Policy vs. Ethics

Editor's Note: As Catholic ethics increasingly diverge from those of other religious traditions and from secular principles, it is important to explore how-if at all-Catholic physicians and institutions can work with those whose view of life and faith are very different. This article presents not only an historical vision of how the Ethical and Religious Directives came to be, it raises questions about just how Catholics go about moral reasoning when there are competing interests and principles at play. The author of the article, Warren T. Reich, was, at the time it was written, a Senior Research Scholar in Medical Ethics at the Kennedy Center for Bioethics, Georgetown University. He went on to be a founding member of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. He was also founder and director of the Project for the History of Care, and is Distinguished Research Professor of Religion and Ethics in the Georgetown University Theology Department and Professor Emeritus of Bioethics in the Georgetown University School of Medicine. This article was prepared for delivery at the Annual Meeting of the National Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds, New Orleans, November 27. 1971. The issues he raises and the conflicts he perceives are as relevant now as they were 50 years ago. Reich, Warren T. (1972) "Policy vs. Ethics, "The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 39: No. 1, Article 8. Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol39/iss1/8.