I’m a social welfare scholar and clinical ethicist whose work examines how social and institutional structures shape how ethical problems are understood in health care, with particular attention to autonomy, decisional capacity, and patient rights. I currently serve as a Bioethics Director for a large healthcare organization in Southern California and as Affiliate Faculty with the UCLA Center for Social Medicine and Humanities.
My recent work includes projects on public mental health services and mandated treatment, as well as broader questions about social ontology and its implications for resolving ethical issues in everyday clinical pract…
I’m a social welfare scholar and clinical ethicist whose work examines how social and institutional structures shape how ethical problems are understood in health care, with particular attention to autonomy, decisional capacity, and patient rights. I currently serve as a Bioethics Director for a large healthcare organization in Southern California and as Affiliate Faculty with the UCLA Center for Social Medicine and Humanities.
My recent work includes projects on public mental health services and mandated treatment, as well as broader questions about social ontology and its implications for resolving ethical issues in everyday clinical practice. Across these areas, I’m interested in how social systems, power relations, and underlying assumptions shape both the problems that come to be recognized as ethical and the range of responses that appear available or justified. I refer to this approach as social bioethics.
Please visit my personal website to learn more about me: https://www.rjdougherty.com
