The following appeared in Volume 98, Number 1 (Fall, 1998) of the APA Newsletters

Arthur Caplan, Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, has compiled a collection of articles well suited to the general public. I recommend this book as an interesting and entertaining quick read. The style of writing is lively and the catchy language holds the reader’s attention. It seems to be pitched to a very wide audience rather than a strictly scholarly audience. It is best suited to members of the general public interested in acquainting themselves with the exciting issues in bioethics today. Of course, not every interesting issue in bioethics is covered here. However there is a diverse set of cases and issues to ponder, from Jack Kevorkian ("Jack the Wimp" who is "a dangerous nut"), to Olestra, to breast-feeding in public ("Boobs in New Jersey").

Many of the articles, according to Caplan, "had their beginnings as newspaper columns." Each article is only approximately two pages long. There are eleven sections or chapters as follows: "Abortion and Birth Control," "Genetics," "Technological Reproduction," "The Ethics of Research," "New Treatment/New Challenges," "Rationing Cost," "Managed Care," "Starting and Stopping Care," "Assisted Suicide," "AIDS and Other Plagues," and "Smoking and Other Bad Habits." The book is 282 pages long, with no index.

Unfortunately there are no works cited, nor a bibliography with books and materials suggested for further study. Citations accompanying each article would greatly facilitate the reader gaining a broader perspective on the "hot topic" related to the particular person or event discussed. For example, in the chapter, "Technological Reproduction," one finds the article, "Sperm From The Dead." Upon reading about Maribel Baez’s pregnancy created with the use of her dead husband Anthony Baez’s sperm, the reader may want more information about the case. But alas, one is left to search on one’s own, as there are no citations. A handful of citations for newspaper,journal and bioethics encyclopedia articles, and perhaps related cases, accompanying each article in Due Consideration would have greatly widened the book’s usefulness to scholars. One might argue that in order to give each topic its "due consideration," such citations are absolutely necessary.

As one might expect, there is little room in such short articles for more than a very brief introduction to pertinent facets of each issue. Some of the articles are far too brief. "Privacy Goes South," an article in the Managed Care chapter, consists mainly of an anecdote about Sharon, who must risk an invasion of her privacy in order to attempt to get reimbursed for her mental health therapy for depression. The page and a half long article does not do service to a complicated issue. The last two paragraphs do not demonstrate clearly enough that the problem of breaching privacy in this case is tied to issues of cost containment for health care. This article, like some others, seems to end prematurely, with the reader feeling incomplete, having the sense that the ending was a quick add-on conclusion to an article that was originally intended to be longer.

This book is not suited for use as a main text in a college-level or graduate level course because the articles are too sketchy or anecdotal, and as previously mentioned, lack citations. It is nicely suited for any reader who wants to know more about bioethics today, a reader who is intrigued by headlines in the media about Dolly the sheep, Jack Kevorkian and Dr. Seed. Philosophers with no background in bioethics may find themselves interested in such a book, as it will whet their appetites for more scholarly approaches to bioethics. One may discover under which subfield of bioethics one’s main interests may lie, e.g. reproductive issues, managed care, research ethics.

It is conceivable that sections from this book might be included as supplementary material, in addition to the traditional course texts in undergraduate introduction to philosophy or introduction to ethics. Students might be assigned selections, or possibly the entire book, as background preparation for a week on a special topic for the course.