This dinner talk and discussion elucidated the foundations of medical ethics through an examination of the distinctive nature of the doctor-patient relationship — a relationship between one individual who is vulnerable due to illness and another who professes to help. From that starting point, we examined central questions regarding the practice of medicine: Is there a “natural" norm for health and human flourishing, or are the ends and goals of medicine extrinsic to the practice and socially constructed? Should medical practice be limited to healing and restoring health, or is “enhancement” a legitimate end for medicine? Do current advances in biotechnology fundamentally alter the essence or practice of medicine?

 

Speaker

Aaron Kheriaty, M.D., is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the UC Irvine School of Medicine, and Director of the Medical Ethics Program at UCI Health. He serves as chairman of the medical ethics committees at UCI Hospital and at the CA Department of State Hospitals. He is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Program in Health and Human Flourishing at the Zephyr Institute.