Singapore Bioethics Casebooks

The caregivers of a 19-year-old with a traumatic brain injury wrestle with understanding his wishes, since he cannot speak anymore. A staff-strapped nursing home director wonders whether she should put residents on diapers even if they don’t need it, just to save time. A single parent needs a liver transplant, but refuses to give up smoking and drinking. Doctors deliberate whether to go ahead with the transplant since the patient’s refusal to adhere to the post-operative regime may well cause the precious donated liver to be wasted. These are some of the complex but common ethical dilemmas faced by caregivers and healthcare professionals discussed in the two casebooks on biomedical ethics commissioned by the Foundation. The 22 cases in the two books are accompanied by questions to stimulate class discussions and commentaries by experts. Though hypothetical, they were crafted from information obtained during lengthy interviews with more than 180 healthcare professionals, as well as workshops, conferences and discussion forums. The casebooks were developed by an international team led by Associate Professor Jacqueline Chin from the Centre for Biomedical Ethics at the NUS Medical School.