Abstract

In one of Richard Zaner’s tales of ethics consultation practice, a moment occurs that might be comic, except for the gravity of the situation. Zaner goes to visit the parents of an infant with multiple problems who has been admitted to neonatal intensive care. He introduces himself awkwardly, and the child’s father responds: “‘Why,’ he bluntly asked, ‘are you here now?’ And with, again, exemplary frankness, he pointedly demanded, eyes narrowing in that knowing way, full of suspicion: ‘Has someone been acting unethically?’”. Webb Keane’s Ethical Life: Its Natural and Social Histories never discusses bioethics and gives minimal attention to medical anthropologists who have contributed significantly...