Michael Ryan (d. 1840) remains one of the most mysterious figures in the
history of medical ethics, despite the fact that he was the only British
physician during the middle years of the 19th century to
write about ethics in a systematic way. Michael Ryan's Writings on
Medical Ethics offers both an annotated reprint of his key ethical
writings, and an extensive introductory essay that fills in many
previously unknown details of Ryan's life, analyzes the significance of
his ethical works, and places him within the historical trajectory of
the field of medical ethics.