Center for Practical Bioethics

05/28/2026

Exploring Foundations of Rights, Responsibilities and Ethics in Family Medicine Leadership

The Center hosted a breakout session at the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) “Advancing Leadership, Health Equity and Belonging in Family Medicine" pre-conference on April 22. Panelists, led by CPB President and CEO James Stowe, PhD, included:

Maria Fox, DNP, APRN-CNS, CCRN, HEC-C
Robert Fulbright, JD, MA
Claire Hillman, JD
Russell Makepeace, JD

Panelists examined core constitutional and statutory provisions that apply to clinical settings and respectful and ethical communication strategies to foster safer clinical environments.

Discussion focused on case studies and practical actions that translate into clinical practice and leadership.

Contact us for information about CPB presenting at your webinars, workshops and conferences.

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05/26/2026

Read the April Bioethics Bulletin:

What do cadaver fat, Medicaid, and healthcare ethics have in common?

This bulletin tackles some fascinating — and uncomfortable — questions in healthcare ethics:

💄 Cadaver fat for cosmetic procedures — it's legal, but is it ethical? The Guardian asked CPB's Ryan Pferdehirt to weigh in on "necrocosmetics" and the role of capitalism in the beauty industry.

💰 Ethics saves money — a new study shows embedding clinical ethics consultation into frontline healthcare cut one health system's costs by $288K in just six months, while reducing clinician burnout.

📋 Medicaid work requirements — we argue these policies are ethically incoherent, burdening the very people they claim to help and leaving clinicians in morally distressing situations.

🔗 Subscribe to stay at the forefront of healthcare ethics: https://lnkd.in/gqxXzCEi

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05/22/2026

Who’s Who at CPB: Cassandra Shaffer Johnson

Cassandra Shaffer Johnson, Program Director of Ethics Services, joined the Center in 2024. You may recognize Cassie as the author of most of the Hot Topic essays that appear in our monthly Ethics Dispatch Newsletter, which we mail directly to Ethics Committee Consortium members and link to in the Bulletin.

What I’m...
👂 Listening to: Lazy Chill Zone History. I love obscure history. And at least a little Led Zeppelin every day.
✈️ Wanting to visit: France.
📖 Reading: I wish I could say I'm re-reading Simone de Beauvoir or something equally thought-provoking, but I'm currently reading the Shady Hollow Mysteries by Juneau Black.
👀 Watching: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, MST3K, and way too many DIY YouTube tutorial videos.
👟 Getting Exercise: Tae-Bo every day.
😟 Worrying about: EVERYTHING.
🙏 Wishing for: Sanity and basic human decency to make a comeback.
🌈 Looking forward to: Something every day.

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05/20/2026

Beyond the Gala: A New Model for Fundraising in Bioethics

The Center is reimagining fundraising and outreach through more accessible, community-driven events that foster connection, empathy, and real-world impact.

Our Development and Events Coordinator Abby Gast-Watterson writes about why and how were are embracing new tactics—from casual gatherings to free educational experiences—all designed to deepen engagement with diverse audiences.

https://www.practicalbioethics.org/whats-new/beyond-the-gala-a-new-model-for-community-driven-fundraising-in-bioethics/

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05/14/2026

The April Ethics Dispatch: Medicaid Work Requirements Are Ethically Incoherent: Bioethics Navigates the Gray Areas

Bioethics often lives in gray areas. Increasingly, so do patients – and our policies are not built to recognize them.

Medicaid work requirement policies fail to achieve their stated outcomes. These policies are structured in a way that disproportionately burdens those they purport to help, functioning less as a pathway to independence than as a mechanism of exclusion.

Moreover, they leave clinicians to navigate ethically fraught situations often resulting in:
1️⃣ delayed care for patients and
2️⃣ and moral distress for the medical team.

https://www.practicalbioethics.org/blog/medicaid-work-requirements-are-ethically-incoherent/

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Medicaid work requirement policies fail to achieve their stated outcomes. These policies are structured in a way that disproportionately burdens those they purport to help, functioning less as a pathway to independence than as a mechanism of exclusion. Moreover, they leave clinicians to navigate eth...

