The University of St. Thomas

Biomedical Ethics

Research Resources  |  2006


Why Use This Guide?

While "bioethics" refers to the many ethical issues arising in the life sciences, "medical ethics" refers more specifically to the subset debated in medicine. The primary, but not exclusive, focus of this guide is medical ethics, also known as "biomedical ethics." There are large numbers of resources in this field, far too many to even compile.

This guide, then, can be used as an indication of approaches to topical research and as a brief list of recommended resources here at St Thomas. Of course, the University of Minnesota medial school "bio-med" library is major research collection for our region.

 If you need help with this guide or cannot find the information you need, contact Jan Malcheski, Theology Reference Librarian at Ireland Library.  

GETTING STARTED

Online Backgrounds, Issues, Debates

Choosing a topic or, having selected one getting started, is very often facilitated by finding a good background source on a specific issue or controversy.  While there are published "issue" books (for a list see Starting Points from Centre for Applied Ethics, below), the easiest approach may be to use reputable web-based resources; some are listed below by broad topic:  

General & Public Policy

Health Reference Center - Academic (UST subscription)
Useful for general background articles, many in newspapers and weekly magazines, on medicine & health topics; some full text.


RefWorks: Indirect export.
See also: New York Times: ProQuest full-text search 

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (UST subscription)
At a basic level, a compilation of full-text resources on the spectrum of controversial topics, a good source for pro and con articles. Explore Medical Ethics, or Bioethics

CQ Researcher (UST subscription)
Full-text background reports researched and written for a well-known Washington publisher. Search by keyword or see Topic Finder

Biomedical Ethics / Bioethics

American College of Physicians Ethics Manual
A short but very useful overview of standard approaches to various basic medical ethical issues.

Bioethics for Clinicians
A series of articles, published by the Canadian Medical Association, covering a wide range of topics in bioethics.

University of Washington: Bioethics Topics
This site offers basic introductions to various standard topics along with case scenarios. University of Washington: Readings.

Virtual Mentor
A monthly, web-based publication of the AMA dedicated to "promoting the ethics and professionalism of tomorrow's physicians" .

The National Institutes of Health - Tutorials, Case Scenarios, Web Courses.

Bioethics Blog
American Journal of Bioethics editors' blog.  

PRINT REFERENCE SOURCES

Encyclopedia of Bioethics. Ed. Warren Thomas Reich. New York: Macmillan Simon & Schuster, 1995. 5 vols.

Although somewhat dated in a fast changing field, a useful introduction to key bioethics issues, with bibliographies. Often a good starting point for finding well-defined issues and references to relevant, important essays, policy statements, and books. (IRL & OSF Ref QH332 .E52 1995)

Dictionary of Ethics, Theology and Society. London; New York: Routledge, 1996.

This resource attempts a multidisciplinary approach by examining the ethical, theological, and political issues that have interacted to form Western society. Lengthy articles are scholarly and include brief bibliographies.(IRL Ref BJ63.D53 1996)

Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal, and Policy Issues in Biotechnology. Eds. Thomas H. Murray, Maxwell J. Mehlman. New York: John Wiley, 2000. 2 vols.

This resource is particularly helpful for identifying government policy impact on a variety of biotechnology topics. More than one hundred, peer-reviewed, substantive articles are included. (IRL Ref TP248.16 .E539 2000)

Encyclopedia of Ethics. 2nd ed. Eds. Lawrence C. Becker, Charlotte B. Becker. New York: Routledge, 2001. 2 vols.

The revised and expanded edition of this popular title contains more than 580 peer-reviewed articles.  Concentration here is on ethical theory rather than on applied ethics (IRL & OSF Ref BJ63 .E45 2001)


WEB SITES

Bioethics is especially rich in freely available web-based information sources, although of course gauging the value of "free" information is not always easy. The Google search engine remains the standard search engine.  Another approach is to use "gateways" or directories of resources (these sites do some of the evaluative work for you). 

Terminology: On-line Medical Dictionary  |  Merriam Webster  |  Oxford Reference Core: Medicine

  • BioEthics Web - Wellcome Library, UK
    "BioethicsWeb is a gateway to evaluated, quality Internet resources"
  • Library and Information Services - Kennedy Institute of Ethics
     "Where bioethics research begins"
  • Bioethics.net - American Medical Association
    "Bioethics portal"
  • Bioethics Resources on the Web - National Institutes of Health
     "This website contains a broad collage"
  • The Hastings Center
     "Leading bioethics into the future"
  • Resource Links - American Society of Bioethics and Humanities
  • Catholic Medical Association
    "Catholic physicians of the US and Canada"
  • Center for the Study of Bioethics - Medical College of Wisconsin
  • President's Council on Bioethics
  • "Advising the President on ethical issues"
  • Human Genome Project Information
    "Ethical, Legal, and social issues"
  • Neuroethics - University of Pennsylvania
  • Karolinska  Institute - Medical School (Sweden)
    "Diseases and disorders - links pertaining to ethics"
  • Markkula Center for Applied Ethics - Santa Clara University
  • Google Directory: Bioethics

    IN-DEPTH RESEARCH

Using Databases, Indexes, Journals, Books and  E-Resources

There are several indexes for periodical literature in bioethics, from the medical in the PubMed database to the theological in the ATLA Religion Database. A big advantage now is that many articles are available in full-text. To distinguish popular and academic journals, look for the tell tale signs. 

