The Realities of Ethics in Oncology
Last Updated: October 30, 2025
In cancer care, ethical challenges rarely come with easy answers.
When should treatment stop? How do teams manage moral distress? And what happens when AI begins to shape clinical decisions?
In this episode, Dr. Nico Nortjé, Executive Director for the Center for Clinical Ethics in Cancer Care at MD Anderson Cancer Center, joins host Ginger to explore how oncology professionals navigate those moments when medical facts and human emotions collide.
Dr. Nortjé shares what he’s learned from leading ethics consultations, guiding care teams through end-of-life discussions, moral distress, and the new ethical questions raised by technology.
You’ll learn:
- How to recognize and address moral distress before it leads to burnout
- How ethics consults can turn uncertainty into team alignment
- How to approach treatment-limiting conversations with empathy
- What to consider when AI starts influencing care decisions
Listen for a grounded, thoughtful look at what ethics really means in oncology today.