This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Health care institutions, including Roman Catholic institutions, are in a time of crisis. This cr... more Health care institutions, including Roman Catholic institutions, are in a time of crisis. This crisis may provide an important opportunity to reinvigorate Roman Catholic health care. The current health care crisis offers Roman Catholic health care institutions a special opportunity to rethink their fundamental commitments and to plan for the future. The author argues that what Catholic health care institutions must first do is articulate the nature of their identity and their commitments. By a renewed commitment to the praxis of health care on their own distinctive terms, Roman Catholic health care institutions may reestablish a vision of human nature and human service in an increasingly secular society. Health care could then reclaim its place as a powerful setting for the expression of Roman Catholic faith, life and witness.
This article examines a range of ethically related concerns and considerations that must be addre... more This article examines a range of ethically related concerns and considerations that must be addressed by health professionals and society as they grapple with how to make decisions about the type and degree of treatment to provide to patients at the ends of their lives. These considerations include (1) medical and nursing indications; (2) patient desires; (3) patient interests, including benefit/burden analysis and quality-of-life considerations; (4) family wishes and interests; and (5) costs. The article elaborates the ethical warrants and justifications for why these concerns need to be addressed in clinical decision making and in the development of a national health care policy. A substantial bibliography of current ethics literature on these issues is included.
This article examines the evolution of state and federal legislation and court opinions in the 19... more This article examines the evolution of state and federal legislation and court opinions in the 1990s concerning treatment abatement and assisted suicide. The recent Supreme Court decision on assisted suicide is summarized, and its rejection of a recognized constitutional right to assisted suicide is explored. Additionally, surveys of the opinions of nurses, physicians, and the public regarding the permissibility of assisted suicide are evaluated. The contradictions between public opinion and some federal and state legislation are highlighted and discussed.
This article identifies conceptual distinctions, e.g., killing, letting die, causing, refraining ... more This article identifies conceptual distinctions, e.g., killing, letting die, causing, refraining from causing, and moral principles, eg, autonomy, beneficence, utility, and their implications for the debate on assisted suicide.
In a recent critique of informed consent, Robert Veatch argues that the practice is in principle ... more In a recent critique of informed consent, Robert Veatch argues that the practice is in principle unable to attain the goals for which it was developed. We argue that Veatch's focus on the theoretical impossibility of determining patients' best interests is misapplied to the practical discipline of medicine, and that he wrongly assumes that the patient-physician communication fails to provide the knowledge needed to insure the patient's best interests. We further argue that Veatch's suggested alternative, value-based patient-professional pairing, is, on his own terms, impossible to implement. Finally, we reexamine the philosophical and practical justifications for informed consent and conclude that the practice should be retained.
This article argues that although there may exist morally valid reasons to justify assisted suici... more This article argues that although there may exist morally valid reasons to justify assisted suicide in some cases, establishing state or national policies legalizing assisted suicide is morally unjustified. Five arguments are examined that support the position against legalization: consequentialist arguments, arguments about who could legitimately choose assisted suicide and when it could be chosen, the incompatability of assisted suicide policy and authentic self-determination; the probable lack of efficacy of assisted suicide in a managed care environment, and the effects of assisted suicide on the profession and practice of nursing. The article ends with a discussion of alternatives to assisted suicide legislation that might accomplish in large part what is sought by such legislation.
Reasons that businesses might wish to hire Ph.D.s from the traditional liberal arts disciplines a... more Reasons that businesses might wish to hire Ph.D.s from the traditional liberal arts disciplines are identified. Ph.D.s from the liberal arts disciplines are able to provide a number of strong management skills and their education prepares them to succeed in the difficult and often changing business environment. Four theses are elaborated: (1) individuals who have completed Ph.D.s in liberal arts disciplines possess a number of attributes whose strength and usefulness to the nonacademic sectors of society have either been underestimated or ignored; (2) the results of graduate humanities and social science education are comparable to programs in management and business administration; (3) the ability to place academics in nonacademic careers need not undermine the autonomy and integrity of the liberal arts in particular, or higher education in general; and (4) the movement of Ph.D.s into business, government, and non-for-profit sectors will enhance greater pluralism in these settings, and sustain democratic institutions. Problems that may hinder a Ph.D.'s success at management include: working as part of a team, relinquishing ownership of the products of their work, and the value generally placed on assertiveness in the business world.
