I received this book in exchange for a honest review from NetGalley.

I really liked this book! It brought up lots of interesting questions about medical ethics and how the United States deals with medical ethical problems. Many times the ideas presented in the book pushed what are considered "social norms" and I think that it is important that everyday people are asked to question and learn about medical ethics and push their boundaries.

While informative, this book is also quite dense. However, it raises a lot of great ethical questions and I would recommend it to anyone who likes to spend their time pondering the touch questions in life (or death).

Claudia Cragg (@ClaudiaCragg) speaks here with Dr Jacob M Appel, about his newest book, #WhoSaysYoureDead Medical & Ethical Dilemmas for the Curious & Concerned from @AlgonquinBooks Appel presents an invigorating way to think about vital health and ethical issues that many will confront as individuals, or we as a society must reckon with together.

https://ccragg123.libsyn.com/who-says-youre-dead-with-jacob-m-appel

In "Who Says You're Dead?" Dr. Jacob M. Appel tackles dilemmas that health-care professionals might face in the course of their careers. With advances in technology, new treatment options become available, generating ethical questions that in the past would have been unthinkable. This book is divided into six sections: "Inside the Mind of a Doctor," "Body Parts," "Making Babies," "The Good of the Many," "Practical Matters," and "End-of-Life Issues." In seventy-nine brief chapters, Appel presents a wide range of scenarios and various arguments for and against possible resolutions to the dilemmas posed.

Appel's essays address a host of troubling and thought-provoking issues that, by their very nature, are sure to generate acrimonious debates. Among the most significant ones are doctor-patient confidentiality; organ donations; the ownership of frozen embryos; health-care rationing; the possible abuses of cloning; when to withdraw life support; and the definition of death. If Dr. Appel had limited his discussion to such concerns, this would have been a valuable analysis of timely topics.

Unfortunately, this work of non-fiction is marred by pieces that deal with distasteful and bizarre cases that may be too grotesque for the average reader to stomach. A woman believes that her healthy left foot is not a part of her body, and she wants it amputated. Members of a small religious sect refuse to feed their newborns until their deity sends them a go-ahead sign, even if it means starving their infants to death. A surgeon who is terminally ill would like to transplant his head onto someone else's body. At its best, "Who Says You're Dead?" effectively demonstrates the challenges that medical ethicists face during these tumultuous and ever-changing times. There is one statement, at least, on which everyone can agree: "These highly fraught subjects can prove emotionally grueling."

So, this is an interesting book. It offers big medical questions and then poses the situation and kind of asks the reader to think about the doctor's constraints and then what it means and how a doctor might do something we find bad, but it's under the heading "what can you do?" Sometimes these make sense, sometimes they don't. Like, the section that upset me was that of the doctor confronted by the couple who wanted to mutilate the genitals of their female child in a clean setting, or else when they removed her to Ethiopia, she wouldn't be able to get married or would have it done in an unclean setting. Since this is child abuse, the doctor should be retaining the parents in the office and calling Child Protective Services, that is the proper route, but the book seems to lean toward, "Well, I can't stop them, so it really a personal choice." Knowing some Ethiopians, married women no less, they can still get married with a clitoris, so I would consider taking a personal route to be the doctor condemning the child to a miserable life, and as a mandated reporter, the doctor should be in trouble. I don't like these kinds of false dichotomies in this book it presents FGM as an actual alternative, and so, I cannot recommend this as an actual guide, but more as an idea. I wouldn't give it to someone who wasn't looking to learn more - I especially wouldn't give it to a teen or child. There are some real questions in here, but some of them.... as a former mandated reporter myself, had me furious.

An anecdote-based book that covers many aspects of medical ethics, from birth through death. Very choppy and magazine-article-like.

I must say that the description of this book from the publisher is very accurate. It explains very well what this title is really about. This book presents short scenarios in which an ethical dilemma in the medical field presents itself. The author presents the scenario and proceeds to give you the possible costs and benefits of each side of the choices that could be made. This is not a book where the author gives you his two cents worth for every situation and why his decision is the best possible outcome. The author merely provides you with the situation and gives you the information and possibilities with which you can help form your own ideas.

This book is not filled with technical jargon and is not hard for non-medical professionals to follow. I see this book's theme as a conversation starter and a way to present challenging, potential ethical dilemmas to the forethought of a more generalized audience. With the barreling speed of technological advancement and the ever changing current of society, these ethical dilemmas either have already occurred or will present themselves in the future. This book helps start a conversation on the subject.

While I don't know if this book is a must-have for all collections, I did enjoy the book. It made me aware of ethical dilemmas in the medical field that I hadn't even thought existed. It's a very thought-provoking title that makes you aware of the challenges the medical field and society have in trying to handle such situations going into the future.

Jacob Appel has given us another unique book this time looking at mostly medical cases as they might, or are viewed ethically. While the book is nonfiction, the patients' privacy has been protected by name and details changed.
As mentioned in the book's summary, and most appropriate, it's similar to a, "What would you do?" if you were the decision maker on each case. While the details are given, Jacob presents a few thought-provoking questions just to spur us on.
The best feature, in my opinion, is that there are no answers provided in the book; we're left with our best guess. An educated guess maybe?!. Some I had strong emotions about, especially cases involving children or the elderly. Some, I was baffled and confused; actually pleased that I was not involved in the final judgement call.
This is a fascinating and interesting book, and really opens our eyes to what doctors, lawyers, and families must deal with routinely. Bless them.

Thanks you Netgalley, Algonquin Press, and the intelligent and over-educated, Mr. Appel. (I say that with love and honor; and jest.)

