IJFAB, International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2
Special Issue: Voice, Power, and Responsibility in Health Care: Papers from the Sixth International Congress of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics
From the Introduction by Wendy Rogers and Carolyn McLeod:
The new issue of IJFAB, Volume 2, Issue 2, is based on papers presented at the Sixth International Congress of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (FAB). The theme of our 2008 congress, in Rijeka, Croatia, was “Voice, Power, and Responsibility in Health Care.” The congress offered two and a half days of stimulating thought, fresh insights, vigorous debate, and new perspectives on issues in bioethics. The papers in this issue reflect the current strength and diversity of feminist bioethics. The issue includes articles from eminent colleagues, together with papers from younger scholars whose strong contributions indicate very promising futures. The FAB biennial congress has played a significant role in the development of feminist bioethics. The first FAB congress in San Francisco in 1996 led to the publication of Embodying Bioethics: Recent Feminist Advances, edited by Anne Donchin and Laura Purdy. Several other collections based on papers from FAB congresses, including a special issue of Bioethics, provide critical resources for teaching and scholarship. In 2007, FAB established IJFAB to advance feminist approaches in bioethics. Beginning with this issue, every fourth issue of IJFAB will be based on FAB’s biennial congress.
The field of feminist bioethics has expanded far beyond an early focus on issues that primarily affect women. This volume includes papers that elegantly and successfully use feminist theory to investigate topics that are very much in the mainstream of bioethics (e.g., conflicts of interest or evidence-based medicine), as well as papers on topics that have particular resonance for women (e.g.,care of the elderly and hybrid embryos). As we write this, the World Health Organization has declared the emerging swine flu to be a level-4 pandemic. If a full-blown global pandemic ensues, health care systems and societies around the world will be challenged to find just and ethical ways to respond. Several of the themes in this issue are relevant here. Who will care for those affected, and who will receive care? It is unlikely that existing services will be able to care for all who become ill. How will resources be distributed, and will those who already are vulnerable be further disenfranchised? What notions of duty and responsibility will be at play, and on what basis will health care professionals advise their patients in this situation of uncertainty? The first congress issue of IJFAB demonstrates clearly that feminist bioethics plays a crucial role in addressing these and other questions in the potentially difficult times ahead.
IJFAB, International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2
Special Issue: Voice, Power, and Responsibility in Health Care: Papers from the Sixth International Congress of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2
ESSAYS
Long-term care for the elderly worldwide: Whose responsibility is it?
Rosemarie Tong
Shades of gray: From caring to uncaring labor
Monique Lanoix
Stories from the margins: Immigrant patients, health care, and narrative medicine
Anna Gotlib
“Babies with some animal DNA in them”: A woman's choice?
Françoise Baylis
Glass houses: The power of money in bioethics research
Jocelyn Downie
Trust and responsibility in health policy
Meredith Celene Schwartz
Evidence-based medicine and patient autonomy
Robyn Bluhm
Why reading the title isn't good enough: An evaluation of the 4S approach to evidence-based medicine
Kirstin Borgerson
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