Christopher Meyers

Conscientious Objection? Yes, But Make Sure It Is Genuine

here (see the commentary by Curlin [2007] for a gesture in this direction), the counterintuitive nature of the suggestion that one must act against that which one knows to be right indicates that we should not dismiss conscience as a uniquely religious concept sheltered from the scrutiny of reason. Conscience need not be confined to the status of moral refuge. All moral decisions are decisions of conscience insofar as the conscience determines all moral acts, whether religious or non-religious in origin. Finally, future challenges to conscience in the clinical context will call into question the decisions of healthcare professionals who refuse to participate in an activity that they deem to be both morally problematic and outside of the proper ends of medicine. It is obvious that we ought not to tolerate a physician who refuses to treat a patient on account of gender or ethnicity. Such a decision is blatantly contrary to the ends of medicine. The difficulties lie in those cases in which there is disagreement about the ends of medicine and the obligations they impose on its practitioners. It may very well be the case that in focusing our attention on particular acts of conscientious objection, we will fail to attend to the underlying and more pressing need to engage once again in a conversation on the nature of medicine and its proper ends. This, of course, is not a new conversation, but it is nonetheless one that needs to be revisited. It is here, I would suggest, that one will find the root cause of much of our current, heated debate about conscience and, perhaps, some possible resolution.

Clinical Ethics Consulting and Conflict of Interest: Structurally Intertwined

Clinical ethical consultants are subject to an unavoidable conflict of interest. Their work requires that they be independent, but incentives attached to their role chip relentlessly at independence. This is a problem without any solution, but it can at least be ameliorated through careful management.

Creating an Effective Newspaper Ombudsman Position

In this article I argue, first, that genuinely effective ombudsmen could help restore news credibility-thereby staving off other, more intrusive external intervention-and that the position must have true sanctioning authority, much like that of the ethics officer in many corporations. I also argue that the effective ombudsman will be one who sufficiently understands the workings of journalism but who is not immersed in its ethos. This distancing is necessary for genuine critical appraisal to be possible.

Professionalism, Not Professionals

The proliferation of news and information sources has motivated a need to identify those providing legitimate journalism. One temptation is to go the route of such fields as medicine and law, namely to formally professionalize. This gives a clear method for determining who is a member, with an array of associated responsibilities and rewards. We argue that making such a formal move in journalism is a mistake: Journalism does not meet the traditional criteria, and its core ethos is in conflict with the professional mindset. We thus shift the focus from whether the person is journalist to whether the work satisfies the conditions that characterize legitimate journalism. In explaining those conditions we also look at mechanisms for enhancing the power of persons doing journalism, drawing upon lessons from the labor movement. We also consider a self-declaration model while urging increased literacy from all participants in the news gathering and consuming enterprise.

Power, Ethics, and Journalism: Toward an Integrative Approach

Although we think 1 of the basic purposes of journalism is to provide information vital to enhancing citizen autonomy, we also see this goal as being in direct tension with the power news media hold and wield, power that may serve to undercut, rather than enhance, citizen autonomy. We argue that the news media are ethically constrained by proceduralism, resulting in journalists asserting power inappropriately at the individual level, and unwittingly surrendering moral authority institutionally and globally. Anonymity, institutionalization, and routinization cloak power relationships among citizens, journalists and the institutions of which they are a part, ultimately inculcating these distinctly Western values in the global community.

Appreciating W. D. Ross:On Duties and Consequences

In this article I describe the theoretical underpinnings of 20th-century British philosopher W. D. Rosss approach to linking deontological and teleological decision making. I attempt to fill in what Ross left on the whole unanswered, that is, how to use his duties to resolve dilemmas. A case study in journalism demonstrates how to apply the theory. I conclude with an analysis of what I take to be the strengths and weaknesses in Rosss theory.

Reappreciating W. D. Ross: Naturalizing Prima Facie Duties and a Proposed Method

The goal of this article is to try to resolve two key problems in the duty-based approach of W. D. Ross: the source of principles and a process for moving from prima facie to actual duty. I use a naturalistic explanation for the former and a nine-step method for making concrete ethical decisions as they could be applied to journalism. Consistent with Rosss position, the process is complicated, particularly in tougher problems, and it cannot guarantee correct choices. Again consistent with Ross, such complexity and uncertainty speak in the methods favor, given the difficulty—factual, motivational, and organizational—of ethics problems and decision making.

Managed care and ethical conflicts: anything new?

Does managed care represent the death knell for the ethical provision of medical care? Much of the current literature suggests as much. In this essay I argue that the types of ethical conflicts brought on by managed care are, in fact, similar to those long faced by physicians and by other professionals. Managed care presents new, but not fundamentally different, factors to be considered in medical decision making. I also suggest ways of better understanding and resolving these conflicts, in part by distinguishing among conflicts of interest, of bias and of obligation.

The impact of physician denial upon patient autonomy and well-being.

It is now widely accepted that a patients ability to engage in autonomous decision-making can be seriously threatened when she denies significant aspects of her medical condition. In this paper I use a true case to reveal the harmful effects of physician denial upon patient autonomy and well-being. I suggest further that such physician denial may be more common than is generally acknowledged, since aspects of the contemporary medical ethos likely serve to reinforce rather than to undercut such denial.

Universals Without Absolutes: A Theory of Media Ethics

Abstract The global turn in media ethics has presented a tough challenge for traditional models of moral theory: How do we assert common moral standards while also showing respect for the values of those from outside the Western tradition? The danger lies in advocating for either extreme: reason-dependent absolutism or cultural relativism. In this paper, I reject Cliff Christian’s attempts to solve the problem and propose instead a moral theory of universal standards that are discovered via a mix of rationally grounded methods. Such universality refutes relativism but, because it is grounded in evolutionary naturalism and life-world philosophy—as opposed to a Kantian or theological transcendentalism—it also avoids absolutism.