Beyond the Hippocratic oath. A memoir on the rise of modern medical ethics

Norm Kienitz

AUTHOR John B. Dossetor, PUBLISHER University of Alberta Press, Ring House 2, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1; TELEPHONE 780 492-3662; FAX 780 492-0719; WEBSITE www.uap.ualberta.ca, PUBLISHED 2005/320 pp/$39.95

OVERALL RATING Fair

STRENGTHS Increases awareness of many ethical issues; reflects on an interesting professional career

WEAKNESSES Broad in scope—neither narrative nor autobiography

AUDIENCE Health care professionals, especially those with interest in medical ethics

Dr John Dossetor has certainly had a distinguished and varied career. From working in nephrology when it was a budding specialty to program development, transplant medicine, extensive clinical research, and, in his latter years, a turn into medical ethics, this polymath is now able to pen his memoirs with an impressive breadth and scope.

He begins with what is essentially his professional autobiography, from his early training in the United Kingdom and the formative experiences that captured his interest and guided much of his career. Moving to Montreal, Que, after some international travel, and subsequently to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, he describes many of his experiences and chronicles the development of a rapidly changing area of medicine and research. Dr Dossetor examines these times and experiences through the lens of an ethicist, presenting problems and dilemmas along the way, and finishing with some thoughts on ethical issues themselves.

Unfortunately, this has its limitations. Ethics by its very nature is more given to questions than answers, and this is where the memoir has its difficulties. It neither fully explores the issues nor is able to sustain a continuous narrative, and at times becomes sidetracked with reading lists, sidebar discussions, or other somewhat tangential items.

This book chronicles a fascinating career as well as the impressive development in an area of medicine. The issues raised by these and other scientific advances spur the ethical questions that Dr Dossetor raises. Though well written, it is difficult to do justice to all this at once. Nonetheless, the book will be appreciated by those with a special interest in medical ethics or a humanist ethical perspective.