Issues in medical ethics are rarely out of the media and it is an area of ethics that has particular interest for the general public as well as the medical practitioner. This short and accessible introduction deals with moral questions such as euthanasia as well as asking how health care resources can be distributed fairly.

On why medical ethics is exciting -- Euthanasia: good medical practice, or murder? -- Why undervaluing 'statistical' people costs lives -- People who don't exist, at least not yet -- A tool-box for reasoning -- Inconsistencies about madness -- How modern genetics is testing traditional confidentiality -- Is medical research the new imperialism? -- Family medicine meets the House of Lords.