Code for Ethicists
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Photo © Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS

Do medical ethicists need a code of ethics?

Jessica Miller, a University of Maine philosopher and the clinical bioethicist at Eastern Maine Medical Center, thinks the answer is obvious.

"Aren't we beset by some of the same potential conflicts of interest that physicians might be?" she asks. "For example, some prominent bioethicists sit on the boards of pharmaceutical companies that do research on human subjects. The bioethicist has an interest in maintaining that connection because it's lucrative. But what if something is happening that the bioethicist doesn't think is ethical?"

In April, Miller took part in a national conference sponsored by the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, which produced a draft model code of ethics. It will be published in the September issue of the American Journal of Bioethics. Miller was among a small group of bioethicists invited to write peer commentaries on the draft code.

"That's exciting," she says. "Philosophy is an old field. If you study Plato, you are standing on the shoulders of 2,000 years of people who have been studying Plato, and that is a rich, wonderful tradition. But it is also exciting to have part of my work involved with cutting-edge issues and to have a hand in defining this fluid, emerging field of bioethics."

It is already a high-profile field because ethical considerations are at the heart of the national debate over such contentious issues as stem cell research and human cloning, as well as end-of-life care.
"Bioethics," says Miller, "is a wonderful avenue for philosophical public engagement."