Forty-five years of leadership
in ethics for a complex world.

The Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University helped to invent the field of bioethics, beginning a tradition of creative leadership in practical ethics that continues into the twenty-first century.

KIE Scholars Respond to Proposed Aid-in-Dying Laws

KIE Acting Director and Andre Hellegers Professor of Biomedical Ethics Dr. Daniel Sulmasy and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Christian Ethics John Keown both responded to new efforts to change assisted dying laws. In the United States, the state of New Jersey recently enacted an Aid-in-Dying law where clinicians can prescribe pills to terminally ill patients. […]

July 17, 2019

Senior Research Scholar Receives Praise for New Book

KIE Senior Research Scholar John Keown recently published the 2nd edition of his book Euthanasia, Ethics, and Public Policy: An Argument against Legalisation. In a review of Prof. Keown’s book, Charles Foster, barrister at Serjeants’ Inn Chambers, and a Fellow of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, describes Keown’s book as “A meticulous, highly readable, and profoundly disturbing […]

Senior Scholar Maggie Little Publishes Guidance with PREVENT Working Group

KIE Senior Research Scholar Maggie Little and the Pregnancy Research Ethics for Vaccines, Epidemics, and New Technologies (PREVENT) Working Group published a guidance article entitled “Pregnant women & vaccines against emerging epidemic threats: Ethics guidance for preparedness, research, and response.” This Guidance continues the efforts to include pregnant women in clinical research, from which they have been […]

July 1, 2019

Senior Research Scholar responds to Victoria’s ‘voluntary assisted dying’ law

In an opinion piece for ABC Religion and Ethics, KIE Senior Research Scholar John Keown writes about ‘slippery slope’ concerns from laws permitting physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and voluntary euthanasia (VE). Read the full article here.

February 21, 2019

KIE Senior Research Scholar John Keown Receives Praise for New Book on Euthanasia

KIE Senior Research Scholar John Keown‘s second edition of Euthanasia, Ethics, and Public Policy: An Argument Against Legalisation was named ‘Palliative Care book of the Month’ by the Reviews Editor of the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care. In his review, Dr. Roger Woodruff praises Keown’s text as “the best collection of information regarding euthanasia that I have […]

January 25, 2019

KIE Scholars Travel to Qatar for Palliative Care Conference

KIE Acting Director Dr. Daniel Sulmasy and Senior Research Scholar John Keown traveled to Georgetown University Qatar (GU-Q) for the conference “Christian and Muslim Perspectives on Palliative Care and End of Life.” The conference was organized by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life (Pontificia Academia Pro Vita) and GU-Q, with support from the World Innovation Summit […]