Book Title: How to Move Forward: Ethics and Healthcare

Synopsis:

Hong Kong is transitioning into a "silver society," and an aging population is driving up public expectations and demands for local healthcare policies and systems. However, making Hong Kong's healthcare system sustainable presents numerous challenges. It requires not only comprehensive resource planning and quality medical services, but also directly addressing the underlying ethical concerns.

This book explores the medical ethical dilemmas facing Hong Kong from two dimensions: the healthcare system and the professional code of conduct of medical staff. By analyzing healthcare financing policy options, discussing the equitable distribution of medical resources, balancing medical professionalism with patient rights, examining end-of-life treatment choices, newborn genetic screening, and medical malpractice, this book delves deeply into the difficulties and challenges currently confronting the healthcare system. It attempts to propose relevant solutions to improve Hong Kong's healthcare system, optimize medical professionalism and service quality, and foster the sustainable development of society as a whole.

From birth to death, a person's life is inextricably linked to healthcare services. Bringing together articles from more than a dozen medical professionals and public policy research scholars, this book integrates the experiences and insights of various stakeholders in the industry. It hopes to resonate among peers through these discussions while guiding readers to reflect on these medical issues, thereby raising public awareness of the healthcare matters closest to them.

About the Authors

Ho-Mun Chan

Earned his B.A. and M.Phil. from the University of Hong Kong, an M.Sc. in Knowledge-Based Systems from the University of Sussex, UK, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Cognitive Science from the University of Minnesota, USA. He is currently an Associate Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Public Policy at the City University of Hong Kong. His primary teaching and research areas include socio-political philosophy, ethics, and rational and creative thinking. His research papers have been published in international journals and anthologies such as the Journal of Medical Ethics, Bioethics, and the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. He currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the Clinical Ethics Committee of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority and Chairman of the Hong Kong Bioethics Association. His co-edited anthologies include General Studies in Social Ethics (2012) and Everyday Ethics (2018).

Derick K.S. Au

Graduated from the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, USA, and is a specialist in Geriatric Medicine and Rehabilitation. He has served as the Head of the Department of Rehabilitation at Kowloon Hospital, and Chief Executive of Kowloon Hospital and the Hong Kong Eye Hospital. In 2010, he took office as the Head of Human Resources at the Hospital Authority, and in 2014, he became the Director of Quality and Safety. He is currently the Chairman of the Clinical Ethics Committee of the Hospital Authority. In 2017, he assumed the position of Director of the Centre for Bioethics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has written newspaper columns for many years under the pen name Au Man-hoi. He has published twelve collections of essays and specialized works, including When Chinese Medicine Meets Western Medicine: History and Reflections (winner of the National Wenjin Book Award in 2006) and Hospital Notes: The Times and the People (2016).