Includes bibliographical references and index.

Theory of health care ethics -- Principles of health care ethics -- The moral status of gametes and embryos : storage and surrogacy -- The ethical challenges of the new reproductive technology -- Abortion : the unexplored middle ground -- Proposals for human cloning : a review and ethical evaluation -- Competency : what it is, what it isn't and why it matters -- Older people long-term care issues -- Assisted-living and ethics -- Ethical issues in the use of fluids and nutrition : when can they be withdrawn? -- Death, medicine, and moral significance of family decision making -- Ethical issues concerning physician-assisted death -- Healthcare institutional ethics : broader than clinical ethics -- Hospital ethics committees : rules, membership structure, and difficulties -- Bioethical dilemmas in prehospital and emergency care -- Medical technology : blessing or ethics nightmare? -- Spirituality and health care organizations -- Equality and inequality in American healthcare -- Is rationing of healthcare ethically defensible? -- Domestic violence : changing theory, changing practice -- Ethics issues in disaster relief -- A new era of health care : the ethics of healthcare reform -- Healthcare reform : what about those left behind? -- Looking toward the future.