The pursuit of new knowledge involves bold measures — challenging the status quo, asking hard questions, opening new lines of inquiry. At IPFW, creative intensity and visionary research is at work every day.

An example is the provocative work of Stephen Ziegler. Ziegler, an assistant professor of public and environmental affairs, has drawn attention from around the world for his research in pain treatment and end-of-life issues. He recently returned from Zurich, Switzerland, where he studied the regulation of assisted death. His articles about barriers to pain treatment have been cited in scholarly journals in India. And here, in Fort Wayne, Ziegler serves on St. Joseph Hospital's Clinical Ethics Board, where he seeks to improve the lives of hospital patients.

In some ways, Ziegler's work is politically charged — it brings to light many flaws in the U.S. healthcare system — but that doesn't keep him from grappling with difficult issues that he says are too important for too many people.

“ The goal of all science is to improve people's lives. That's certainly been the purpose of my research — whether it's end-of-life decision making or the treatment of pain.”

Ziegler began to focus on bioethics as a college student, when he found it blended his interests in politics, medicine, and law. He was moved by the suffering of chronic pain patients and found that they often received inadequate treatment. As he studied the problem, Ziegler discovered multiple barriers to the treatment of pain.

“ Many of them come from the patients themselves — wanting to be good patients and not complain. Others are regulatory or legal barriers, such as laws regarding prescription drugs. Physicians fear that if they provide too much medication, they will be suspected of engaging in pharmaceutical diversion. As a result, they cut back on the amount of prescriptions they issue to their pain patients out of fear they will be investigated. So the physician suffers, but more significantly, the patient suffers because of the undertreatment of pain brought on by this war-on-drugs mentality.”

Ziegler's work produced a landmark article, co-written with Nicholas Lovrich, about pain management, prescription drugs, and prosecution that has been cited in a variety of medical and public policy journals. Later the same article was published in India, and he was invited to present his research at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.; at a medical conference in Barcelona, Spain; and at the Drug Policy Reform Conference in Seattle, Washington.

Ziegler's work has evolved into the study of end-of-life issues, including physician-assisted suicide. His current project, which led him to Zurich, e xamines the regulation of assisted death in Switzerland and its ability to inform the debate in the United States. That culture's openness to assisted death could be a preview of what's to come in the United States, says Ziegler, who is still analyzing research data.

Ultimately, Ziegler hopes his work allows others to see possibilities for change. It's a tool to challenge existing conditions, he says. And that's one of the many reasons visionary scholarship is so empowering.