Medical Ethics

Jay A. Jacobson, M.D.

Professor of Internal Medicine
Chief, Division of Medical Ethics and Humanities
Member, Division of Infectious Disease
LDS Hospital & Department of Medicine University of Utah School of Medicine
Salt Lake City, Utah
Jay Jacobson 

Correspondence:
Division of Medical Ethics and Humanities
LDS Hospital
8th Ave and C Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84143
Phone: (801) 408-1135, FAX: (801) 408-5171
Email Addresses: jay.jacobson@imail.org

 

Biosketch

Click here for full vitae. 

Dr. Jay Jacobson is Professor of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases and Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and Humanities at LDS Hospital and the University of Utah School of Medicine. He Dr. Jacobson received his medical degree and residency training in internal medicine at the University of Florida.  He did special training in epidemiology and infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and the University of Utah, where he joined the medical faculty in 1978 in the Division of Infectious Diseases.

In 1988, Dr. Jacobson extended his interests to include the emerging discipline of medical ethics.  He spent a year at the University of Chicago's Center for Clinical Medical Ethics.  He returned to Utah and established a new Division of Medical Ethics with colleagues from the University of Utah College of Law, College of Humanities, and the School of Medicine. The Division does clinical consultation, research, and teaches about medical ethics to physicians in training, physicians in practice, and to interested individuals and organizations.  He has served on the American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs.  He has participated in local hospital ethics committees and chaired the School of Medicine's Institutional Review Board, which safeguards the rights and welfare of human subjects, and the American College of Physicians Ethics and Human Rights Committee.

For four years, Dr. Jacobson Directed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supported project, The Partnership to Improve End-of-Life Care in Utah. He recently received the American Medical Association’s Isaac Hays and John Bell Award for Leadership in Medical Ethics and Professionalism.

Education/Training

  • Baccalaureate Degree: B.S. in Chemistry  - University of Michigan, 1967, Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • Advanced Degree: M.D. (Honors)  - University of Florida, College of Medicine, 1971, Gainesville, Florida
  • Straight Medical Internship - University of Florida Hospitals, 1971 - 1972, Gainesville, Florida
  • Internal Medicine Residency - University of Florida Hospitals, 1972 - 1973, Gainesville, Florida
  • Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer, Special Pathogens Branch, Bacterial Disease Division, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia, 1974-1976
  • Infectious Disease Fellowship - University of Utah Medical Center, 1976 - 1978, Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Visiting Scholar, Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, University of Chicago School of Medicine, Chicago Illinois, 1988-1989
  • Certifications:
    • National Board of Medical Examiners
    • 1972American Board of Internal Medicine
    • 1976Infectious Disease Subspecialty Board
    • 1978Licensed, State of Georgia
    • 1974Licensed, State of Utah, 1978
    • Advanced Achievement in Internal Medicine, 1987

Honors/Awards since 2000

  • Nominated for the AAMC Humanism in Medicine Award, 2006
  • The AMA Isaac Hayes and Dr. John Bell Award for leadership in Medical Ethics and Professionalism, 2005
  • Peggy Battin, M.F.A., Ph.D.; Leslie Francis, J.D., Ph.D.; Jay Jacobson, M.D. National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Seminar, July 2003

Present Positions/Appointments

  • Chief, Division of Medical Ethics, LDS Hospital and the University of Utah School of Medicine
  • Member, Bioethics Committee, LDS Hospital
  • Member, DNA Oversight for the Beta-Blocker Evaluation of Survival Trial
  • Member, Science and Literature Symposium Advisory Board
  • Member, Utah Medical Association Ethics Committee

Interests

  • Clinical and classroom teaching related to medical ethics
  • End of life care in Utah
  • Disclosure of medical mistakes
  • Conflict of interest for physicians

