New UC Davis bioethics chair Erich H. Loewy believes health care is one of the basic necessities of life, equal to the need for food, shelter and education. But for many in the United States, it's a luxury that all too often falls behind the basic need to survive. Consider the hypertensive person without medical insurance who has to choose between eating or taking prescription medications, or the elderly heart-attack victim who is revived in the emergency room at great cost only to return to an apartment without the social and medical supports to prevent a recurrence. This dilemma is just one of many that emphasize the need for research and training in health-care ethics. At the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center, Loewy will be developing a center for health-care ethics to train medical students, guide medical researchers, consult lawmakers, and predict the positive and negative consequences of decisions made in the practice of modern medicine. Issues include assessing changes in the delivery of health care, addressing questions surrounding advances in genetics and other medical technology, and using ventilators at the end of life and at birth.