Too Old for Health Care? Controversies in Medicine, Law, Economics and Ethics, edited by Robert H. Binstock and Stephen G. Post.

T H I S BOOK IS A SEQUEL T O R O B E R T Veatch's earlier work, The Patient as Partner: A Tlieory of Human Experimentation Ethics. Us ing the same under ly ing theory of a pa r tne r sh ip between professionals and the public they serve, this work examines the partnership relationship in the context of clinical medicine. The first portion of the text summarizes the theoretical basis of the partnership model. The author outlines his belief that medical ethics needs to be much broader than the ethics of physicians. Input from other interests (e.g., religious, philosophical, and political) would lead to a more expansive view of medical ethics, according to Veatch. Furthermore, because the patient is one of the interested parties in medical ethics discussions and decisions, the author advocates a model of partnership or contract between the physician and patient as a new basis for medical ethics. The partnership's fundamental features are shared decision making and ethical authority based on trust and confidence.