Tag / Center for Practical Bioethics
-
![Ink stamps spelling out "no!"]()
Case Study: Undocumented Patient Relies on Hospital ED
Bioethics case study on undocumented patients denied care. Mr. Ramirez is a 44-year-old male with multiple medical conditions, including cirrhosis of the liver and acute kidney failure. He has expressed that outpatient dialysis would indeed be his preference, but due to his undocumented status, accessing it is not an option.
-
![One bird figurine is rejecting the other bird figurine.]()
Case Study: COPD Patient Rejects Science on Smoking
Bioethics case study on patients rejecting science. Bonnie, the patient, stated that she does not believe smoking causes health problems, noting that her father was a lifelong smoker who smoked until the day he died at the age of 94, without any apparent smoking-related illnesses. The medical team is uncertain how to proceed with treatment, and an ethics consult has been requested. Center for Practical Bioethics
-
![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?
-
![Arrows on pavement to represent having to make a choice.]()
Bioethics Case Study – When Facilities Refuse Admission
Bioethics case study on when facilities refuse admission, hospitals are the last resort in VIDEO and PRINT. Hospitals must jump through hoops to find facilities that can meet patient mental health needs. Without a deliberate effort to provide for such patients, they will continue to remain abandoned by society and left to places of last resort, typically the hospital. Published by the Center for Practical Bioethics.
-
![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.
-
![Hospital entrance automatic doors.]()
Case Study: Patient Discharge Issues
Bioethics case study on patient discharge issues. Mr. Stone has a history of combative or noncompliant behavior before hospitalization. Since hospitalized, Mr. Stone has regularly taken his medications and cooperated with staff. But the staff is having difficulty discharging him due to his previous behavior.
-
![]()
October 23 2025 Bioethics Bulletin E-Newsletter
Read about justice in an age of misinformation in the Center for Practical Bioethics’ October 23, 2025 Bioethics Bulletin. Other topics include announcing the new Francis co-chairs, our upcoming free lecture, “Jazz, Bioethics, and the Moral Practice of Medicine,” our 2025 Vision to Action award winner, and watch a new case study on the meaning of expertise.
-
![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.
.
-
![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.
-
![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.
