As technology advances, we are frequently required to contend with ethical problems that arise from the harnessing of technology for medical needs. These grave and knotty problems have no absolute answers. This book aims to shed light on basic substantive issues that trouble medical teams and all who are interested in this fascinating field, while taking into account what is happening in Israel and the tensions that are inherent in the Israeli discussion, for example, the tension between liberalism and Halakha.

The book was written by the members of a discussion and thinking group on medical ethics, at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. They represent the six Israeli universities and come from varied areas of research: medicine, philosophy and ethics, law, social work, education, and Reform Halakha.

The papers in the book provide the reader with a fascinating weave of ethical issues in medicine. They are rich in content, methodology, and complementary and sometimes contradictory lines of thought, and provide broad pastures for pondering. This book will interest medical students and experts, clerics, ethicists, jurists, psychologists, social workers, and anyone who takes an interest in issues that will clearly arouse increasing concern as we enter the 21st century.

Out of print.