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A new lecture series aims to promote discussion of controversial issues in the advancing field of medical ethics within medicine, healthcare, and fetal and maternal health. David Solomon, the director of the Center for Ethics and Culture and a philosophy professor at the University of Notre Dame, addressed issues of abortion, the Terry Schiavo case, and the state of America's health care in his lecture "Medical Ethics and the Crisis of Contemporary Society."
His lecture Thursday night was the first in the Alice David and Frederick C. LaBrecque Medical Ethics annual series organized by members of the LaBrecque family to honor the qualities of dedication, trustworthiness and compassion in their family members.
Solomon stressed the polemical disputes surrounding subjects related to medical ethics. "These issues are hot and they're all over the place," he said.
In discussing stem cell research, Solomon cited a recent article in The Boston Globe that stated that human embryos could not be considered life. He countered the article's statement by saying, "It's simply false." If it were that easy to decide that a human embryo was not life, we would not still be having debates over the ethics of stem cell research, he said.
He discussed the Terry Schiavo case and used it as an example of the ongoing examination of how to treat people who are terminally ill.
"The questions we have about how medicine should act at the end of life continue to be contentious," he said.
Solomon addressed the continuing ethical debate over abortion.
"One of the remarkable things about the abortion debate is that the longer we talk about it, the deeper the divisions get. No middle ground is ever obtained," he said.
Solomon also tackled the major issue of the healthcare system in the United States.
"Here ethical issues are right at the heart of the healthcare system," he said. "Sixty percent of the GDP is spent on healthcare in our country and it is still in deep trouble."
He described a common situation experienced by patients waiting in the emergency room to be treated for non-critical care.
The average waiting time period in Chicago city hospitals with a non-critical care problem is 18 hours, he said. Growing discontent in the healthcare system has led to increased dissatisfaction among both patients and doctors, he said, citing a recent poll by The New York Times showing that most doctors in the United States don't want their children to become doctors.
Solomon described the field of academic medical ethics as fairly new, taking shape in the 1960s and 1970s. He said that scholars are attempting to solve many of these issues using a systematic approach that can be applied to all ethical questions.
"One thing that happens [in medical ethics] is we want to come up with an academic approach to these issues," he said. "People want to look for a single-method approach to all of these problems."
He opposed the single-method strategy.
"I think the truth is quite different from that. What actually is the case is that medicine is a cultural lens through which ethical issues get viewed."
Solomon concluded his presentation by emphasizing how religion and medicine are inextricably bound.
"Can we still build medical ethics in a medical field devoid of religion?" he asked.
He cited a quote from Peter Singer, a professor at Princeton University and scholar of medical ethics, taken from an interview with Dan Rather on 60 Minutes.
"Without consciousness, human life has dropped to a level, in fact, below that of a chimpanzee or a dog," he quoted.
"It's a very big deal that people in our culture are saying this," said Solomon. He warned that further secularization could dismantle medical ethics and prevent a rich sense of healthcare within the field.
"We need to raise the bar and realize that without these traditional religious views, we're in danger of slipping into the lifestyles Singer describes."
The LaBrecque family hopes this lecture series will stimulate discussion among the Boston College community and address ethical questions of advancing medicine.
Nineteen members of the family were present at the event, and they collected funds to initiate the lecture series that echoes Frederick LaBrecque's dedication to ethical practices within medicine. Dr. Douglas LaBrecque, the son of Alice and Frederick, spoke at the beginning of the lecture and described a brief history of his father's life. Frederick LaBrecque was a French-Canadian immigrant who continued his education against his father's wishes and eventually attended BC. On his daily commute, he met his wife, Alice. Throughout his practice as an OBGYN he remained committed to serving his patients and being loyal to his religious faith.
"The cornerstone of my father's practice was faith in God, in oneself and one's abilities, and faith in one's physician," said Douglas.
Douglas said of his parents that what they held most dear in their lives was "family, church, health of mothers and babies, and Boston College." Frederick remained involved in BC as a member of the president's council as well as a part of the alumni association.
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