Academic Search Premier 
A broad-based college level database, increasingly full-text, ASP Academic Source Premier is a good starting point to search academic, and to some extent, medical journals. Both ASP and PubMed (below) may be needed for thorough research.  RefWorks: Direct export 

ATLA Religion Database 
ATLA Religion Database for articles, essays, book reviews on religion and theology. RefWorks: Direct export

Catholic Periodical & Literature Index
CPLI Catholic periodical index for articles, book reviews, documents. Indexes several catholic journals with medical and bio ethical viewpoints. RefWorks: Direct export

Philosopher's Index
(The most important index in the field of academic philosophy. Also indexes many medical and biomedical ethics journals.

Health Reference Center
Journal and magazine articles, many from the non-specialized press, on medicine and health topics; includes some full text. Current & prior 3 years

ScienceDirect
Access to professional science journals in a wide variety of disciplines, including medicine. Full-text access to over 600 of 1200 indexed journals.  Try Quick Search box (top of screen) or set limits in main search area. RefWorks: Indirect export

PubMed (tax supported database of the National Library of Medicine)
Although difficult to use, PubMed is the major index for medicine for general users -- a free database by NLM  with indexing and abstracting of more than 13 million items from over 4500 journals in the MEDLINE resource sets. RefWorks: Indirect export 

MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) Browser.  Quick Guide (at UC Berkeley)  

Google Scholar  (Beta)
Google is developing a special search engine for academic and related information. This beta version includes links to full-text articles as available at St Thomas (from on campus only) as well as CLICnet library catalog, public web sites, and non-UST sources.

 

SELECTED PERIODICALS/JOURNALS

On bioethics, biomedical and medical ethics, etc.

  • American journal of bioethics  
  • American journal of law and medicine  

Bioethics   

  • BioLaw (print only)
  • Cambridge quarterly of health care ethics (St Cates)
  • Catholic medical quarterly (print only)
  • Christian bioethics   
  • Developing world bioethics    

Ethics  

  • Ethics & medicine (Bethel)
  • Ethics & medics  (print only)
  • GeneScreen 
  • The Hastings Center Report  
  • Issues in law and medicine
  • Journal of law, medicine & ethics
  • Journal of medical ethics


Sample of University of Minnesota Held Journals

  • Journal of medical genetics 
  • Journal of medical humanities 
  • The Journal of medicine and philosophy
  • Journal of religious ethics
  • Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics  
  • Kennedy Institute of Ethics journal
  • Medical ethics advisor
  • Medical humanities   
  • Medical humanities review  (print only)
  • Medical law review   
  • National Catholic bioethics quarterly
  • New titles in bioethics (print only)  
  • Nursing ethics
  • Social science and medicine
  • Today's Christian doctor (Bethel)
  • Yale journal of health policy, law, and ethics  
     

OTHER ONLINE REFERENCE RESOURCES

New Catholic Encyclopedia (Owned by UST)
Full-text. 2003 edition of 15 vol. The standard Reference work in the field.

Origins (UST subscription)
Full-text. U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: bi-weekly newsletter with important Church documents, statements, articles, and opinion from Bishops. Online from 1994 

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (UST subscription)
Full-text. Useful for general discussions of ethics. British sources.


PLEASE NOTE:

Many good resources are not yet online, among them the vast majority of published books on bioethics and medical ethics. Our CLICnet library catalog is the best way to search for books (see below).The most general works on biomedical ethics -- check the catalog -- are under the two overlapping subjects, bioethics and medical ethics (there is no subject specifically called "biomedical ethics").  Still, the heart of the library's collections are books on the literally hundreds of specific issues and topics (biomedical research, persistent vegetative state, human cloning, assisted suicide, human experimentation in medicine, etc.). Below are representative examples:

Bioethics in CLICnet:
Recent books on bioethics from UST collections

Medical Ethics in CLICnet:
Recent books on medical ethics from UST collections

From Catholic perspectives:

Try these CLICnet subject searches:

  • Medical ethics Religious aspects Catholic Church
  • Bioethics Religious aspects Catholic Church


CHURCH DOCUMENTS 

The Roman Catholic Church's positions on biomedical ethics are embodied in official documents from various authorities and commissions charged with responding to critical health care issues. Below is just a representative sample (as of 2006):

  • Examining "Quality of Life, Ethics of Health'.  Pontifical Academy for Life, Report by H.E. Mons. Elio Sgreccia. (2005)
  • Communion and Stewardship. Human Persons Created in the Image of God.  International Theological Commission. (2004)
  • Joint Statement of the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations and the Pontifical Academy for Life on the Vegetative State (2004)
  • Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 4th ed. (2001)
  • Dignity of the Dying Person. Pontifical Academy for Life. (2000)
  • Declaration on the Production and the Scientific and Therapeutic Use of the Human Embryonic Stem Cells. Pontifical Academy of Life. (2000)
  • Evangelium Vitae: The Gospel of Life. Encyclical of Pope John Paul II. (1995)
  • Charter for Health Care Workers. Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers. (1995)
  • Donum Vitae: Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. (1987)
  • Declaration on Euthanasia. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. (1980)
  • Humanae Vitae: On the Regulation of Birth. Encyclical of Pope Paul VI.  (1968)
  • Church Documents. [Compiled by the] Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Note that the magisterial authority of any specific document is not noted above, nor seldom on the Web  -- check with your instructor if you need guidance on Church teaching.