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Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Bioethics Resources

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics offers articles, case studies, and other materials on medical ethics, clinical ethics, biotechnology and ethics, end-of-life decision making, ethical planning for medical disasters, culturally competent care, and other topics.

Bioethics Articles 
The Center offers a categorized list of bioethics materials including special sections on end-of-life decision making, pandemics, culturally competent care, patients in the care of public conservators, ethical responses to MRSA, and many other topics. Physicians and other health care providers, biotech entrepreneurs, and the general public can find a wealth of information on the many challenging questions in bioethics.

Bioethics Cases 
What should a doctor do when she suspects a patient's refusal of treatment stems from depression? How should governments, NGOs, and pharmaceutical companies respond to an epidemic? Should a pharmacist be able to refuse to fill a prescription for a drug he does not believe should be available? These are a sample of our cases in medical ethics and biotech.

Model Catholic Health Care Ethics Policies
The following model policies were developed for Catholic health care and include preambles consistent with Catholic teaching as well as specific references to appropriate Directives. They cover topics that can be particularly difficult to address and may be helpful to anyone revising policies or developing them anew. They are examples of good practice and appropriate for use in Catholic health care settings.