Georgetown University Medical Center

Christopher Nobbs

Section: Visiting Scholar Program

Christopher Nobbs, visiting scholar January 7 - February 15, 2008, is a final year medical students at the Royal Free and Universitty College of London Medical School.

Research Topic:  Comparison of the Clinical Ethical Practices within the UK and the US.

Research Summary:
Within the UK health service questions of medical ethics are left up to the healthcare team. In the United Kingdom ethics within a clinical setting is mainly left to the individual doctor with his clinical team for support. We have no post that corresponds to a clinical ethicist. My aim during my stay at Georgetown is to see how clinical ethicists work within the clinical team, carry out consultations and reach their conclusions. Then through using those observations, my observations from the UK and by reviewing relevant literature I hope to be able to write a paper that compares the ethical practice between the two countries.

I also hope that I will be able to partake in some of the medical schools ethics teaching to look at the differences between UK and US medical ethics teaching as well.