Why I choose to be involved in hospital ethics
February 1, 2009 2 minutes read
Why I choose to be involved in hospital ethics
With Ernest F. Krug III, MDiv, MD, Director, Clinical Bioethics, Beaumont Hospitals Medical Administration, Royal Oak, MI.
(Editor's note: Medical Ethics Advisor will run monthly items on what leads people to become involved in their hospital ethics committee and/or choose to enter the profession of bioethics.)
Q: Why did you choose to become involved in your hospital's ethics committee?
A: "In my particular case, after college I went on to the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and then went from seminary to medical school, and was trying to be involved in both ministry and medicine. I had spent some time in seminary actually working as a chaplain at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and I think — for me, personally — ethics has been a way to tie ministry and medicine together in interesting ways.
"I've just been attracted to the kinds of deliberations that look at what the best course of action is — how we decide what the right decision is — what is best for the patient, and what goes into making that determination.
Asked if there is in this type of work is something of a "calling" or more of an intellectual challenge, Krug replies, "Probably a combination of both. Because it does give one an opportunity to help patients and families at multiple levels, and I think there is a calling aspect in the sense that this is something you really want to do, something that you find a lot of meaning and significance in. But there's also an intellectual side to it. I do enjoy reading philosophical and theological ethics and expanding my own thinking."
Source
For more information, contact:
- Ernest F. Krug III, MDiv, MD, Director of Clinical Bioethics, Beaumont Hospitals Medical Administration, Royal Oak, MI. E-mail: [email protected].
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