in JAMA in the November 21 issue.
Bluebond-Langner M. The Private Worlds of Dying Children. Princeton University Press. 1980. ISBN 0691028206.
Caplan AL, et al. The Case of Terri Schiavo: Ethics at the End of Life. ISBN 1-59102-398-X, Amherst, NY, Prometheus Books, 2006.
This is reviewed in JAMA, the July 19, 2006.
Carter B, Levetown M. Palliative Care for Infants, Children and Adolescents: a Practical Handbook. Johns Hopkins University Press. 2004. ISBN 080188005X.
Field MJ and Behrman RE. (eds.) When Children Die: Improving Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Children and their Families. Washington, DC. National Academies Press, 2003. ISBN 0309084377 and also available here.
This book is reviewed in Arch Ped Adol Med 2003;157:1035.
Sidebotham P, Fleming P. Unexpected Death in Childhood: A Handbook for Practitioners. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, 2007, ISBN 9780470060964. This is reviewed in Arch Dis Child. 2008;93:813.
Quill TE, Battin MP. Physician-Assisted Dying: the Case for Palliative Care and Patient Choice. 2004. Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN 0801880696.
Stinson R, Stinson P. The Long Dying of Baby Andrew. Little Brown & Co. 1983. ISBN 0316816353.
Enhancement/Modifications/Technology
Harris J. Enhancing Evolution: The Ethical Case for Making Better People. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007. This is reviewed in Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 2008. 17(4):473-476.
Ethics Committees
Freedman B, Baylis F. The Roles and Responsibilities of the Ethics Consultant: A Retrospective Analysis of Cases. University Publishing Group. 2000. ISBN 1555720587.
Ethics-general philosophy, ethical codes, etc
AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. Code of Medical Ethics 2004-2005: Current Opinions with Annotations. Chicago: American Medical Association, 2004.
Forman EN, Ladd RE. Ethical Dilemmas in Pediatrics: A Case Study Approach. Springer. 1991. ISBN 0387974547
Frankel LR, Goldworth A, Rorty MV, Silverman WA, eds. Ethical Dilemmas in Pediatrics: Cases and Commentaries. Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0521847443
Miller RB. Children, Ethics, and Modern Medicine. 2003. Blomington. Indiana University Press. ISBN-13: 978-0253342225.
Silber T.(ed) Ethical Issues in the Treatment of Children and Adolescents. Slack.
1983. ISBN 0943432081.
Family
Aiken W, LaFollette H. (eds) Whose Child?: Children's Rights, Parental Authority, and State Power. Totowa NJ, Littlefield Adams & Co. 1980. ISBN 0822603586.
Bluebond-Langner M. In the Shadow of Illness. Princeton University Press. 2000. ISBN 0691050791.
Blustein J. Parents and Children: The Ethics of the Family. New York; Oxford University Press. 1982. ISBN 0195030729.
Heimer CA, Staffen LR. For the Sake of the Children: The Social Organization of Responsibility in the Hospital and the Home. University of Chicago Press. 1998. ISBN 0226325059. This was reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine on August 19, 1999.
Houlgate LD. Child and the State: A Normative Theory of Juvenile Rights. Baltimore MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1980. ISBN 0801822882.
Houlgate LD. Family and State: The Philosophy of Family Law. Totowa NJ: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 1988. ISBN 0847675882.
Levine C, Dubler NN, Blustein J. (eds) The Adolescent Alone: Decision Making in Health Care in the United States. Cambridge University Press. 1999. ISBN 0521658918.
Murray T. The Worth of a Child. University of California Press. 1996. ISBN 0520088360.
O'Neill O, Ruddick W. Having Children: Philosophical and Legal Reflections on Parenthood. Oxford University Press. 1979. ISBN 0195024125.
Ross L. Children, Families, and Health Care Decision Making. Oxford University Press. 2002. ISBN 0199251541.
Scarre G. (ed) Children, Parents and Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1989. ISBN 0521360986.
