Tag / medical ethics
-
![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.
-
![Clinician talking with other clinician in the background.]()
Bioethics Case Study – What Does It Mean to be a Bioethics Expert?
Bioethics case study on bioethics expertise in VIDEO and PRINT. What Does It Mean to Be an Expert? Perception, Reality and Practical Implications When does someone’s expertise become beneficial to others? As professional ethicist do we understand morality more than others, and if so, what is my role to others as an expert? The case illustrates how bioethics expertise enabled a son to feel understood and supported in allowing his mother to pass. 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 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.
-
![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.
-
![The Statue of Liberty.]()
Bioethics Case Study – Justice for Undocumented Patients
Bioethics case study on undocumented patients in VIDEO and PRINT. This case study in clinical ethics discusses ‘When What Is Right ≠ What Is Best’ regarding justice for undocumented patients. Published by the Center for Practical Bioethics.
-
![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.
-
![]()
Richard Butin, MD: The Making of an Ethics Champion
The Center for Practical Bioethics is proud to honor Dr. Richard Butin, Staff Physician and Associate Professor of Medicine at University Health, as 2025 Ethics Champion of the Year in recognition of his leadership in addressing complex ethical issues in health and healthcare.
-
![A caring doctor-patient moment. The doctor is setting their hand on the patient's hand.]()
Case Study – Doctor-Patient Relationships: When Is It Ethically Acceptable to End Them?
Bioethics case study on doctor-patient relationships in VIDEO and PRINT. This case study in clinical ethics discusses when it is acceptable to end a doctor-patient relationship. Published by the Center for Practical Bioethics.
-
![The graphic advertising the Flanigan Lecture of an outline of a saxophone player.]()
2025 Flanigan Lecture
Join us on Nov. 12, 2025 for the 31st Annual Flanigan Lecture, Reflections from an Imperfect Art: Jazz, Medical Ethics, and the Moral Practice of Medicine presented by the Center for Practical Bioethics. Dr. Patrick T. Smith, a leading voice in bioethics and theology, will explore how jazz—born from struggle and creativity—offers powerful metaphors for justice, equity, and the moral practice of medicine.
-
![Krystal Pence picture.]()
Clinical Ethics Consultation at a Large Health System
Krystal Pence, LMSW, is seeing the growing impact of the Ethics Committee on patient care and institutional policies at Advent Health Kansas City. Krystal describes what dealing with complex cases was like “before and after” her hospital’s Ethics Committee began working the Center.
