Disaster Bioethics: Normative Issues When Nothing is Normal

“This edited volume brings together an interdisciplinary array of scholars from around the world to discuss disaster bioethics. … book offers an insightful examination of some neglected topics within the larger study of disasters that warrant inquiry. … Disaster Bioethics is a much needed contribution to a field that struggles with how to carry out research in extreme situations. It should be read, at the very least, by any scholar or practitioner who wishes to conduct fieldwork in disaster research.” (Nathalie Baker, Natural Hazards Observer, Vol. 39 (6), July, 2015)

“The book is comprised of 13 chapters … contributed by individual authors and divided into two sections. … It will serve to shape and focus future research and debate. … This is a volume that will be of value to those interested in exploring the acceptable ethical bounds of conduct during times of disaster. Such individuals should include not only ethicists but also public health professionals, humanitarian aid workers, and academics who might conduct research in a disaster setting.” (James D. Hearn, Bioethical Inquiry, Vol. 12, 2015)

Bert Gordijn is Chair of Ethics and Director of the Ethics Institute at Dublin City University. He has studied Philosophy and History at the Universities of Utrecht (Netherlands), Strasbourg (France) and Freiburg in Breisgau (Germany). In 1995 he was awarded a doctorate in Philosophy; in 2003 he received a doctorate in Bioethics. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics at Lancaster University (UK), the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University (USA) and the Fondation Brocher (Switzerland). Bert is Editor-in-Chief of the academic book series The International Library of Ethics, Law and Technology (published by Springer). In addition he is Editor-in-Chief of two peer reviewed journals: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy (also published by Springer) and Studies in Ethics, Law and Technology (published by Berkeley Electronic Press). Bert has been appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Patent Organization, the External Science Advisory Panel to the Long-Range Research Initiative of the European Chemical Industry Council and has served on the UNESCO expert committee on ethics and nanotechnology.