Bioethics for the People

Devan and Tyler talk with Dr. Adam Omelianchuk about a new publication on the Dead Donor Rule. We discuss the origins of the rule and why there is controversy about when and how we can tell if someone is dead. They talk about a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine. Find it here: Carter Winberg, Ian Ball & Robert D. Truog, Contextualizing the Dead Donor Rule in an Era of Voluntary Euthanasia, 395 New Eng. J. Med. 194 (2026).

In this episode we talk with occupational therapist Dr. Sarah Jean Barton about occupation, disability, theology and more

This week we talk with primary care physician Dr. Zachary Sartor about his work in behavioral health. How are bodily health and mental health related? Why is it important for primary care physicians to treat both?

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Jada Wiggleton-Little, assistant professor of philosophy at ‘an’ Ohio State University, about fat phobia and the dismissal of fat patients' pain. She unpacks how clinicians treat such pain as normal and even deserved — a "desert pain" framing that casts patients as unentitled to further investigation, empathy, or care. Fat Phobia and the Ethics of Pain Jada Wiggleton-Little Additional Readings: Kate Manne, Unshrinking: How to Face Fat PhobiaSabrina Strings, Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat PhobiaRoxane Gay, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body (2017) Dr. Wiggleton-Little’s Selected Publications:"Black Women and 'Doing' Pain: An Insurgent Act," American Philosophical Quarterly (Special Issue on Contemporary Issues in Black Philosophy), forthcoming."Cure but Not Cured: Gene-Editing Therapy and The Ethics of Framing Language for Transforming Sickle Cell Disease," (with Shameka Poetry Thomas, Kristin Seastrand, and Consuela Albright), Hastings Center Report, forthcoming. "Pain Dismissal and the Limits of Epistemic Injustice," Hypatia, 1-17, 2025."Sharing Pain: A Hybrid Expressivist Account," Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 102(3): 808-822. 2024. "'Just' a Painful Period: A Philosophical Perspective Review of the Dismissal of Menstrual Pain," Womens Health (London), 20:1-6. 2024.

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Dolores Morris, Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In addition to being a brilliant philosopher, Dr. Morris teaches bioethics to undergraduate students using this podcast! Learn how she does it and more on this week’s episode.