05/07/2026

NEW STUDY FINDINGS:

Clinical ethics consultation IMPROVES the patient experience while REDUCING costs and clinician burnout.

One health system reported more than $288,000 in savings over six months using clinical ethics consultation.

Read a new study by Ryan Pferdehirt, Maggie Neustadt and Alex Slodov. Their paper, published in the Spring/March 2026 issue of Management in Healthcare, proposes a practical roadmap for clinical ethics integration, ranging from executive sponsorship and resource allocation to committee development an interprofessional embedding.

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/hsp/mih/2026/00000010/00000003/art00004

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05/05/2026

Using Cadaver Fat for Cosmetic Procedures Is it ethical?

The aesthetics industry has long harvested tissue from dead organ and tissue donors. Think burn repair and breast reconstruction. Now think about using such tissue to plump cheeks, smooth laugh lines, and increase butt size.

With growing use of GLP1’s, demand for such cosmetic procedures is increasing. The question isn’t whether necrocosmetics are legal. They are. The question, asked in a recent article by The Guardian, is whether they’re ethical. For insight on that, The Guardian asked the Center for Practical Bioethics to comment on cosmetic companies buying and selling dead people for profit, consensual or not.

To which Ryan Pferdehirt noted concern about the pervasive role of capitalism in the beauty industry. He also worries that some donors might remove themselves from the donor registry rather than have a part of themselves end up satisfying the vanity of a wealthy patient.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/mar/26/cadaver-fat-injections-ask-ugly

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Cadaver fat from organ and tissue donors is being used for cosmetic procedures – and yup, it’s legal in the US, writes advice columnist Jessica DeFino

04/30/2026

The Center had our annual Board and Staff Retreat this past weekend. At the end we had a lot of Cuties from the snack table left over. Odessa Sawyer, talented and resourceful Program Coordinator, put the Cuties to great use!

Odessa jams!

Now the question remains, will she be sharing with her co-workers?

😁 🍊 🍊

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04/22/2026

Read the March Bioethics Bulletin:

How Institutional Barriers Conflict with Ethical Action

Topics:

✅ Blurred Lines at the Bedside: A Call for Ethical Presence,
✅ the March Ethics Dispatch titled, Ethical Leadership in Healthcare: One Key Element Diminishing Moral Distress through Justice.
✅ The Screening Bioethics first episode, “The Pitt Makes Bioethics Relevant,”
✅ Mike Rode Continues Stowers Legacy at the Center for Practical Bioethics, and
✅ Two CPB Board Members Honored: Stephen Salanski and Catherine Satterwhite

https://www.practicalbioethics.org/in-the-news/march-2026-bioethics-bulletin-e-newsletter-2/

Sign up for our newsletter to receive the Bulletin directly in your inbox on the release date: https://www.practicalbioethics.org/subscribe-to-our-newsletter/

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How Institutional Barriers Conflict with Ethical Action is the subject for the March 31, 2026 Bioethics Bulletin. Topics include: The Screening Bioethics first episode, "The Pitt Makes Bioethics Relevant," Mike Rode Continues Stowers Legacy at the Center for Practical Bioethics, Two CPB Board Member...

04/22/2026

Mike Rode Continues Stowers Legacy at the Center for Practical Bioethics

Board Member Profile

You could say that Mike Rode, CFA, had a path to Kansas City and the Center for Practical Bioethics Board of Directors long before he came to Kansas City, MO. That path began with James E. Stowers and his wife, Virginia Glascock, starting the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in 1994.

Read the whole story about Mike’s move to Kansas City and what captured his enthusiastic support for the Center.

https://www.practicalbioethics.org/whats-new/mike-rode-continues-stowers-legacy-at-the-center-for-practical-bioethics/

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