Selected Publications since 2004

    • Jacobson J, 2006: "What's Different and What's New about the Ethics of Pain Management?" Pain Practitioner, 16:32-36.
    • Jacobson J.A., 2006: Toxic Shock.  PIER: Clinical Guidance from ACP-ASIM. http://pier.acponline.org/physicians/ethical_legal/el442/el442.html, Approved for release 6/8/06
    • Jacobson, J.A., 2006: Disclosing a Medical Error.  PIER: Clinical Guidance from ACP-ASIM. http://pier.acponline.org/physicians/ethical_legal/el442/el442.html, Approved for release 5/5/06
    • Battin M, Botkin J, Francis L, Jacobson J, Smith C, 2006: "How infectious disease got left out – and what the omission might have meant for bioethics", In Ethics and Infectious Disease.  Selgelid M J, Battin M P, Smith Charles B., ed Blackwell publishing Ltd, Malden MA, pp. 35-50
    • Battin M, Botkin J, Francis L, Jacobson J, Smith C, Asplund E, Domek G, Hawkins B, 2006 "Are there Characteristics of Infectious Diseases That Raise Special Ethics Issues?" , In Ethics and Infectious Disease.  Selgelid M J, Battin M P, Smith Charles B., ed Blackwell publishing Ltd, Malden MA, pp. 20-34
    • Leslie P. Francis, Margaret P. Battin, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith, 2006 “The Patient as Victim and Vector: The Significance of Contagious, Infectious Disease for Bioethics,” ASBH Exchange 9(1): 1, 4-5.
    • Jacobson, J.A., 2005: Disclosing a Medical Error.  PIER: Clinical Guidance from ACP-ASIM. http://pier.acponline.org/physicians/ethical_legal/el442/el442.html, Approved for release 11/2004.
  • Snyder L, Leffler C for the Ethics and Human Rights Committee, American College of Physicians (Jacobson JA), 2005:Ethics Manual, 5th Edition. Ann Intern Med, April, 2005;142:560-582.
  • Battin M, Botkin J, Francis L, Jacobson J, Smith C, 2005 How infectious disease got left out – and what the omission might have meant for bioethics, Bioethics: 19: 307-322
  • Jacobson J.A., 2005: Toxic Shock.  PIER: Clinical Guidance from ACP-ASIM. http://pier.acponline.org/physicians/ethical_legal/el442/el442.html, Approved for release 4/02/2006.
  • Jacobson JA, 2005: The Effect of Patients’ Noncompliance on Their Surgeons’ Obligations. Thorac Surg Clin 15: 461-468 
    • Smith C.B., Battin, M.P., Jacobson, J.A., Francis, L.P., Botkin, A.R., Asplund, E.P., Domek, G.J., Hawkins, B., 2004:Are There Characteristics of Infectious Disease That Raise Special Ethical Issues?  Developing World Bioethics, 2004;4(1):1471-8731.
    • Coyle SL, for the Ethics and Human Rights Committee, American College of Physicians – American Society of Internal Medicine, 2004:Physician – Industry Relations. Part 1: Individual Physicians. Ann Intern Med, March;136(5)396-402.
    • Coyle SL, for the Ethics and Human Rights Committee, American College of Physicians – American Society of Internal Medicine, 2004:Physician – Industry Relations. Part 2: Organizational Issues. Ann Intern Med, March;136(5)403-406.
    • Aronsky D, Kasworm E, Jacobson J, Haug PJ, Dean NC, 2004: Electronic Screening of Dictated Reports to Identify Patients with Do-Not-Resuscitate Status.  J Am Med Inform Assoc. 11:403-9. Epub 2004 Jun 07.
    • Jacobson J, Kasworm E, Beck S. 2004:End-of-Life Care in Utah: The Report Card. End-of-Life Partnership, Salt Lake City, UT.
    • Bryson AJ. 2004: From My Arms to Yours. Deseret Morning News. May 8, 2004.
    • Jacobson J, Snyder L. 2004: Considering Costs and Coverage in Treatment: Scenario - What approaches promote your patients’ best interests?  (Reply) AMA News. July 5, 2004.

Selected National / International Presentations since 2004

  • Jacobson JA, Battin MP, Francis L, Smith C.  The Patient and Victim and Vector in the Context of Pandemic Planning: What do we Owe Those Who’ve Been Constrained?  InterPHEN Satellite Meeting, IAB Conference, Beijing, China August 8-11, 2006.
  • Jacobson, JA, “Academic Internists Attitudes and Beliefs About the Physician-Pharmaceutical Industry Relationship” presented at Eighth World Congress of Bioethics Conference, Beijing, China, August 7, 2006.
  • Jacobson, J.A., Sandomir, A, Kasworm, E. Academic Internists Attitudes and Beliefs About the Physician Pharmaceutical Industry Relationship. . Presented at the Western Section of the Western Society for Clinical Investigation, Carmel, California, February 3, 2006   Journal of Investigative Medicine 2006; 54(1): S102.
  • Jacobson JA, Botkin JR, Francis L, Battin MP. Vertical Transmission of genetic Disorders and Infectious Diseases: Are the Medical and Public Health Responses Consistent?  European Society of Philosophy of Medicine and Healthcare, Reykjavik, Iceland August, 2005.
  • Jacobson, JA.  Professors, Prescriptions and Power: Lessons from the Ivory Tower and the Zoo, Presented at the Seventeenth Annual Dorothy J. MacLean Fellows Conference at the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, November 12, 2005.
  • Jacobson, JA.  Ethical Implications of Vertical Transmission of Infections and Genetic Diseases Presented at the Sixteenth Annual Dorothy J. MacLean Fellows Conference at the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, November 6, 2004.