In what is becoming a widely distributed story, the Milwaukee Sentinel has flagged as major news the arrest of a pediatric geneticist on child pornography charges. It would have been news in Milwaukee and among pediatricians just because of the professional role of the suspect. But the story is receiving wider play because it is cast in terms of the role of the suspect in teaching bioethics at MCW. No MCW bioethics faculty member is quoted, nor is there any clear identification of the specific role of this physician in bioethics. It’s a new twist on the “ethicists’ accountability” argument and it will make the evening news and, no doubt, the 1st year undergraduate medical curriculum.
Labels: accountability, child pornography, ethics of bioethics, media and bioethics