David Orenstein

Biography

He is a philosopher and Adjunct Professor of Medicine. He teaches in the Master of Arts in Bioethics program, the Clinical Ethics Training Program, in which he coordinates the fourth-year medical ethics elective, and the Center’s Consortium Ethics Program. He is also Professor of Philosophy at West Virginia University, where he has won five awards for outstanding research, teaching, and public service. He is co-chair of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Committee for Oversight of Research Involving the Dead (CORID); he served on UPMC Ethics Consultation Service for approximately twenty years; and he is a member of two hospital ethics committees. His primary research and teaching interests are in bioethics and applied ethics; and he has published extensively in these areas. His publications include two books: Conscientious Objection in Health Care: An Ethical Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2011) -- designated a 2012 Choice "Outstanding Academic Title in Philosophy"--and Ethics and the Elderly (Oxford Unviersity Press, 1993). He has published numerous articles in professional journals and has contributed several book chapters. He also wrote two entries for the International Encyclopedia of Ethics (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013) and an entry for the Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics (Springer, 2016). The topics of his published work include conscientious objection in health care, surgeons' discretion, dismissing patients, research and teaching with recently deceased patients, end of life decision-making, decision-making capacity, futility, ethics and aging, preferential treatment, censorship, and abortion. He also published two articles and a book chapter on the television series, House, M.D. He is a member of the Cambridge Quarterly of Ethics editorial board and co-edits the journal's Professionalism section. He has received serval fellowships, including a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship for College Teachers and Independent Scholars. He is a philosopher and Adjunct Professor of Medicine. He teaches in the Master of Arts in Bioethics program, the Clinical Ethics Training Program, in which he coordinates the fourth-year medical ethics elective, and the Center’s Consortium Ethics Program. He is also Professor of Philosophy at West Virginia University, where he has won five awards for outstanding research, teaching, and public service. He is co-chair of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Committee for Oversight of Research Involving the Dead (CORID); he served on UPMC Ethics Consultation Service for approximately twenty years; and he is a member of two hospital ethics committees. His primary research and teaching interests are in bioethics and applied ethics; and he has published extensively in these areas. His publications include two books: Conscientious Objection in Health Care: An Ethical Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2011) -- designated a 2012 Choice "Outstanding Academic Title in Philosophy"--and Ethics and the Elderly (Oxford Unviersity Press, 1993). He has published numerous articles in professional journals and has contributed several book chapters. He also wrote two entries for the International Encyclopedia of Ethics (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013) and an entry for the Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics (Springer, 2016). The topics of his published work include conscientious objection in health care, surgeons' discretion, dismissing patients, research and teaching with recently deceased patients, end of life decision-making, decision-making capacity, futility, ethics and aging, preferential treatment, censorship, and abortion. He also published two articles and a book chapter on the television series, House, M.D. He is a member of the Cambridge Quarterly of Ethics editorial board and co-edits the journal's Professionalism section. He has received serval fellowships, including a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship for College Teachers and Independent Scholars.

Research Interest

His primary research and teaching interests are in bioethics and applied ethics