(Photo by Bruno Guerrero on Unsplash)
It’s alive! ALIVE! (ahem) I mean it’s live. The substack, that is. Welcome to Miles to Go.1 This newsletter is primarily for those who are using Practical Bioethics: Ethics for Patients and Providers in their classes (Hereafter PB). It is secondarily for Students using PB and those interested in applied bioethics. It is tertiarily for people who like odd, nerdy substacks.2
In Miles to Go, I’ll provide those who are using the Practical Bioethics text with some commentary and questions to go along with the text. Come Fall, I’ll be teaching the course myself. I’ll provide some inside info about some of the case studies with some tips on how I teach them. I’ll also comment on some current debates in bioethics.
“Who am I?” you ask. I am professor of philosophy and ethics at a small liberal arts college. I’ve been teaching applied ethics for almost 18 years. I am also a member of a hospital ethics committee (going on 12 years now). Father of three. Inveterate geek for all things TTRPG. Cannot dance.
One thing you can be sure of, if you are doing bioethics, there is going to be some headline during the semester that will bear on what you are studying or teaching. Last time I taught this course, we got a pandemic! Honestly what I love about this branch of ethics is that there is always something new to discuss.
In the coming months, we’ve got a debate about whether the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network should adjust some of its criteria to account for racial disparities. I’m also going to dig into the ongoing debate about transgender treatments and teens. Who knows what else will crop up?
If you subscribe, (always free) every other Thursday (give or take) We’ll examine these topics through the principles and concepts in Practical Bioethics3, discussing the “5 Ds” (description, dilemma, discern, decide, and defend) offering what I hope are the strongest arguments on each side.
Thanks for subscribing to the Miles To Go newsletter. See you soon!