Scope

This Research Guide focuses on sources dealing with life-and-death decisions for which there are not yet ethical codes or public consensus. Example issues include organ transplants, organ donation, euthanasia, human experimentation and genetic engineering. Also see the Research Guides "abortion," "assisted suicide," "euthanasia," "death and dying," "genetic engineering," and "cloning."

Overview

 

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online 1992 (updated daily)
Britannica Online is a searchable collection of authoritative references, including Britannica's latest encyclopedia articles. Basic instructions for Encyclopædia Britannica Online

Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics
College Library Reference Collection: BJ 63 A66 1998
Refer to "Medical Ethics," volume 3, pages 155-177
"Bioethics," volume 1, page 305
See also "Euthanasia," "Palliative care," and "Patients' rights"

Encyclopedia of Bioethics
College Library Reference Collection: QH 332 E52 2004
Refer to volumes 1-4
Over 300 articles with bibliographies, summarizing significant ethical viewpoints and explaining justification offered for each viewpoint.

Encyclopedia of Ethics
College Library Reference Collection: BJ 63 E45 2001
Refer to "Medical Ethics," volume 2, pages 1062-1066
"Medical Ethics, Historical," volume 2, pages 1066-1071
"Bioethics," volume 1, 141-146
See also "Euthanasia" and "Genetic Engineering"

Encyclopedia of Mental Health
College Library Reference Collection: RA 790.5 E53 1998
Refer to "Ethics and Mental Health Research," volume 2, pages 149-160

Encyclopedia of Social Issues
College Library Reference Collection: HN 57 E59 1997
"Medical Ethics," volume 4, pages 1011-1018
"Medically Assisted Suicide" volume 4, pages 1019-1020

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center 1990 - to date (updated daily)
Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (OVRC) includes the acclaimed social issues series published by Greenhaven Press, as well as core reference content from other Gale and Macmillan Reference USA sources and provides viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.

Finding Journal and News Articles

Below are links to databases that cover this subject area. The truncation symbol for all of them is an asterisk (*) unless otherwise noted.

Sample searches for databases:

human experimentation
assisted suicide
medical ethic*
cloning
gene therapy
science and ethic*
euthanasia
lab* animal testing
organ transplant*
organ donor
bioethics
medical malpractice
informed consent
cryogenics
genetic engineering
genetic research and moral or ethical aspects
"in vitro fertilization" and ethic*
terminal care
artificial insemination

Recommended Databases:

Academic Search 1984 - to date (updated daily)
This library database indexes approximately 3,100 popular magazines and academic journals and provides the full-text articles from approximately 1,000 journals. Basic instructions for Academic Search

Biological and Agricultural Index 1983 - to date (updated monthly)
Contains citations to articles, book reviews, symposia, conference papers, and selected letters to the editor in more than 266 English-language periodicals on biology and agriculture. Basic instructions for Biological and Agricultural Index

Business Full Text 1982 - to date (updated monthly)
Indexes 400 key business periodicals, including trade magazines and scholarly journals, covering all aspects of business. Basic instructions for Business Full Text

CAB Abstracts 1972 - to date (updated annually)
The CAB Abstracts database indexes 10,000 English and foreign-language journals, books, technical reports, theses, symposium, patents, conference proceedings, and annual reports each year. The subject matter includes agriculture, animal breeding and disease, biotechnology, dairy science, entomology, forestry and horticulture. Basic instructions for CAB Abstracts

CQ Researcher November 1991 - to date (updated weekly)
Contains weekly reports from Congressional Quarterly that cover the most current and controversial issues. Basic instructions for CQ Researcher

Health and Wellness Resource Center 1994 - to date (updated daily)
Provides health information for nursing and allied health students, as well as consumer health research. It offers full text for more than 150 periodicals, six reference books, and over 500 pamphlets.

Health Source: Consumer Edition 1984 - to date (updated daily)
Provides the full text since 1990 from approximately 280 periodicals covering nutrition, exercize, medical self-care, drugs and alcohol, and much more. Basic instructions for Health Source: Consumer Edition

General Science Full Text 1984 - to date (updated monthly)
Indexes 150 popular and scholarly periodicals, as well as the Science section of the New York Times. Subjects include biology, chemistry, earth sciences, environment, nutrition, genetics, medicine and health. Basic instructions for General Science Full Text

Lexis/Nexis Academic Universe Dates Vary (updated daily)
Contains the full-text articles from U.S. and international newspapers (including the New York Times, June 1980 - to date), as well as some news and business magazines and trade journals. The truncation symbol is an exclamation point (!). Basic instructions for Lexis/Nexis Academic Universe

ProQuest Research Library 1988 - to date (updated daily)
Indexes over 2,000 general-interest and academic journals. Nearly 1,000 periodicals are full-text. Dates vary, but many full-text journals go back to 1988. Basic instructions for ProQuest Research Library

Readers' Guide Full Text and Retrospective 1890 - to date (updated monthly)
Indexes 240 popular magazines in a wide range of subject areas. Full-text coverage of 131 titles begins with 1994. Basic instructions for Readers' Guide Full Text

Social Sciences Full Text 1983 - to date (updated monthly)
Indexes more than 415 scholarly journals in economics, politics, public administration, public health, sociology, criminology, environmental and urban studies, psychology and anthropology. Basic instructions for Social Sciences Full Text

Finding Books

MadCat
Books on medical ethics and bioethics can be found in MadCat, the UW-Madison library catalog.