Genetics
Bosk, CL. All God's Mistakes: Genetic Counseling in a Pediatric Hospital. University of Chicago Press. 1992. ISBN 0226066819.
Clark AJ, Clarke A. The Genetic Testing of Children. BIOS Scientific Publishers. 1998. ISBN 1859961460.
Health Care Disparities
Lo B, O'Connell ME. (eds.) Committee on Ethical Issues in Housing-Related Hazard Research Involving Children, Youth, and Families. Ethical Considerations for Research on Housing-Related Health Hazards Involving Children. Institute of Medicine. National Academies of Science. 2005.
Institute of Medicine. Health Insurance Is a Family Matter. National Academies Press. 2002. ISBN 0309085187. and also available on Amazon.com.
Mahowald M. Women and Children in Health Care: An Unequal Majority. New York: Oxford University Press. 1993. ISBN 0195063465.
Human Rights
Purdy LM. In the Best Interest?: The Case Against Equal Rights for Children. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press. 1992. ISBN 0801426626.
Veatch RM. The Foundations of Justice: Why the Retarded and the Rest of Us Have Claims to Equality. New York: Oxford University Press. 1986. ISBN 0195040767.
Infectious disease, Vaccinations
Institute of Medicine. Immunization Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism. National Academies Press. 2004. ISBN 030909237X and also available at Amazon.com.
Stratton KR, Almario DA, Wizemann TM, McCormick MC. (eds.) Immunization Safety Review: Vaccinations and Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy. National Academy of Science. 2003. ISBN 0309088860 and also available at Amazon.com.
Intersex
Dreger AD. Intersex in the Age of Ethics. University Publishing Group. 1999. ISBN 1555721001.
Legal
Freeman M. Children, Medicine and the Law. Ashgate Pub Ltd. 2005. ISBN 1840147547.
Koocher GP, Keith-Spiegel P. Children, Ethics & the Law: Professional Issues and Cases. University of Nebraska Press. 1993. ISBN 0803277768.
Mnookin RH, Weisberg DK. Child, Family, and State: Problems and Materials on Children and the Law. Aspen Publishers. 2005. ISBN 0735540608.
Nazario TA. In Defense of Children: Understanding the Rights, Needs and Interests of the Child. Scribner Book Company. 1989. ISBN 0684186063.
Mental Health
Hattab J. (ed) Ethics & Child Mental Health. Gefen Books. 1994. ISBN 9652290963.
Neonatology & Fetal Issues
Anspach RR. Deciding Who Lives: Fateful Choices in the Intensive-Care Nursery. University of California Press. 1993. ISBN 0520052684.
Bartels D, Priester R, Vawter DE. Beyond Baby M. Humana Pr. 1990. ISBN 0896031667.
Caplan AL, Blank RH, Merrick JC. (eds.) Compelled Compassion: Government Intervention in the Treatment of Critically Ill Newborns. Humana Press. 1992. ISBN 0896032248.
Goldworth A, Silverman W, Stevenson DK. Ethics and Perinatology.. Oxford University Press. 1995. ISBN 0192623796
Guyer RL. Baby at Risk: The Uncertain Legacies of Medical Miracles for Babies, Families, and Society. 2006. Sterling, VA. Capital Books.
This is reviewed by Lainie Friedman Ross in JAMA 2007, 297(17):1928.
Kuhse H, Singer P. Should the Baby Live?: The Problem of Handicapped Infants. Oxford Univ Pr. 1988. ISBN 0192860623.
Lantos, John. The Lazarus Case: Life-and-Death Issues in Neonatal Intensive Care. Johns Hopkins University Press. 2001. ISBN 0801867622. This is reviewed in NEJM, August 1, 2002 and in Arch Dis Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2003;88 F 164.
Murray TH, Caplan AL. Which Babies Shall Live: Humanistic Dimensions of the Car of Imperiled Newborns. Humans Pr. 1985. ISBN 0896030865.
Weir RF. Selective Nontreatment of Handicapped Newborns: Moral Dilemmas in Neonatal Medicine.
Oxford University Press. 1987. ISBN 0195048814.
