Anspach, Renee R. : University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Renée R. Anspach is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan
Review
"This book is a clear challenge for further consideration of the nature of our moral life and of how we
address the complex ethical questions that continue to perplex us. . . . [Anspach] has written a valuable and fascinating
book that will be of interest to a wide audience."
--Mark J. Hanson, Society
"Anspach's book provides a readable and, in my view, largely accurate account of how intensive-care professionals
approach life-and-death decisions. We all have much to learn in reflecting on the process she details."
--Joel Frader, M.D., Journal of General Internal Medicine
"In making an argument for the social science paradigm in bioethics, Anspach's work is first-rate: coherent
in its presentation, well organized and flawlessly written. . . . [Anspach] emerges as one of the finest theoretically
ambitious field workers in medical sociology today."
--Daniel F. Chambliss, Contemporary Sociology
University Of California Press Web Site, March, 2000
Summary
In this powerful and probing look at the reality of everyday choices in neonatal intensive care units, Renée
Anspach explores the life-and-death dilemmas that have fueled national debate. Using case studies taken during
sixteen months of extensive interviewing and observation, Anspach examines the roles of parents, doctors, nurses,
and bioethicists in deciding whether critically ill newborns--be they premature, terminally ill, or severely malformed--should
be saved by medical technology, or at least kept alive a little longer.