In industrialized countries, HIV/AIDS is now increasingly perceived as a chronic condition. Yet initially, before combination therapy became available, this pandemic was widely associated with premature or even imminent death. Receiving the diagnosis typically led to a dramatic biographical disruption. This highly original book turns this basic feature of life

Religion is a dominant force in the lives of many Americans. It animates, challenges, directs and shapes, as well, the legal, political, and scientific agendas of the new Age of Biotechnology. In a very real way, religion, biomedical technology and law are - epistemologically - different. Yet, they are equal

Bioethicists, moral philosophers and social policy analysts have long debated about how we should decide who shall be saved with scarce, lifesaving resources when not all can be saved. It is often claimed that it is fairer to save younger persons and that age is an ethically relevant consideration in

In the past people were classified as being healthy or sick. With genetic testing and screening, adults might be healthy, predisposed to an illness, probably at risk, at risk, or carriers of certain risks. Genetic testing and screening hits another dramatic note when cells and embryos are tested and subsequently

This volume explores the different dimensions of how the contingency of life, and especially human life, is relevant for ethical discussions and the normative frameworks in bioethics. It explores the relevance of the notion contingency, needs and desires for moral argumentation and bioethics. The volume discusses those notions in a