Religion
Novak D. The Sanctity of Human Life. Georgetown University Press. Washington DC ISBN-10: 1589011767. 2007. A new book on stem cells, socialized medicine and physician assisted suicide from a Jewish perspective. No reviews are available yet.
Reproduction
Patel T, ed. Sex-Selective Abortion in India: Gender, Society, and New Reproductive Technologies. 2007. New Delhi, India, Sage Publications. ISBN 978-0-7619-3539-1. This is reviewed in NEJM 2007;356:2433.
Rogers W, et al. Is Sex-selective abortion Morally Justified and Should It Be Prohibited. Bioethics 2007;21(9):520-524.
Thachuk A. The Space in Between: Narratives of Silence and Genetic Terminations. Bioethics 2007;21(9):511-514.
Research
Childress JF, Meslin EM, Shapiro HT. Belmont Revisited: Ethical Principles for Research with Human Subjects. ISBN 1-58901-062-0, Washington, DC. Georgetown University Press, 2005.
This is reviewed in JAMA 2006;296:589-590.
Field, MJ., Behrman, RE. (eds.), Committee on Clinical Research Involving Children, the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The Ethical Conduct of Clinical Research Involving Children. Washington DC: Institute of Medicine, National Academy Press, 2004. ISBN 0309091810.
Grodin MA, Glantz LH. Children as Research Subjects: Science, Ethics and Law. Oxford University Press. 1994. ISBN 0195071034.
Kodish E, ed. Ethics and Research with Children: a Case-Based Approach. Oxford University Press. 2005. ISBN 0195171780. This is reviewed in Lancet 2005;365:1841-1842. and in JAMA 2005;294(11):1430.
Nicholson RH. (ed) Medical Research with Children: Ethics, Law and Practice. Oxford UK: Oxford University Press. 1986. ISBN 0192615289.
National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. Report and Recommendations: Research Involving Children. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1977, DHEW Publication No. (OS) 77-0004.
Ross L. Children in Medical Research: Access vs Protection. Oxford University Press. 2006. ISBN 0199273286.
This is reviewed: Maschke KJ. NEJM 2007;356(8):876-877.
Silverman W. Where's the Evidence? Debates in Modern Medicine. Oxford University Press. 1998. ISBN: 0192629344. This is reviewed in the NEJM on November 5, 1998.
Stem cells and Embryo Research
Maienschein J. Whose View of Life? Embryos, Cloning and Stem Cells. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-674-01170-8. [This is reviewed favorably in the April 8 issue of NEJM. There is also a review in JAMA 291 (13):1634-1635.]
Stem cells and Embryo Research
Maienschein J. Whose View of Life? Embryos, Cloning and Stem Cells. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-674-01170-8. [This is reviewed favorably in the April 8 issue of NEJM. There is also a review in JAMA 291 (13):1634-1635.]
Surgery
Alderson, P., Children's Consent to Surgery. Buckingham UK: Open University Press. 1993. ISBN 0335157327.
Alderson P. Choosing for Children: Parents' Consent to Surgery. Oxford UK: Oxford University Press. 1990. ISBN. 0192177745.
Benatar D. Cutting to the Core: Exploring the Ethics of Contested Surgeries. 2006. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-5000-1. This is reviewed in NEJM 2006;355(15):1626.
Transplants
Arnold RM, Youngner SJ, et al. Procuring Organs for Transplant: The Debate over Non-Heart-Breathing Cadaver Protocols. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1995. ISBN 0801851009.
Caplan AL. Am I My Brother's Keeper? The Ethical Frontiers of Biomedicine. Indiana University Press. 1998. ISBN 025333358X.
Veatch RM. Transplantation Ethics. Georgetown University Press. 2002. ISBN 0878408126.
This is reviewed in New England Journal of Medicine on June 21, 2001.
Youngner SJ. Et al. Transplanting Human Tissue: Ethics, Policy, and Practice. New York, Oxford University Press. 2004. ISBN 0-19-516284-6. This is reviewed in NEJM 351(27):2886.
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