EP #321 - 08.16.2021 - The Medical Ethics Surronding COVID-19 w/Art Caplan

I’m glad to return to the COVIDCalls microphone after a much-needed break.  It was one that, quite honestly, I really needed—but it’s nothing compared to the break that nurses and docs and teachers and other essential workers across the USA and around the world need.  The stories coming from full emergency departments and overcrowded, unvaccinated, classrooms in the United States are so distressing—I wish everyone could find some time and some peace in the midst of all this.

I want to offer my sincere gratitude to guest hosts Kim Fortun, James Adams, and Jacob Steere-Williams for producing and hosting some lively and insightful COVIDCalls discussions while I was away.  And, as always, nothing is possible without COVIDCalls superteam members Bucky Stanton and Shivani Patel.  Thank you all.

Today I discuss the many ethical dilemmas of COVID with my guest, bioethicist Arthur Caplan.

Arthur Caplan is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine in New York City.

Dr. Caplan is the author or editor of thirty-five books and over 725 papers in peer reviewed journals. His most recent books are The Ethics of Sport, (Oxford University Press, 2016 with Brendan Parent) and Vaccination Ethics and Policy, (MIT Press, 2017 with Jason Schwartz).

He has served on a number of national and international committees including as the chair of the National Cancer Institute Biobanking Ethics Working Group, chair of the Advisory Committee to the United Nations on Human Cloning; chair of the Advisory Committee to the Department of Health and Human Services on Blood Safety and Availability. He has also served on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses, and the special advisory committee to the International Olympic Committee on genetics and gene therapy.

Dr. Caplan is a regular commentator on bioethics and health care issues for WebMD/Medscape, for WGBH radio in Boston and WMNF public radio in Tampa. 

Dr. Caplan is the recipient of many awards and honors including the McGovern Medal of the American Medical Writers Association and the Franklin Award from the City of Philadelphia. He was a USA Today 2001 “Person of the Year and was described as one of the ten most influential people in science by Discover magazine in 2008.  And this only scratches the surface of his work!