New Issues in Medical Ethics

Biomedical ethicist Arthur Caplan, Ph.D. We talk about the news that human embryos are being grown by researchers doing stem cell research. Previously, the cells were harvested from aborted fetuses. The idea of fetal farming is quite controversial. Proponents cite the enormous potential for finding cures to cancer, Alzheimer and diabetes. Opponents are aghast at the notion of using and destroying human life for the sole purpose of research. Caplan is the Director of the Center for Bioethics and Trustee Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Today marks the 25th anniversary of Roe V. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. We talk to Medical Ethicist Art Caplan about how technological advances in the medical field, from fetal surgery to cloning, have effected the abortion debate.

A talk with two individuals at the forefront of medical ethics: Robert Baker, Professor of Philosophy at Union College in Schenectady, New York who contends that medicine is in its biggest crisis in 150 years. (It was in 1847 that the AMA wrote it's code of ethics). And Medical Ethicist Art Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.