•  102
    Naturalized virtue ethics and the epistemological gap
    Journal of Moral Philosophy 1 (2): 197-209. 2004.
    The proponent of the epistemological gap maintains that value claims are justified in a different way than are nonvalue claims. I show that a neo-Aristotelian naturalized virtue ethics does not fall prey to this gap. There are ethical claims concerning human beings that are epistemically justified in a way logically identical to the way in which are justified certain nonethical claims about human and nonhuman organisms. This demonstration (1) lends credibility to naturalized virtue ethics, (2) c…Read more
  •  45
    Does professional orientation predict ethical sensitivities? Attitudes of paediatric and obstetric specialists toward fetuses, pregnant women and pregnancy termination
    with Karen Donelan, Yolanda Martins, Sadath A. Sayeed, Christine Mitchell, Terry L. Buchmiller, Kelly Burmeister, and Jeffrey L. Ecker
    Journal of Medical Ethics 40 (2): 117-122. 2014.
    Background To determine whether fetal care paediatric and maternal–fetal medicine specialists harbour differing attitudes about pregnancy termination for congenital fetal conditions, their perceived responsibilities to pregnant women and fetuses, and the fetus as a patient and whether self-perceived primary responsibilities to fetuses and women and views about the fetus as a patient are associated with attitudes about clinical care.Methods Mail survey of 434 MFM and FCP specialists .Results MFMs…Read more
  •  34
    Attitudes of paediatric and obstetric specialists towards prenatal surgery for lethal and non-lethal conditions
    with Ryan M. Antiel, Farr A. Curlin, John D. Lantos, Christopher A. Collura, Alan W. Flake, Mark P. Johnson, Natalie E. Rintoul, and Chris Feudtner
    Journal of Medical Ethics. 2017.
    Background While prenatal surgery historically was performed exclusively for lethal conditions, today intrauterine surgery is also performed to decrease postnatal disabilities for non-lethal conditions. We sought to describe physicians' attitudes about prenatal surgery for lethal and non-lethal conditions and to elucidate characteristics associated with these attitudes. Methods Survey of 1200 paediatric surgeons, neonatologists and maternal–fetal medicine specialists. Results Of 1176 eligible ph…Read more
  •  34
    Microethics: The Ethics of Everyday Clinical Practice
    with Robert D. Truog, David Browning, Edward M. Hundert, Elizabeth A. Rider, Sigall K. Bell, and Elaine C. Meyer
    Hastings Center Report 45 (1): 11-17. 2015.
    Over the past several decades, medical ethics has gained a solid foothold in medical education and is now a required course in most medical schools. Although the field of medical ethics is by nature eclectic, moral philosophy has played a dominant role in defining both the content of what is taught and the methodology for reasoning about ethical dilemmas. Most educators largely rely on the case‐based method for teaching ethics, grounding the ethical reasoning in an amalgam of theories drawn from…Read more
  •  30
    This article addresses whether cardiopulmonary resuscitation and sustained physiological support should ever be permitted in individuals who are diagnosed as brain dead and who had held previously expressed moral or religious objections to the currently accepted criteria for such a determination. It contrasts how requests for care would normally be treated in cases involving a brain-dead individual with previously expressed wishes to donate and a similarly diagnosed individual with previously ex…Read more
  •  22
    Palliative care and cancer trials
    Journal of Medical Ethics 29 (6): 371-371. 2003.
    Two of the most important concepts in medicine are “curing” and “caring”. Patients should enter clinical trials with the understanding that they benefit from the treatment or that there may be some benefit to others. In many cancer trials, for example, the best that can be hoped for is a prolongation of life. Whether or not life is prolonged, we argue that there exists an obligation which can be termed a “bond of responsibility” to provide appropriate palliative care within the patient’s own cul…Read more
  •  21
    Naturalized Virtue Ethics
    Dissertation, The University of Oklahoma. 2003.
    I defend a neo-Aristotelian ethical theory I call "naturalized virtue ethics," or NVE. This is a naturalistic, teleological theory. Human beings are a species of social animal for whom there is a characteristic form of life. An individual human being may be evaluated as a good or bad specimen according to how well that individual realizes the human form of life. To be a good human being, one must possess those traits of character that reliably enable one to achieve the ends of creatures like us.…Read more
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  •  19
    "I Sleep, But My Heart Is Awake": Negotiating marginal states in life and death
    with Margaret C. Hayden
    Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 61 (1): 106-117. 2018.
    In the outpatient ultrasound suite of a major urban medical center, the mood is somber. A young woman lies tense and anxious. Pregnant for the first time, she has experienced early first-trimester bleeding. The radiologist relates the ultrasound findings: there has been a small hemorrhage, but there is a six-week-size fetus with normal cardiac activity. Translation: the baby is alive! The woman quietly sobs, happy but apprehensive.Across the drive, in the main hospital building, a young boy lies…Read more
  •  19
    The “Fetus as Patient”: A Critique
    American Journal of Bioethics 8 (7): 47-50. 2008.
  •  5
    Really Naturalizing virtue
    Ethic@ - An International Journal for Moral Philosophy 4 (1): 7-22. 2005.
    A plausible naturalistic virtue ethics requires a plausible naturalistic account of virtue. One way of naturalizing virtue is to give an account of the virtues as those traits that enable realization of the ends of creatures like us. However, three important concerns threaten the theoretical adequacy ofthe view. It appears that the fact of human variability entails that there is no human lifeform comparable to that of other living things. It appears that, even if there is a human lifeform, this …Read more