Vol.:(0123456789) Monash Bioethics Review (2020) 38:87–90 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40592-020-00105-1 1 3 COMMENTARY Rethinking Health Care Ethics: A response to Professor Reis‑Dennis Stephen Scher 1,2,3,4  · Kasia Kozlowska 5,6,7 Published online: 23 April 2020 © Monash University 2020 We thank Professor Reis-Dennis (2020) for his thoughtful review of our book, Rethinking Health Care Ethics (Scher and Kozlowska 2018). The frst half of the review, in particular, provides what is both an accurate and a sympathetic descrip- tion of the book and its overall aims. The central idea of the book is that teaching and learning in health care ethics should build upon, and use the methods of, infor- mal ethical discourse, not the formal ethical discourse that so many bioethicists rely on. Professor Reis-Dennis does surely understand and discuss that central element of the book, but as one reads through his review, it becomes apparent that he also, unfortunately, misinterprets the crucial distinction between formal and informal eth- ical discourse. We welcome the opportunity to clarify that distinction and related matters in this brief response to his review. Early on, the review states that formal ethical discourse, in contrast to informal ethical discourse, is ‘characterized by the language of rights, duties, permissions, and prohibitions’ (Reis-Dennis 2020, p. 1). The problem, however, is that such lan- guage has nothing to do with the distinction between formal and informal ethical discourse. This commentary refers to the review available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s40592-020-00107-z. * Stephen Scher sscher@mclean.harvard.edu Kasia Kozlowska kkoz6421@uni.sydney.edu.au 1 Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 2 McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA 3 Discipline of Psychiatry, University of Sydney Medical School, Sydney, Australia 4 Present Address: Cambridge, MA, USA 5 Discipline of Psychiatry and Discipline of Child & Adolescent Health, University of Sydney Medical School, Sydney, Australia 6 The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, NSW, Australia 7 Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead, NSW, Australia