International Bioethics: West Learns from East

Abstract

This article reviews the book A Cross-Cultural Dialogue on Health Care Ethics, edited by Harold Coward and Pinit Ratanakul. The work is the product of an interdisciplinary team of medical scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, philosophers, nurses, lawyers, and religious scholars in both Canada and Thailand for the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society in Victoria, British Columbia. Through their research, this group has compiled a compelling dialogue that centers on health care, life, living, and dying in various societies around the globe. The end result is to advocate a shared vision of health care for the future that is responsive to the mores and demands of every culture. A Cross-Cultural Dialogue on Health Care Ethics provides a good, yet brief, overview of some of the important issues necessary for future dialogue about health care ethics in a global society. The conscientious reader, however, should be quick to realize this book is just a starting point for discussion and not the definitive answer to the world’s health care problems.