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Health Care Ethics USA
The end of the academic year 2002-2003 is upon us! This has been an excellent year at the Center. First, we have three PhD graduates this May, as follows. John Brehany, PhD, is the Director of Mission Services & Ethics for Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa and his dissertation title is, Germ Line Genetic Engineering: An Analysis of Principled Argumentation in Light of a Critical Theology of the Body. John Paul Slosar, PhD, is the Director of Ethics at Ascension Health's national offices in St. Louis and his dissertation title is: Teleology and Bioethics: An Aristotelian and Thomistic Approach to Mediating the Modern Moral Dichotomy in Health Care. Kevin Valadares, PhD, is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Health Services Administration at the University of Southern Indiana and his dissertation title is: The Contribution of a Services-based Organizational Culture to Support the Operational Success of Health Care Institutions and its Affect on Charity Care. With these three doctoral graduates our interdisciplinary degree program has now graduated seven PhD students - a very pleasing accomplishment. Second, this year the Center crossed the $1million threshold for external grants funding our scholarly research. Third, the Center opened two new faculty positions during the year, with Sandra Johnson, JD, LLM as Professor and Endowed Chair (specializing in health law and bioethics) and Ana Iltis, PhD as a tenure-track Assistant Professor (specializing in institutional review board ethics and organizational ethics in health care). Fourth, Griffin Trotter, MD, PhD has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure at the Center - a very notable accomplishment for which we extend hearty congratulations. Finally, we have completed our admissions for next Fall and we hope to welcome five new students - more on that in a later issue of Health Care Ethics USA. As usual, this issue of Health Care Ethics USA has three essays, each by senior doctoral student in our PhD program. The first essay is by Ann Suziedelis, "Cosmetic Surgery for Children with Down Syndrome: the Cruelest Cut of All?" Using case analysis the essay discusses the ethical dilemma entailed by surgical procedures undertaken solely for cosmetic reasons. The second essay is by Thomas Knoblach, "The Burden on Non-Professional Alzheimer's Caregivers." Again by case-type analysis the essay considers the need to respond to this widely experienced concern by a new ethical synthesis that addresses the complex intricacies of such care. The final essay is by Kevin Voss, "Conflict between Families and Providers: Avoiding Treatment Disputes." The essay explores the concerns raised by end-of-life treatment decisions that require an inordinate amount of time from the health care professional. I hope you enjoy the essays and I look forward to receiving suggestions for topics that we might address in future issues. Professor Gerard Magill, PhD Index | Next: Cosmetic Surgery for Children With Down Syndrome: The Cruelest Cut of All? |
From the Director... |
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