The Center for Practical Bioethics is proud to present Screening Bioethics, a webinar exploring bioethics topics in popular media hosted by Kayhan Parsi, JD, PhD and Nanette Elster, JD, MPH.

Autonomous decision-making at the end of life is recognized as an important goal in bioethics. How do characters in popular culture reflect this when confronted with their own death? In this webinar, Nanette and Kayhan plan to examine and discuss ethical issues at the end of life in three recent shows on television.

This 45 minute exploration will be followed by a 15 minute Q&A.

You will be emailed the link to the webinar, hosted through Zoom Webinars, in your receipt of registration. Check your spam/junk folder if you do not receive this to your inbox after registration. No Zoom account is required to access the webinar. A recording of the webinar will be sent to all registered participants after the event concludes. Email Abby at abbygw@practicalbioethics.org with any problems.

Nanette Elster, JD, MPH, is the John B. Francis Co-Chair in Bioethics at the Center for Practical Bioethics and Professor at the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, where she teaches courses in pediatric ethics, oral health ethics, genetics and ethics, professionalism, and disability ethics. She also has expertise in reproductive ethics. She supervises the graduate program’s master’s and doctoral capstone courses. She has appeared on such media staples as CNN, Good Morning America, the Today Show, NPR and Chicago Tonight. More recently, she has been quoted in various media outlets, such as Forbes, Insider, and BMJ.

She co-edited with Kayhan Parsi Transitioning to Adulthood with Autism: Ethical, Legal and Social Issues which was published by Springer in 2022.

She received her BA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, her JD from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and her MPH from the Boston University School of Public Health.

Kayhan Parsi, JD, PhD, HEC-C, is the John B. Francis Co-Chair in Bioethics at the Center for Practical Bioethics and Professor and Graduate Program Director at the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. He is an active educator in the Stritch School of Medicine and also serves on the Loyola University Health System (LUHS) ethics committee and is an ethics consultant for LUHS.

He has interests in clinical ethics, medical ethics education, professionalism and professional ethics, global health and justice, media and bioethics, the history of medicine and bioethics, and autism and neurodiversity. He served as president-elect, president, and immediate past president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) from 2019 to 2025.

He received his BA from Rice University, JD from the University of Houston Law Center, and PhD in medical humanities from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

Nanette and Kayhan are both ardent consumers of pop culture and are excited about this webinar series “Screening Bioethics.”

The Center for Practical Bioethics is a nonprofit, free-standing and independent organization nationally recognized for its work. Since 1984, the Center has helped patients, families, healthcare professionals, policymakers and corporate leaders grapple with ethically complex issues in medicine and research.  

Our mission - to raise and respond to ethical issues in health and healthcare - requires us to be proactive. To call attention to ethical issues and to develop programs, policies and publications that address them and achieve common ground. The results? Reasoned, real-world responses to ethically complex situations and, ultimately, improved health outcomes and peace of mind.   

Screening Bioethics: A Webinar Series

Episode 2: Depictions of Death & Dying Decisions