ethics news & views

Banja awarded grant, appointed to case management commission

John Banja was recently notified that a grant application he helped prepare will be funded by the Agency For Health Care Research and Quality. The grant was awarded to the Georgia Hospital Association, which subcontracted its implementation (as well as the original writing) to the Kerr L. White Institute for Health Services Research.

What do Georgia's health care providers think about end-of-life care?

Over 700 healthcare providers completed an eight-page survey on institutional practices and individual practices and attitudes related to end-of-life care. Kathy Kinlaw and Karen Trotochaud– with statistical assistance from Nancy Thompson, PhD and Amy Sandul, MPH from the Rollins School of Public Health—are currently analyzing responses to this survey, mailed out earlier this semester to doctors, nurses, social workers, and healthcare chaplains throughout the state of Georgia.

EASL Forum students to implement service projects

On January 17, the EASL Forum kicks off an exciting second semester. Building on the foundations established in the fall, this spring student participants will be designing and implementing their own service projects. In the process, they will utilize the servant leadership skills and principles explored thus far. Projects will focus on four main themes: campus-wide impact, community immersion, civic engagement, and servant leadership/ethics.

Fast food inevitability?

Have you ever complained to others that hamburgers don't taste as good as they did when you were a kid? It isn't just your imagination.

Do you look at the defeated, exhausted faces behind the counter at your local McDonald's and wonder where the happy, fresh-faced employees in the commercials work? Most likely, they don't exist outside the ads.

Servant leadership defiled: Reflections on Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed

In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join the millions of Americans who work full-time and earn poverty-level wages. Ehrenreich, a nationally renowned writer who contributes to The New York Times, Time, and The New Republic, wanted to cover the impact of welfare reform by immersing herself in the world of the working poor in the United States. She and her editor openly wondered how anyone could survive, let alone prosper, on six to seven dollars an hour. He challenged her to find out. So began a yearlong journey, during which Ehrenreich left her home, took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered as an inexperienced homemaker returning to the workforce.

[ Posted by Melissa Snarr on March 01, 2002 | Article Link | More Book & Film Reviews articles | Comments (2) ]

Inter-religious conflict in the name of God

Novelist and former Roman Catholic priest James Carroll, author of the controversial book Constantine’s Sword, will visit Emory on February 4 and 5 to explore the hard edges of interfaith dialogue in the wake of September 11.

Published last year, Constantine’s Sword raises difficult questions about the historical relations of the Roman Catholic Church with Judaism over the last two millenia. Beginning in Auschwitz and tracing his way back, Carroll notes how the Christian Church early defined itself over against Judaism, a decision in self-definition that has often had disastrous consequences.

Ethics consortium hosts annual conference on causing harm in health care

Within the healthcare setting, the ethical principle of First Do No Harm is one of the most frequently quoted tenets. Yet we read the Institute of Medicine’s report on the occurrence of medical errors and frequent news stories about how our health care system has failed to provide quality care for individual patients.

How can this be happening? Surely, healthcare professionals keep the duty to avoid harm foremost and fundamental to the goal of benefiting the patient and the community. In this era of health care, however, it is not always clear when benefit is achieved, when “costs” or burdens to the patient are justified, when burdens or lack of benefit become a harm, and when harm that occurs in the course of care crosses a line and becomes a wrong.

The science & ethics of stem cell research

Over the last year published reports on the successful culturing of human embryonic stem cell lines have raised new ethical questions. Human pluripotent stem cells, which are capable of developing into multiple specialized cells and tissues, hold the promise of developing therapies for a variety of diseases and injuries. The promise of this therapy has been based on isolation of stem cells from the early stage of the embryo. Controversial sources for current stem cell lines include “excess” embryos at fertility clinics (those which will be destroyed) and fetal tissue from terminated pregnancies.

Habits and Hobbits: Message from the Director

In contrast to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, with its relatively innocent portrayal of white magic, the first film of J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, rises to a different level of complexity. It involves us in a host of perplexing issues and experiences. The harmless hobbits, little people with their underground homes and agrarian life, seem peaceful enough.

Gandalf, the elder sorcerer, early gives us reason to trust his apparent integrity and kindliness. Bilbo Baggins, the prosperous senior hobbit, from all we can tell has been a good father figure to his nephew, Frodo Baggins. He seems to be a respected, if distant, member of his community. He gives a great birthday party for himself, which all the villagers enjoy. Then, at the party’s climax, he bids the community goodbye, and disappears. Literally, disappears before their very eyes.

Kenneth Cole Foundation donates $600K to create Community Building and Social Change program

Last fall, the Kenneth Cole Foundation committed support to Emory to establish a program to train Emory students in comprehensive community-building skills. Fashion industry executive Kenneth Cole, a trustee of the Kenneth Cole Foundation and founder, president and chief executive officer of Kenneth Cole Productions Inc., has long combined social-consciousness messages in marketing his products, and now he will help Emory University train agents for social change through his foundation.

Manhattan-based business ethicist to speak March 6-7

“The challenges in business have never been greater. War, terrorist threats, struggling economies, sagging markets and the collapse of air travel, advertising and other sectors, have produced an anxious and chaotic environment. Since September 11, 2001, our uncompromising focus on ‘faster, cheaper, better’ and ‘lean, fast and flexible” is being replaced by a new conversation in the workplace about human priorities and the relationship between business and its stakeholders. If there was ever a moment pregnant with possibilities, it is now.” –Keith Darcy