Dr. Robert D. Orr was a committed Christian, good friend, and exemplary physician. His medical prowess and wisdom were perhaps most powerfully evidenced in his book Medical Ethics and the Faith Factor: A Handbook for Clergy and Health-Care Professionals. That book was the third project developed for The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity’s (CBHD’s) second book series with Eerdmans, Critical Issues in Bioethics. His volume brilliantly demonstrates how the work of earlier books in the series produced by Biola’s Scott Rae and Harvard’s Arthur Dyck cash out in the everyday practice of medicine. It is a wonderful discussion of a great array of real-life case studies, filled with the insight that comes from a lifetime of faithful caring for patients in the service of God.

I probably first encountered Dr. Bob Orr in Toronto—close to 40 years ago. We were both attending a conference—sponsored by the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA)—that was intended to be an introduction to faith-based medical ethics and would drum up interest for this relatively unheralded discipline.

Dr. Robert D. Orr stood out as a Physician, and one of integrity. That is to say, he was a fully integrated individual—theologically, philosophically, professionally, and personally—who engaged each patient and colleague with recognition of their own integrity.

Is Dr. Orr’s approach to bioethics consultation unique? I cannot say, as I have not had another instructor in consultation methodology. Is his approach to bioethics consultation effective and efficient? That I can answer affirmatively.

I first met Bob Orr when I was a medical student and he was teaching a class on bioethics. He had recently started the clinical ethics consult service at Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC), and I had had an interest in ethics since my undergrad days. Dr. Orr had reluctantly left his home in beautiful Vermont to come to the desert of Southern California and start an official ethics program at LLUMC. He was a Family Medicine physician by training; thus, he joined the Family Medicine department and served as one of the attendings who would chief in the residency clinic. Bob was a master teacher. His lectures were engaging and thought-provoking, and he knew that telling stories was the best way to help people understand what ethics was all about. For Bob, he believed that ethics meant treating people kindly and fairly. Ethics was not just an academic endeavor for Bob. He saw it as a way to make the world a kinder, gentler place for those who were often overlooked and disadvantaged.