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![Fox TV series "Doc" cast.]()
Why Didn’t They Call a Clinical Ethicist?
Much of the action in Fox’s TV series, “Doc,” revolves around clinical ethics cases. One case involved a critically ill patient who never removed his ex-husband as proxy from his advance directive. Now, the patient’s current partner is in favor of a risky surgery; the ex-husband is opposed. Why wasn’t a clinical ethicist brought in to resolve the situation?
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![A graphic stating the Ethics Dispatch is like an ethics committee meeting in a box. With four topic sections: monthly hot topic, new clinical ethics case study, current bioethics news stories and ethical musing essay.]()
Ethics Dispatch November 2025 Beneficence
The November 2025 Ethics Dispatch discusses beneficence in the season of caring . What does it mean to actively do good? 150,000 people with serious mental illness live in nursing homes, often longer than their medical needs require because the broader system has no place for them to go. In the case study we learn about a patient ready for discharge, but no facilities will take him. Then we discuss the shortcomings of EMTALA and how they demonstrate the need to rediscover the theory of medicine so that its practice meets patients’ needs. The Center for Practical Bioethics.
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![Kayhan Parsi, JD, PhD, HEC-C, and Nanette Elster, JD, MPH, as our John B. Francis Co-Chairs in Bioethics.]()
The Center Welcomes Kayhan Parsi and Nanette Elster – A Tribute to Mentorship and Transformation
Read how our Vice President of Ethics Services, Ryan Pferdehirt, came to be one of Kayhan Parsi and Nanette Elster’s students and how working directly with them he learned new ways to apply his clinical ethics skills, expand his knowledge of pediatric ethics, and cultivate his bioethics scholarship.
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![Lindsey Jarret with i.c.stars iOpener event panelists.]()
AI Ethics Finds a Home in Workforce Development
Dr. Lindsey Jarrett writes about AI ethics finding a home in workforce development through the process that led to an award this summer by the Kauffman Foundation to support the Ethical AI Capacity Building and Residency Support Program for i.c.stars Kansas City staff and participants.
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![A graphic of the four part "Accidental Activist Algorithm." Attributed to Missouri Medicine issue Nov-Dec 2014.]()
Accidental Activist Gets Stuff Done – The 2025 Vision to Action Award Winner Edwin Kraemer MD
Ed Kraemer’s formula for a life of meaning has four parts he calls “Accidental Activist Algorithm.” It’s a formula that helps to explain why the Center for Practical Bioethics will honor Ed with the 2025 Vision to Action Award at the Flanigan Lecture on November 12.
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![A graphic stating the Ethics Dispatch is like an ethics committee meeting in a box. With four topic sections: monthly hot topic, new clinical ethics case study, current bioethics news stories and ethical musing essay.]()
Ethics Dispatch October 2025
The October 2025 Ethics Dispatch highlights how misinformation, political interference, and profit-driven publishing threaten the integrity of science and public trust in healthcare. Defending evidence and fairness is a moral duty rooted in bioethics’ principle of justice. The Center for Practical Bioethics calls for renewed commitment to truth, transparency, and ethical integrity in research and public discourse.
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![A graphic stating the Ethics Dispatch is like an ethics committee meeting in a box. With four topic sections: monthly hot topic, new clinical ethics case study, current bioethics news stories and ethical musing essay.]()
Ethics Dispatch September 2025
In this Ethics Dispatch, the Center for Practical Bioethics discusses the decision to scapegoat immigrants and strip away healthcare access is a cautionary tale about how easily ethics can be subverted by politics. It shows us how fear can be weaponized to dismantle justice, and how health policy can be turned into a tool of harm.
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![A list of the sections in the Ethics Dispatch.]()
Ethics Dispatch August 2025
Nurses and frontline staff bear the brunt of a growing wave of hostility, facing risks that extend far beyond the usual emotional toll of caregiving. In this Ethics Dispatch, the Center for Practical Bioethics analyzes competing values that govern providers’ response to violence, as well as institutional responsibilities and Ryan shares a personal story about his response to an aggressive family member.
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![Portrait of Elijah Wetzel.]()
Two Things I Learned as an Ethical AI Intern
Elijah Wetzel, a religion major with minors in political science and global health at Wabash College, served as an intern for the Center for Practical Bioethics. Before leaving the Center to spend a semester at the University of Edinburgh, Elijah wrote about what he has learned about AI and bioethics – the unprecedented nature of both obscures their future – and about who has a voice in this future.
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![Hands piled on top of each other to represent building relationships.]()
It’s All About Building Relationships
Whether you read our Bioethics Bulletin for personal or professional reasons, Editor Trudi Galblum explains the Center’s goal: To be your trusted bioethics source for valuable hot topic analysis, case studies and workshops.
