Bioethics On Air

Guest Mary Forr discusses the institutionalized discrimination faced by persons with disabilities and shares ways to promote their dignity and recognize the unique gifts they give to society.

Dr. Carr J. Smith traces the roots of what he describes as a decline in scientific credibility to the loss of abstract reasoning skills. He then examines the long-term effects of this trend on the scientific community, education, and the culture at large.

Ethicist Dr. Edward Furton probes of the subtleties of brain death and the difficulties that arise from the linguistic difference between metaphysics and science as well as from dissenting opinions within Catholic philosophy.

Dr. Gwyneth Spaeder, a pediatrician in Wake Forest, NC, discusses the moral imperative for Catholics to vaccinate themselves and their children.

Ethicist Dr. John DiCamillo discusses the difference between ordinary and extraordinary care in end-of-life decision making.

Psychologist Dr. James Beauregard talks about the challenge of defining human dignity and the divergent approaches proposed by Christian and postmodern thinkers.

Physicist, Dr. Thomas Sheahen, probes the limit of science’s ability to interpret unobservable phenomena like the multiverse, suggesting techniques for reconciling empirical inquiry with qualitative aspects of reality.

In Bioethics on Air’s second episode about CRISPR gene editing technology, tech entrepreneur Joe Chiarella asks who is guiding these new multi-billion-dollar companies and balancing the goals of researchers and product makers against the best interests of society.

Hospital CFO Paul Babcock explains why health care economics are not structured to serve either patients or health care employees. He challenges this status quo with the possibility of a more ethical system.

Geneticist Fr. Nicanor Austriaco discusses the science behind CRISPR gene editing technology and the challenges it presents to ethicists.