Volume 11, Number 2, July 2000

Editor's Forum

Glenn G. Griener, PhD
Associate Professor
John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre
University of Alberta

As most readers of Health Ethics Today know, Edmonton was the site of the annual meeting Canadian Bioethics Society last October. This past Spring the University of Alberta played host to the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities. Such gatherings provide an opportunity to get together with old friends and learn where their thoughts have been leading them. The meetings also give the change to hear new ideas. More often than not, it is young scholars in the field who challenge our settled patterns of thought. We are proud to present two such challenges here. The first paper is written by Jason Scott Robert, who has completed his Doctorate in philosophy at McMaster University. The second is by Anita Ho, a Ph.D. candidate here at the University of Alberta.

Most of the recent movements in bioethics have aimed to tie the field more closely to the workaday world of health care providers and their clients. Clinical ethics is in the ascendancy, and within it interest is focussed on decision-making procedures practitioners can use to resolve their mundane cases. Jason reminds us that, profitable as this approach has been, it is not the only possible one. He calls for a revitalized bioethics, one which takes account of the complex interconnections between humanity and the natural environment.

The recent debate over the Health Care Protection Act was as rancourous as any Albertans have witnessed. However, there did seem to be one point of consensus: both sides stated their opposition to 'two-tier American-style health care'. Anita's paper prods us to reconsider this view. While many people seem to think that a two-tier system must be like the system enjoyed by out neighbours to the South, Anita pries apart the notions of 'two-tier' and 'American style'. Once this is done we can face the central question: Are any multi-tier systems morally acceptable?

Come the Fall, Jason will be taking up a Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship in the philosophy department at Dalhousie University. Anita will be joining the faculty at the College of Saint Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota. We wish them both well in all their endeavours. I am sure this is not the last we will hear from either of them.

Health Ethics Today Credits

Editorial Committee:

Vangie Bergum, Glenn Griener, Paul Byrne, Bashir Jiwani, Eileen Crookes, Al-Noor Nathoo, Laura Shanner

Distribution:

Edna Liley

Layout (print version):

Creative Services, University of Alberta

Health Ethics Today is produced by the John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre, University of Alberta and the Provincial Health Ethics Network.

The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors only and not necessarily those of the John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre or the Provincial Health Ethics Network.