Sample keyword searches:

"medical ethics"
"human experimentation"
"assisted suicide"
cloning
"transplantation of organs"
euthanasia
bioethics

Internet Sites

American Journal of Bioethics
http://bioethics.net/
This site includes numerous links to news articles and internet sites pertaining to various ethical issues in the medical and biological sciences. It also includes a searchable index of article abstracts from the American Journal of Bioethics.

Bioethics Resources on the Web
http://www.nih.gov/sigs/bioethics/index.html
This site is produced by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It contains a list of internet resources exploring various positions on issues in bioethics.

Biomedical Ethics: Newsletter of the European Network for Biomedical Ethics
http://www.izew.uni-tuebingen.de/bme/
Includes article abstracts dealing with ethical issues in international biomedical science.

Ethics and Health (ETH), World Health Organization (WHO),
http://www.who.int/ethics/en/
This site, created by The World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations' specialized agency for health, explores issues in bioethics from an international perspective.

Ethics Updates
http://ethics.sandiego.edu/
This is a site maintained by an ethics professor at University of San Diego to provide updates on current literature, both popular and professional, relating to ethics. The "applied ethics" portion of the site explores ethical issues in medicine and biotechnology.

Human Genome Project (HGP) Information
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/elsi.shtml
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have devoted 3% to 5% of their annual Human Genome Project (HGP) budgets toward studying the ethical, legal, and social issues surrounding availability of genetic information. This represents the world's largest bioethics program.

The President's Council on Bioethics
http://bioethics.gov/
President George W. Bush established the Council on Bioethics in November 2001, to investigate issues relating to human bioethics. This site includes information about the council, transcripts from the council meetings, reports published by the council, government documents on the subject, and other related sites.

PBS Online--Palliative Care
http://www.wnet.org/bid/
The companion site to the PBS special, Before I Die. This site contains information on the medical, ethical, and social issues surrounding end-of-life care in America.

Statistics

Statistical Abstract of the United States
College Library Reference Collection: HA202 U5

Statistical Universe 1973 - to date (updated monthly)
Contains the full text of more than 800 U.S. government statistical publications. Lexis-Nexis Statistical Universe is available to UW-Madison registered users.

Videos

After Darwin: Genetics, Eugenics, and the Human Genome
College Library Main Collection: HQ 750 A2 A373 2000

Cloning: How and Why
College Library Main Collection: QH 442 S72 1998

Organizations

GENERAL MEDICAL AND BIOETHICS

American Institute for Bioethics and Humanities
http://www.asbh.org/
This organization seeks to promote the exchange of ideas and foster multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and interprofessional scholarship, research, teaching, policy development, professional development, and collegiality among people engaged in all of the endeavors related to clinical and academic bioethics and the health-related humanities.

American Medical Association (AMA)
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/2416.html
This site includes information on medical ethics compiled by the American Medical Association.
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1930.html
Explores the history of medical ethics within the American Medical Association.

BIO: Biotechnology Industry Organization
http://www.bio.org/bioethics/
This is a biotechnology industry advocacy organization. Their site explores bioethical issues from a legislative lobbying perspective.

Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity
http://www.cbhd.org/
This site includes news and commentary on pertinent bioethical issues, including cloning, abortion, genetics, and stem cells from a Christian perspective.

Center for Ethics and Professionalism
http://www.acponline.org/ethics/
A creation of the American College of Physicians, the Center for Ethics and Professionalism is devoted to policy development and implementation on issues related to medical ethics and professionalism.

International Association of Bioethics
http://www.bioethics-international.org/
An international organization that aims to link all those working in bioethics and related fields by encouraging the discussion of cross-cultural aspects in bioethics.

Physicians for Human Rights
http://www.phrusa.org/
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) attempts to promote health by protecting human rights. They believe that human rights are essential preconditions for the health and well-being of all people and explore ethical issues from this perspective.

EUTHANASIA

International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
http://www.internationaltaskforce.org/
The International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide is an international leader in the ever-increasing debate over assisted suicide and euthanasia.
The goal of the International Task Force is to make certain that a patient's right to receive care and compassion is not replaced by a doctor's right to prescribe poison or administer a lethal injection.

Euthansia.com
http://www.euthanasia.com/
An organization that is committed to the fundamental belief that the intentional killing of another person is wrong.

Compassion and Choices
http://www.compassionandchoices.org/
An organization that supports the right of terminally ill, mentally competent adults to hasten death under careful safeguards.

PALLIATIVE CARE

Center to Advance Palliative Care
http://www.capc.org
This organization is dedicated to increasing the availability of quality palliative care services in hospitals and other health care settings for people with life-threatening illnesses, their families, and caregivers.

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
http://www.nhpco.org/templates/1/homepage.cfm
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization is the largest nonprofit membership organization representing hospice and palliative care programs and professionals in the United States.

Caring Connections
http://www.caringinfo.org
Caring Connections, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), is a national consumer engagement initiative to improve care at the end of life, supported by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This Web site has many free resources and a variety of information surrounding end-of-life care.