We have talked about some very controversial and difficult topics such as abortion, assisted reproduction, physician assisted suicide, allocation of resources and advanced directives. As you have seen in your discussion threads, we often have very definite opinions on many of these issues. This course has challenged you to support your own opinions with solid ethical arguments and to respond to your colleagues in a similar fashion, voicing not just your agreement or disagreement but augmenting that with a clear ethical argument.
We have also spent time addressing the very real experience of moral distress among health care professionals when they are somehow prevented from doing what they believe is ethically correct. As your readings in this area have noted, this experience of moral distress often contributes to a sense of burnout and compassion fatigue which in turn may result in high turnover in organizations and even the loss of an individual from the healthcare profession he or she has chosen.
Finally, in many of these issues, we have seen the resulting confusion which occurs when science moves faster than our ethical analysis of new discoveries, treatments or procedures. Some of the more contentious issues, such as abortion and physician assisted suicide are the subject of legal battles and legislative efforts in various states. Passage of a law, however, rarely ends the controversy. Public discourse on these topics is often heated and filled with rhetoric advanced by “one side” or the “other.” Most principled dialogue takes place in the professional journals but little in the public forum.
Here is where YOU fit in. You now have the basic tools to develop an ethical argument and one of the ways that public dialogue can be advanced on these issues is through the newspaper. The public needs cogent, principled arguments to evaluate in place of the heated rhetoric that is often highlighted by the news media.
For this assignment, you will write an OP‐ED article (sometimes called a Commentary) for submission to a local newspaper. OP‐ED is defined as denoting or printed on the page opposite the editorial page in a newspaper, devoted to commentary, feature articles, etc. Please note that you will not have to submit the article to an actual newspaper as part of this assignment but simply to develop the article based on the guidelines and rubrics. It can be about any of the topics we have covered this semester. Perhaps there is a burning issue in your community or state that you wish to explore.
The assignment can be NO SHORTER than 650 words and NO LONGER than 850 words. Most newspapers give guidelines somewhere in that range. Your OP‐ED article should include all the following elements:
• An opening paragraph which identifies the issue and “hooks” the reader
• A statement of your main thesis or point of view on the topic
• Your principled argument with at least 3 of the ethical principles discussed in the course
• A principled counter argument in response to an opposing point of view on the topic
• A solid conclusion
Below you will find some guidance on how to write an OP‐ED article and guidelines from The Seattle Times on submitting an OP‐ED. There are also helpful guidelines on how to evaluate OP‐ED writing which you can use as a guide to check your own completed work.
Required Reading:
• How to Write an Op‐Ed
o In addition to reading the article, feel free to browse some of the links
• Standards to Evaluate an Op‐Ed
• The Op Ed Project Web Site
o Please scroll down the left‐hand column and read the section on Resources and any other
section that interests you
• Sample guidelines from the Seattle Times
Sample Solution