Who Says You're Dead? presents a myriad of challenging and controversial medical ethical decisions that physicians come up against in the course of their profession.

Each ethical situation is presented with the facts of the case, and then reflected on with stating both the positive and negative ramifications as well as any historical precedents for each of the possible outcomes. These dilemmas weigh heavily on not only the physicians, patients and the medical community but on societies as well.

I applaud the author, a physician, lawyer and bioethicist, for presenting this information in such a well reasoned and readable manner. I agree with the reviewer that suggested all members of government should be required to read this book before voting on any issues with ethical implications.

This is fascinating reading and gives each reader the chance to examine and consider their own ethical views. The book is sure to spark many conversations and debates!! I highly recommend it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for allowing me to read this excellent read in exchange for an unbiased review.

A clear and informative book covering major and sometimes controversial medical questions in a way that's both understandable and interesting to laypeople.

This is a medical book for the masses, both informative and entertaining. The doctor/author is a bioethics professor, so he knows the topic very well. He presents all the information in an easy-to-follow, straightforward style. Each chapter covers a different ethical area, then subdivided into specific, brief cases with possible responses. There are no definitive answers, but rather many different opinions are offered. An extensive bibliography is also included. The author humorously uses well-known fictional names for some of the professionals, including Dr. Kildare and Dr. Zhivago. Excellent read! Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC.

I really enjoyed reading Who Says You're dead, a collection of hypothetical medical dilemmas designed to spark debate and reflection. All of the cases were thought-provoking, and I found myself trying to figure out what I would do in the situation before I read the author's explanation to see how my opinion matched up. More often than not, though, I found myself marveling at how complicated the outcome actually was and how complicated medical decisions really are. It's a good reminder that playing armchair medical ethicist is definitely easier than the real thing.

The whole book was well-written and researched, and I thought the section on end of life issues were the most intriguing. I wish that there had been some sort of conclusion to wrap up everything--the book ends abruptly after the last case concludes--especially since there had been an introduction, but overall I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about how medical professionals make their decisions as well as people who love to intellectually debate moral problems.

While I do not usually pick up nonfiction books, the title of this book intrigued me too much to ignore looking further into its content. I know the bare minimum about the medical sciences (enough to get me by at the doctor’s office), but I was amazed by how comprehensive the author made each topic and case study. In my own library-minded opinion, this was an easy-to-read and thoroughly researched piece of nonfiction.
One of my favorite moments was learning about the “yuck factor,” which is when something is morally wrong yet difficult to explain why.
There are many interesting tidbits and historical facts to read and learn in this work and I think the author did an excellent job of reiterating many points into a layman’s understanding of the medical field and its ethical concerns.

The author is a psychiatrist and bioethicist and he does a great job of sharing thought-provoking ethical dilemmas in the health profession. Each brief chapter describes a scenario and ends with a medical conundrum. Each section features a commentary/reflection from serious (birth defects, eugenics, DNA testing etc.) to relatively mundane interactions (patient-doctor conduct, patient prejudice, business cost etc). There is no conlusion to be made, in fact, the author serves up these musings for the readers’ “intellectual pleasure,” and it is a veritable smorgasbord.

Jacob Appel's thought-provoking WHO SAYS YOU'RE DEAD? should be a first purchase for all general nonfiction collections, particulary those where ethics, philosophy and pop-psychology are popular. Also highly recommended for high school collections.

What an insightful and eye-opening book about ethical dilemmas the medical profession faces in this ever changing society. There are six parts in this book with different scenarios under each part and the ethical issues that comes with it. For example, is it ethical for a doctor to reveal to the father or his daughter that they are not biological related when genetic markers during an organ match test reveals that they are not? Is it ethical for prisoners on death row who need organ transplant to "jump the line" in the waiting list? Is xenotransplantation ethical when it involves a five month-old girl with a severe congenital heart defect? Ah, you get what I mean? These are interesting ethical issues. This book is thought-provoking, intriguing and shocking and should not be read in one sitting. It is replete with information and should be devoured slowly!

***I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from Algonquin Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed in this review are my own and was not influenced by the author, publisher or any third party.***

An interesting format: each chapter has a brief (fictional) scenario--such as a domestic abuse victim asking a doctor to remove injury information from the electronic medical record because her abuser has friends who work at the hospital and the information might get back to him--and a "reflection" on the ethical dilemma presented by the scenario.

I was expecting more of an in-depth exploration of moral and ethical issues in medicine, which this is not, but this book has several dozen interesting topics for thought and discussion. It's reminiscent of a dinner party icebreaker books, with various questions to get guests talking, and could be used similarly in a classroom or even a business setting.

I would recommend this book for anybody considering the medical field, or people who enjoy playing "armchair doctor" whether while watching medical shows (reality-based or not). If you think an issue wasn't featured in enough detail, the last 10% or so of the book does contain citations for further reading. Some typographical/print issues I had in my arc:
Loc 556 - "scares" should be "scarce" (how to allocate scarce organs)
Loc 757 - Tex needs a liver but this page says "Should Tex be able to 'jump the line' and solicit a heart in this way?" It should state liver, not heart.
Loc 1221 - Missing particle "In scenario"
Loc 1889 - "[Italics added]" But I didn't see italics in my ARC
Loc 1937 - Missing quotation mark, "We certainly don't tell them that they are going to die"
Loc 2119 - "Copenhagenbased" needs to be separated with a dash
Loc 2624 - Headline not capitalized, "cry, baby's corpse mistakenly buried with twins"