Why Bioethics Matters - EXCERPT | Robert Klitzman, M.D. | Talks@Columbia

Bioethics, the field that explores the ethical, legal, and social implications of advances in biotechnology and healthcare, is rapidly growing and evolving.

Increasingly, we face critical challenges and dilemmas from engineering embryos and designing babies, to genetic testing, epidemics of SARS, Ebola, and Zika, possible over­medication of children, questions of when to turn off life support machines, and ongoing controversies about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. These are crucial questions that, whether as patients, family members, healthcare providers, taxpayers, or voters, affect us all.