Are policy-makers in Illinois and other states equipped to deal with ethics issues?
Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist and medical ethicist at the Harvard School of Medicine and a former member of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, believes issues raised by ethicists ought to receive attention at the local as well as the national level. But he gives mixed reviews on state policy-makers. “Some state legislatures and officials are very sophisticated and thoughtful,” he says, “and some are clueless.” Indeed, many ethicists do consider the states less equipped to deal with ethical questions than the federal government, though they also expect them to spend more time on medical ethics as more issues are handled at that level. How does Illinois measure up? David Thomasma, a medical ethicist and philosopher who directs the Medical Humanities Program at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, says Illinois is behind California, New York and Minnesota in addressing issues involving medical ethics, but ahead of most other states. He and others point to the notorious 1
