Posts in: bioethics
No one disputes that music is powerful and can elicit strong emotions. Can this power be harnessed in research to draw bioethics closer to the human beings who are experiencing the disease states and other life challenges that we seek to understand, and for whom we desire to promote flourishing and beneficence?
Here’s a great piece from David Nantais in the Hastings Center Bioethics Forum. I love how David goes beyond the concert-going experience to explore how music can help bioethicists “promote flourishing and beneficence.”
Ethicists Can Proactively Prepare for AI Systems
A human will always be best suited to facilitate conversations that support ethical decision-making for the patients we serve.
Wherein I warn about technosolutionism, promote the language of “augmented intelligence,” and remind folks that great caution should be taken when utilizing generative AI in the context of clinical bioethics.
Initial Thoughts on "Dignitas Infinita"
After a first read of Dignitas Infinita, I share a few of my initial thoughts here.
Finished reading: Bizarre Bioethics by Henk A.M.J. ten Have 📚
This book contains a welcome call to bioethicists: pivot focus from the individual to society as a whole. The common good must be reclaimed.
As Gaza Hospitals Collapse, Medical Workers Face the Hardest Choices
From an academic perspective, bioethicists often discuss a health care worker’s “duty to care.” Health care workers are good people and are willing to give of themselves in order to care for the infirm and vulnerable.
Reading a story like this brings the agony and terror of negotiating one’s duty to care in the midst of death and destruction from theory to the reality of life. I cannot imagine the burden these health care workers are bearing on behalf of these patients.
“We choose who gets ventilation by deciding who has the best chance of survival,” [Mohammed Qandil] said. “For us as a team, these aren’t easy decisions. It’s a morally sensitive issue with a lot of guilt.”
This is a tremendous amount of moral distress for health care workers. I pray for peace in the region, for the end of suffering, and that health care workers will have what they need to care for those in need.