This paper seeks to expand our appreciation of the gene editing tool, clustered
regularly inters... more This paper seeks to expand our appreciation of the gene editing tool, clustered
regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-associated
protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9), its function, its benefits and risks, and the challenges of regulating its use. I frame CRISPR’s emergence and its current use in the context of 150 years of formal exploration of heredity and genetics. I describe CRISPR’s structure and explain how it functions as a useful engineering tool. The contemporary international and domestic regulatory environment governing human genetic interventions is reviewed and
shown to be increasingly ineffective in its ability to restrain, guide, and optimize the
emerging use of CRISPR. Several reasons for this lack of consensus are discussed. In
conclusion, I suggest a number of public policy recommendations that might allow
us to simultaneously embrace our most important moral values and manage the
inevitable power CRISPR will come to have in our lives.
KEYWORDS: CRISPR, gene editing, genome engineering,
As this collection of essays on the manner in which religion and public health policy have impact... more As this collection of essays on the manner in which religion and public health policy have impacted one another in the COVID-19 era goes to press, both the United States’ Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) have recently declared the end to the pandemic (CDC 2023b; UN 2023b; Williams 2023; Siddiqui et al [...]
International Journal of Chinese & Comparative Philosophy of Medicine
LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese在晚近對知情同意的批判裏，Robert Veatch論證， 這種實踐之發展目標，在原則上是無法達成的。筆者則認為，... more LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese在晚近對知情同意的批判裏，Robert Veatch論證， 這種實踐之發展目標，在原則上是無法達成的。筆者則認為，Veatch以病人最佳利益之決定在理論不可能性為焦點，被誤用到醫療的實踐學科裏，而且，他誤以為病人／醫生的溝通，無法提供確保病人最佳利益的知識。筆者亦將推斷，Veatch倡議的那種以價值為基礎的專業配對，根據他自己的標準來看，是不可能落實的。最後，我們要重新檢視知情同意在哲學和實踐上的成立理由，並歸結核實踐應該保留下來。DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 17 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.
In a recent critique of informed consent, Robert Veatch argues that the practice is in principle ... more In a recent critique of informed consent, Robert Veatch argues that the practice is in principle unable to attain the goals for which it was developed. We argue that Veatch’s focus on the theoretical impossibility of determining patients ’ best interests is misapplied to the practical discipline of medicine, and that he wrongly assumes that the patient-physician communication fails to provide the knowledge needed to insure the patient’s best interests. We further argue that Veatch’s suggested alternative, value-based patient-professional pairing, is, on his own terms, impossible to implement. Finally, we reexamine the philosophical and practical justifications for informed consent and conclude that the practice should be retained. Key words: beneficence, best interests, informed consent, patient-physician relationship. I. A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFORMED CONSENT Since its appearance on the health care scene, the practice of informed consent has been the subject of on-going scholarly and ...
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Health care institutions, including Roman Catholic institutions, are in a time of crisis. This cr... more Health care institutions, including Roman Catholic institutions, are in a time of crisis. This crisis may provide an important opportunity to reinvigorate Roman Catholic health care. The current health care crisis offers Roman Catholic health care institutions a special opportunity to rethink their fundamental commitments and to plan for the future. The author argues that what Catholic health care institutions must first do is articulate the nature of their identity and their commitments. By a renewed commitment to the praxis of health care on their own distinctive terms, Roman Catholic health care institutions may reestablish a vision of human nature and human service in an increasingly secular society. Health care could then reclaim its place as a powerful setting for the expression of Roman Catholic faith, life and witness.
