What Should Be Our Utmost Goals in Teaching Medical Students Ethics

In introducing this issue, I address several ethical issues related to reproduction, and particularly those that involve recent changes in U.S. state laws. I discuss also how those teaching ethics may best respond when students have values they view as sacred, such as those involving abortion. I urge teachers to strive to help such students feel safe and relate how and why. I describe errors providers and teachers make when teaching ethics that stem from their tendency to unduly and reflexively overly rely on laws, rules, and authorities, one of which involves their overvaluing also the status quo or what is widely known as the “is” over the “ought.” I emphasize the importance of providers assuming that patients and families have valid reasons underlying what they believe, and thus that providers should seek to discover these reasons and share them explicitly to indicate their understanding or that they still remain in the dark. I suggest that providers consider and take into account both their own moral values and their differing emotional sensitivities, but that, notwithstanding these, they defer most decisions to their patients and families. They, after all, must live with whatever they decide, whereas medical personnel will not.