Legal Medicine: Health Care Law and Medical Ethics, 8th Edition
By: American College of Legal Medicine; American Board of Legal Medicine
ISBN: 9780443121289
Publication Date: September 9, 2024
Reviewer: Tim Freeman, MD, MA, FAAP (Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine)
Description
This book is a well written and well-organized book that covers a broad variety of legal and ethical topics as they relate to the practice of medicine. The contents and headers are appropriate and well ordered, and the material covered in the book is appropriate to its aims.
Purpose
This book explores the intersection of ethics and medicine at law, with a particular interest in evolving technologies and the new and inherent issues which have arisen with their advent (e.g., telemedicine, Digital EMRs). This book serves well in its aims and appears best suited as a starting point of reference for pursuing deeper dives into the literature with the supplement of more detailed sources. It does well in achieving its goals in this regard, which are worthy objectives for study.
Audience
This book is written for the purview of the ethicist or legal professional, though one in the business of medicine may find some topics useful as well. As this as a cursory text, it is best suited for more intensive study by students in the above fields, or as a launching point for a deeper dive into supplementary texts for the ethicist or legal professional on a specific topic contained therein.
Features
The section on “Standards of Care” is most particularly interesting, especially in its use and discussion of case precedent in both this and other sections of the book. As far as weaknesses of this book, the section on COVID-19 reads a bit biased and outdated in both its descriptions and data. The cursory style of this text seems poorly suited to this topic currently while the issue remains a hotbed of controversy both at the level of public policy and at law. This section feels like a missed opportunity, where the book could have been more of a standout if it was more detailed and committal in its discussion of known truths, and more effective in steel-manning (rather than seemingly avoiding) many of the relevant arguments on both sides of the existing tensions between public safety and personal autonomy as they relate to COVID-19. Aside from the above section, the book is quite enjoyable and effective.
Assessment
Aside from the section on COVID-19, I found this to be a quite useful reference text. It is well written and organized, and easy to navigate. It compares well against other similar books and would be a useful tool for both the student and professional in medical ethics or law. For my own purposes, as a physician and clinical ethicist, this book will serve as a great starting point and reference for specific topics on which I wish to do a deeper dive, as a springboard to other more detailed supplementary texts.
©Doody’s Review Service, 2025, Tim Freeman, MD, MA, FAAP (Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine), Doody’s Score: 97 – 5 Stars!
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