[One way] Americans deal with the different standards dilemma is to confuse data with wisdom. We heap up information. Computers help. Estimates are that there are six million articles annually published in English alone which relate to medicine. We do computer searches. We find out how much it costs. What the risks are. What the various treatments are. These are statements of what is. We will return to them, for they are important in making ethical decisions. However, ethics is about what ought to be, or what ought not to be. Data is about what is, or what is not. Even stacked exceedingly high and heated, a pile of “is” statements will not convert to an “ought” statement. Empirical statements do not transform under pressure and heat to normative statements.
Excerpt from "Counseling Persons with Questions on Medical Ethics"
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