Edmund Pellegrino and the Art of Civilized Dialectics

I had the good fortune to work with Edmund Pellegrino from 2005 until 2009, while he was chairman and I was a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics. We came from different disciplines—medicine and law—and from different generations. Until that point, our paths had rarely crossed. I am so glad that I finally did have an opportunity to get to know him. Pellegrino contributed a great deal to the council during his time as chairman. I cannot begin to cover all that he brought to the council during his four years of leadership. In this essay, I describe how his views of both public bioethics and clinical ethics shaped his council participation.