Apr 1, 2020

FRONT PORCH: Center faculty Daniel Goldberg, JD, PhD co-authored an article describing how the buy-in for social isolation is understandably challenging for many in a society that cherishes individual freedoms and individualism over the collective. The pandemic highlights how our behavioral norms as well as our nation’s overarching political philosophy may be incompatible with a crisis of this nature.

Mar 28, 2020

BOULDER DAILY CAMERA: In this time of medical uncertainty, what matters most to you? Have you talked to your family about what you would want if you got really sick? Commentary by Amanda Meier, Coordinator of The Conversation Project, and CBH Faculty Jean Abbott, MD, MH, Professor Emerita of Emergency Medicine at University of Colorado.

Mar 24, 2020

NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER: Colorado's plan is to “minimize serious illness and death by administering a finite pool of resources to those who have the greatest opportunity to benefit from them. It’s very military-style triage,” says Dr. Matthew Wynia, Director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities, in a National Catholic Register article.

Mar 24, 2020

FORBES: Center Director, Dr. Matthew Wynia noted that there is widespread agreement amongst experts “not to make decisions on perceived social worth, race, ethnic background and long-term disability status.” If necessary, this might include using a lottery or other method of randomized allocation to ensure equal access to resources within groups of people with similar medical prognosis.

Mar 26, 2020

AMA: "If you look back to the plagues of the Middle Ages, the Black Death, it was really very common for physicians to flee areas that were plague stricken, following the advice that they often gave to their wealthy patients as well, which was ‘Cito, longe, tarde,’ which means ‘Go fast, go far and don't come back too soon,’ said Center Director Dr. Matthew Wynia.

Mar 27, 2020

ADVANCED SCIENCE NEWS: In facing a pandemic of this magnitude, coming together and seeking connection is more important than ever before. Commentary by Geoffrey Ozin and Todd Siler.

Mar 24, 2020

NEW YORK TIMES: “It would be irresponsible at this point not to get ready to make tragic decisions about who lives and who dies,” said Dr. Matthew Wynia, Director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities.

Mar 24, 2020

NEW YORK TIMES: CBH Director Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH is trying to ensure that patients on admission to Colorado hospitals are asked whether they would forgo a ventilator if there were not enough for everyone. “One thing everyone agrees on is that the most morally defensible way to decide would be to ask the patients.”

Mar 24, 2020

COLORADO SUN: “If we get hit that hard, we are going to have some very difficult decisions to make. It would be irresponsible not to plan right now for a huge surge of patients,” says CBH Director, Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH.

Mar 23, 2020

Our fourth Annual Report highlights some of our Center’s most remarkable educational programs, community outreach events, research activities and clinical ethics initiatives. In these uncertain times, we hope the report will also provide an important opportunity to step back and celebrate the people and programs that have made the University of Colorado a national example of excellence in bioethics and health humanities!

Mar 21, 2001 by Bioethics and Humanities

"Things have gone very, very badly in hospitals where they have run out of equipment, supplies, staff, space, people. We need to be prepared for that. Guidelines must be transparent so the public has faith that decisions are fair and ethically justifiable," says Center Director, Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH, in a March 21 interview on NPR.

Mar 18, 2020

QUILLETTE: "One step to improving the science of assisted dying requires better and more standardized data collection," explains Dr. Matthew Wynia, Director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities.

Mar 18, 2020 by Bioethics and Humanities

KDVR NEWS: CU Medical students Halea Meese and Jake Fox are organizing hundreds of volunteer health professions students to screen hospital visitors, safeguard protective equipment and assist with hospital-centered phone calls.

Mar 17, 2020 by Bioethics and Humanities

Center Director Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH discusses the ethical issues around treatment during the Coronavirus pandemic. (This segment is found during the last 12 minutes of the program.)

Mar 16, 2020 by Bioethics and Humanities

AMA Editor-in-Chief Dr. Audiey Kao discusses the ethical challenges, including resource scarcity and medical worker obligations, that arise during pandemics with CBH Director, Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH.

Mar 11, 2020 by Bioethics and Humanities

BUSINESS INSIDER: "The incentives of the healthcare system are antithetical to building and maintaining surge capacity," says Center Director Dr. Matthew Wynia. "Disaster shortages include staff, stuff and space. A limiting factor will also be people. You need people to run the ventilators."

Feb 24, 2020 by Bioethics and Humanities

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: If colleges and universities are accepting foreign money and gifts, their students, donors, and taxpayers deserve to know how much and from whom.

Feb 10, 2020 by Bioethics and Humanities

INSIDE SOURCES: Ethical questions are being raised about a new aesthetic neurotoxin that is being prescribed by the same doctors who invested in its launch. CBH Director of Research, Eric Campbell, PhD, says this "creates a classic conflict of interest.”

Jan 27, 2020 by Bioethics and Humanities

Eric G. Campbell and Julie Ressalam are co-authors, along with of "Knowledge Of Practicing Physicians About Their Legal Obligations When Caring For Patients With Disability," recognized as one of Health Affairs TOP TEN Articles of 2019. Federal civil rights laws not only prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities but also require reasonable accommodation to ensure equal access to services. Co-author Nicole Agaronnik interviewed physicians in Massachusetts and find that interviewees report a limited or incorrect understanding of their obligations to patients with disability in three potentially problematic areas: “deciding which accommodations their practices should implement, refusing patients with disability, and holding patients accountable for costs of accommodations.” These findings indicate that legal protections alone are insufficient for effectuating equal access to care.

Jan 23, 2020 by Bioethics and Humanities

First Opinion in STAT News by Daniel S. Goldberg, JD, PhD. Millions of people who live with chronic pain experience intense stigma. Health care providers are a major source of it, but so are intimate partners, family caregivers, insurers, and policymakers. Stigma isolates people, causes suffering, and violates basic obligations to treat people fairly and with dignity. Accordingly, we should intervene to alleviate it.