Interview: Becket Gremmels

Original Publication Date: May 30, 2023 This episode features an interview with Dr. Becket Gremmels, the System Vice President of CommonSpirit Health, the largest Catholic healthcare system (and the largest nonprofit healthcare system) in the United States. The conversation addressed Dr. Gremmels’s personal journey toward becoming a professional healthcare ethicist and some of the major trends shaping the field of healthcare ethics today. We also discussed some of Dr. Gremmel’s research, including research hoping to set guidelines for the future use of artificial intelligence in healthcare settings. In 2019, Dr. Gremmels wrote an article for the Journal of Moral Theology arguing that the increased specialization needed for practicing professional healthcare ethics, and the practical and specialized sorts of questions addressed by professional ethicists in their day-to-day work, are contributing to an increasing divide between the work of moral theologians and professional healthcare ethicists. Some of the topics that came up in our conversation certainly illustrate this contention, but hopefully this conversation between a moral theologian and a professional healthcare ethicist is a small step toward bridging that divide. See the original post for an edited transcript of the interview. The Window Light Podcast is a feature of Window Light, the newsletter for expert analysis on the fields of Catholic theology and ministry, explorations of historical theology, commentary on current events, and theological and spiritual reflections. The podcast features interviews with scholars and practitioners in the fields of theology and ministry. Be sure to subscribe to the Window Light newsletter for regular posts and other features! Get full access to Window Light at windowlight.substack.com/subscribe