Abstract

Is the aim of medicine to avert death at all costs? Are doctors there to prescribe cough drops or to clamp wires on our heads? Should there be abortion on demand? What is medicine for? Vitally important decisions are today being left to an exclusive few- the Biocrats. Gerald Leach believes that there is a need now for wider discussion- informed, accurate and sensible discussion. Here he provides a survey, which has been specially updated for this Pelican edition, of such fields as birth and population control, 'test-tube reproduction', eugenics and genetic engineering, mind drugs, transplants, life-propping machines.... all the fantastic realities made possible by modern bio-medicine. The author brings social, personal and legal considerations to his study and concludes by discussing which alternatives we can afford to pursue.