Large-scale ethics
Dan W. Brock of Harvard Medical School (HMS) on Wednesday delivered the 63rd George W. Gay Lecture in Medical Ethics at the School, focusing on population bioethics. His talk, “The Future of Bioethics,” began with a look at some of today’s central issues — ethical dilemmas arising in clinical and research contexts, matters of confidentiality, stem cells, and neuroethics. Much of what awaits “will and should include a lot of what went before it,” but a stronger focus on population bioethics is called for, he said. “Think of ‘bird’s-eye view,’” Brock said — a shift in attention from clinical, individual interactions to whole populations, a “focus on health, not just health care.” After all, “Health care is responsible for only a minority of longevity gains of the last century,” he said. “It doesn’t have as big of an impact.” Population bioethics takes into account social factors such as working conditions, class, and exclusion. The...