Books

The Changing Face of Health Care: A Christian Appraisal of Managed Care, Resource Allocation, and Patient-Caregiver Relationships (Kilner, Orr, and Shelly, 1998)

Book Reviewed:

The Changing Face of Health Care: A Christian Appraisal of Managed Care, Resource Allocation, and Patient-Caregiver Relationships edited by John F. Kilner, Robert D. Orr, and Judith A. Shelly (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans; 1998) 298 pp. + glossary + index.

The Changing Face of Health Care is the latest in a series of thoughtful books on medical ethics sponsored by The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. Previous titles in the Horizons in Bioethics series include Bioethics and the Future of Medicine: A Christian Appraisal (1995); Dignity and Dying: A Christian Appraisal (1996); and Genetic Ethics: Do the Ends Justify the Genes? (1997).

Christians needing to reflect carefully on these issues will want to add The Changing Face of Health Care to their libraries. Chapters include:

Introduction
“A Physician’s Experience” by David L. Schiedermayer, M.D. (Clinical Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI.)
“A Patient’s Experience” by Harold O. J. Brown, Ph.D. (Franklin Forman Chair of Christian Ethics and Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL.)
“A Nurse’s Experience” by Barbara J. White, R.N., M.S. (Assistant Professor of Nursing, Regis University, Denver, CO.)
“An Administrator’s Experience” by William K. Atkinson, Ph.D. (President and CEO, New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Wilmington, NC.)

Setting the Stage
“A Theological Mandate for Medicine” by Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Ph.D. (Distinguished Professor of Theology and Culture, Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL.)
“Nursing: Remaining Faithful in an Era of Change” by Judith A. Shelly, R.N., D.Min. (Editor, Journal of Christian Nursing, Frederick, PA.)
“Broadening Our View of Justice in Health Care” by Sondra E. Wheeler, Ph.D. (Martha Ashby Carr Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC.)
“Rationing Health Care: A Case of Justice Denied” by Arthur J. Dyck, Ph.D. (Saltonstall Professor of Ethics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.)

Economic Encroachment
“Managed Care’s Financial Incentives” by Scott E. Daniels, Ph.D. (Senior Executive, Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, VA.)
“The Good Samaritan in the Marketplace: Managed Care’s Challenge to Christian Charity” by Edmund D. Pellegrino, M.D. (Director, Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC.)
“When Health Care Becomes a Commodity: The Need for Compassionate Strangers” by Patricia Benner, R.N., Ph.D. (Professor, Department of Physiological Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA.)
“Guidelines for Gatekeepers: A Covenantal Approach” by Gregory W. Rutecki, M.D. (Professor of Medicine, Northeastern Ohio University’s College of Medicine, Canton, OH.)
“For Patients and Profits: Business Ethics for Managed Care Organizations” by Kenman L. Wong, M.B.A., Ph.D. (Professor, School of Business Economics, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA.)
“Hippocrates Meets Managed Care: A Study in Contemporary Oath-Taking” by Robert D. Orr, M.D. (Director of Clinical Ethics, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda, CA.)

Selected Settings
“Therapeutic Relationship in Managed Mental Health Care” by Stephen P. Greggo, Psy.D. (Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology, Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL.)
“Managed Long-Term Care” by Richard W. Olson, M.A., C.P.A. (Vice President of Finance, Covenant Retirement Communities, Chicago, IL.)
“The Impact of Changes in Health Care Delivery on Minority Communities” by Frank E. Staggers, Sr., M.D. (Physician, Alameda County Medical Center, CA.) and Barbara C. Staggers, M.D., M.P.H. (Director of the Division of Adolescent Medicine, Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Northern California, CA.)
“The Impact of Managed Care on Malpractice” by Janet E. Michael, R.N., M.S., J.D. (Private practice health care attorney, ME, MA, NH.)

Assessing Alternatives
“Meeting the Needs of Poor Persons under Managed Care” by James M. Hussey, M.B.A. (CEO, Physicians Quality Care, Ltd., Chicago, IL.)
“Funding Health Care Through the Church” by Alieta Eck, M.D. (Private practice family medicine, Somerset, NJ.)
“Physician Unions: Guardians of the Covenant or Keepers of the Contract? By Mary B. Adam, M.D. (Staff Pediatrician, Thomas Davis Medical Center, Tucson, AZ.)
“Emerging Alternative Therapies” by Dónal P. O’Mathúna, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Medical Ethics, Mount Carmel College of Nursing, Columbus, OH.)
“Conclusion: Change Health Care—A British Point of View” by J. Stuart Horner, M.D., F.R.C.P. (Professor in Medical Ethics at the Centre for Professional Ethics, University of Central Lancashire, U.K.)