This article examines a range of ethically related concerns and considerations that must be addre... more This article examines a range of ethically related concerns and considerations that must be addressed by health professionals and society as they grapple with how to make decisions about the type and degree of treatment to provide to patients at the ends of their lives. These considerations include (1) medical and nursing indications; (2) patient desires; (3) patient interests, including benefit/burden analysis and quality-of-life considerations; (4) family wishes and interests; and (5) costs. The article elaborates the ethical warrants and justifications for why these concerns need to be addressed in clinical decision making and in the development of a national health care policy. A substantial bibliography of current ethics literature on these issues is included.
This article examines the evolution of state and federal legislation and court opinions in the 19... more This article examines the evolution of state and federal legislation and court opinions in the 1990s concerning treatment abatement and assisted suicide. The recent Supreme Court decision on assisted suicide is summarized, and its rejection of a recognized constitutional right to assisted suicide is explored. Additionally, surveys of the opinions of nurses, physicians, and the public regarding the permissibility of assisted suicide are evaluated. The contradictions between public opinion and some federal and state legislation are highlighted and discussed.
This article identifies conceptual distinctions, e.g., killing, letting die, causing, refraining ... more This article identifies conceptual distinctions, e.g., killing, letting die, causing, refraining from causing, and moral principles, eg, autonomy, beneficence, utility, and their implications for the debate on assisted suicide.
In a recent critique of informed consent, Robert Veatch argues that the practice is in principle ... more In a recent critique of informed consent, Robert Veatch argues that the practice is in principle unable to attain the goals for which it was developed. We argue that Veatch's focus on the theoretical impossibility of determining patients' best interests is misapplied to the practical discipline of medicine, and that he wrongly assumes that the patient-physician communication fails to provide the knowledge needed to insure the patient's best interests. We further argue that Veatch's suggested alternative, value-based patient-professional pairing, is, on his own terms, impossible to implement. Finally, we reexamine the philosophical and practical justifications for informed consent and conclude that the practice should be retained.
This article argues that although there may exist morally valid reasons to justify assisted suici... more This article argues that although there may exist morally valid reasons to justify assisted suicide in some cases, establishing state or national policies legalizing assisted suicide is morally unjustified. Five arguments are examined that support the position against legalization: consequentialist arguments, arguments about who could legitimately choose assisted suicide and when it could be chosen, the incompatability of assisted suicide policy and authentic self-determination; the probable lack of efficacy of assisted suicide in a managed care environment, and the effects of assisted suicide on the profession and practice of nursing. The article ends with a discussion of alternatives to assisted suicide legislation that might accomplish in large part what is sought by such legislation.
Reasons that businesses might wish to hire Ph.D.s from the traditional liberal arts disciplines a... more Reasons that businesses might wish to hire Ph.D.s from the traditional liberal arts disciplines are identified. Ph.D.s from the liberal arts disciplines are able to provide a number of strong management skills and their education prepares them to succeed in the difficult and often changing business environment. Four theses are elaborated: (1) individuals who have completed Ph.D.s in liberal arts disciplines possess a number of attributes whose strength and usefulness to the nonacademic sectors of society have either been underestimated or ignored; (2) the results of graduate humanities and social science education are comparable to programs in management and business administration; (3) the ability to place academics in nonacademic careers need not undermine the autonomy and integrity of the liberal arts in particular, or higher education in general; and (4) the movement of Ph.D.s into business, government, and non-for-profit sectors will enhance greater pluralism in these settings, and sustain democratic institutions. Problems that may hinder a Ph.D.'s success at management include: working as part of a team, relinquishing ownership of the products of their work, and the value generally placed on assertiveness in the business world.
