Research work · 2020
Introduction
Public Bioethics
Abstract
The introduction characterizes “doing public bioethics” as analyzing and assessing actual and proposed public policies regarding biomedicine, healthcare, and public health. It may include attention to public discourse and public culture, and to professional discourse and practice, as ways to influence public policy or as an end in and of itself. “Public bioethics” also refers to commissions, councils, task forces, and the like, that are governmentally established, sponsored, or funded for the purpose of deliberating collectively about bioethical issues, again with a primary goal of recommending public policies. In addition to examining different types of public bioethics bodies, the introduction provides an overview of the volume and its chapters along with an indication of their context and origins, including the author’s experiences on public bioethics bodies.