Springer Neurosurgical Ethics in Practice: Value-based Medicine

Good neurosurgical practice is based not only on evidence, skills, and modern equipment, but also on good values. This book is the first to discuss specifically the ethical issues that arise during the daily practice of neurosurgery. It is divided into three parts addressing patients’ rights, ethical issues relating to the working environment, and wider societal aspects such as dealings of neurosurgeons with the legal system, the media, and companies. The authors are well-established neurosurgeons who present the ethical problems that they have encountered during their careers and explain what they have learned in confronting these problems. In all, more than 50 neurosurgical cases drawn from real life are reported and discussed from an ethical point of view. This book will be especially informative for young neurosurgeons and will provide all who work in this very special field with a road map on how to avoid violations of medical ethics in neurosurgical practice. Review “The editors, who have co-authored many of the included chapters, are to be congratulated on their extremely valuable overview of ethics in neurosurgery. … The writing is very clear and will be easily understandable for neurosurgeons and trainees without prior knowledge of ethics. … this book shows that the ethical challenges in neurosurgery are numerous and can help neurosurgeons identify and manage them, thus contributing to the profession.” (Marike L. D. Broekman, Acta Neurochirurgica, Vol. 160 (8), August, 2018) “The book is multi-authored and directed at neurosurgeons in practice and in training. … The very good thing about this book is that it is well formatted and configured, short, approachable, readable, and systematic. On the whole, the use of intercalated cases followed by discussions works well. … The editors have made an important contribution to the profession. It will be of interest to neurosurgeons seeking an overview of medical ethics, ethical methodology, and practical neurosurgical ethics.” (T. Forcht Dagi, Neurosurgery, Vol. 82 (4), April, 2018) From the book reviews:“This book examines a multitude of ethical issues in the field of neurosurgery. It is broad in scope and uses frequent clinical vignettes to illustrate ethical dilemmas. The intent is to provide analyses of ethical issues faced by neurosurgeons on a daily basis. The book clearly targets neurosurgical practitioners, both practicing surgeons and trainees.” (Jay R. Malone, Doody’s Book Reviews, January, 2015) From the Back Cover Good neurosurgical practice is based not only on evidence, skills, and modern equipment, but also on good values. Young surgeons often learn about ethical behavior by observing the behavior of their teachers in different situations, but for several reasons, this is not enough. This book discusses the ethical issues that arise during the daily practice of neurosurgery. It will be especially informative for neurosurgeons, other surgeons, physicians, residents, medical students, and allied health care providers. The book is not a philosophical expose but an easily readable and highly practical road map on how to navigate ethically challenging situations in neurosurgical and other practice.   The book is divided into five parts addressing general issues, patients’ rights, end of life issues, neurosurgeons’ duties, and neurosurgeons and society. The contributing authors are well-established neurosurgeons and other doctors with long experience and from different backgrounds. They discuss ethical problems encountered in everyday practice, introduced by cases, and in all, there are more than 50 neurosurgical cases drawn from real life. The editors introduce in the title and throughout the book the term “value-based medicine” which reinforces that while modern medicine and surgery have come very far in technical aspects, the core of what we do must be based on the values embodied in bioethics. About the Au