This paper seeks to expand our appreciation of the gene editing tool, clustered
regularly inters... more This paper seeks to expand our appreciation of the gene editing tool, clustered
regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-associated
protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9), its function, its benefits and risks, and the challenges of regulating its use. I frame CRISPR’s emergence and its current use in the context of 150 years of formal exploration of heredity and genetics. I describe CRISPR’s structure and explain how it functions as a useful engineering tool. The contemporary international and domestic regulatory environment governing human genetic interventions is reviewed and
shown to be increasingly ineffective in its ability to restrain, guide, and optimize the
emerging use of CRISPR. Several reasons for this lack of consensus are discussed. In
conclusion, I suggest a number of public policy recommendations that might allow
us to simultaneously embrace our most important moral values and manage the
inevitable power CRISPR will come to have in our lives.
KEYWORDS: CRISPR, gene editing, genome engineering,
As this collection of essays on the manner in which religion and public health policy have impact... more As this collection of essays on the manner in which religion and public health policy have impacted one another in the COVID-19 era goes to press, both the United States’ Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) have recently declared the end to the pandemic (CDC 2023b; UN 2023b; Williams 2023; Siddiqui et al [...]
International Journal of Chinese & Comparative Philosophy of Medicine
LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese在晚近對知情同意的批判裏，Robert Veatch論證， 這種實踐之發展目標，在原則上是無法達成的。筆者則認為，... more LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese在晚近對知情同意的批判裏，Robert Veatch論證， 這種實踐之發展目標，在原則上是無法達成的。筆者則認為，Veatch以病人最佳利益之決定在理論不可能性為焦點，被誤用到醫療的實踐學科裏，而且，他誤以為病人／醫生的溝通，無法提供確保病人最佳利益的知識。筆者亦將推斷，Veatch倡議的那種以價值為基礎的專業配對，根據他自己的標準來看，是不可能落實的。最後，我們要重新檢視知情同意在哲學和實踐上的成立理由，並歸結核實踐應該保留下來。DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 17 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.
In a recent critique of informed consent, Robert Veatch argues that the practice is in principle ... more In a recent critique of informed consent, Robert Veatch argues that the practice is in principle unable to attain the goals for which it was developed. We argue that Veatch’s focus on the theoretical impossibility of determining patients ’ best interests is misapplied to the practical discipline of medicine, and that he wrongly assumes that the patient-physician communication fails to provide the knowledge needed to insure the patient’s best interests. We further argue that Veatch’s suggested alternative, value-based patient-professional pairing, is, on his own terms, impossible to implement. Finally, we reexamine the philosophical and practical justifications for informed consent and conclude that the practice should be retained. Key words: beneficence, best interests, informed consent, patient-physician relationship. I. A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFORMED CONSENT Since its appearance on the health care scene, the practice of informed consent has been the subject of on-going scholarly and ...
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Papers by Joel Zimbelman
regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-associated
protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9), its function, its benefits and risks, and the challenges of regulating its use. I frame CRISPR’s emergence and its current use in the context of 150 years of formal exploration of heredity and genetics. I describe CRISPR’s structure and explain how it functions as a useful engineering tool. The contemporary international and domestic regulatory environment governing human genetic interventions is reviewed and
shown to be increasingly ineffective in its ability to restrain, guide, and optimize the
emerging use of CRISPR. Several reasons for this lack of consensus are discussed. In
conclusion, I suggest a number of public policy recommendations that might allow
us to simultaneously embrace our most important moral values and manage the
inevitable power CRISPR will come to have in our lives.
KEYWORDS: CRISPR, gene editing, genome engineering,
regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-associated
protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9), its function, its benefits and risks, and the challenges of regulating its use. I frame CRISPR’s emergence and its current use in the context of 150 years of formal exploration of heredity and genetics. I describe CRISPR’s structure and explain how it functions as a useful engineering tool. The contemporary international and domestic regulatory environment governing human genetic interventions is reviewed and
shown to be increasingly ineffective in its ability to restrain, guide, and optimize the
emerging use of CRISPR. Several reasons for this lack of consensus are discussed. In
conclusion, I suggest a number of public policy recommendations that might allow
us to simultaneously embrace our most important moral values and manage the
inevitable power CRISPR will come to have in our lives.
KEYWORDS: CRISPR, gene editing, genome engineering,