This volume contains all that the beginning reader or student needs to soundly grasp the ideas and issues involved in the field. Building on the model used by Peter Singer in his highly successful Companion to Ethics, the Companion to Bioethics consists of 46 specially written essays designed to present the key issues and concepts in bioethics in an authoritative yet always readable, non-technical manner. An unusually comprehensive index allows the reader to find terms and topics not listed in the titles of the essays themselves. A Companion to Bioethics is an essential work of reference for doctors, nurses, lawyers, journalists, philosophers, moral theologians, sociologists and everyone interested in the ethical issues that are transforming our lives. It will be applicable both to everyday health care practice, and to the far-reaching issues arising from the revolution in the biological sciences as applied to human ethics.