Appel began his career in academic bioethics at Brown University, where he taught until 2005. He now serves on the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, where he is Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine Education. He is also the Director of Ethics Education in Psychiatry and Medical Director of the East Harlem Health Outreach Project's mental health clinic. He has also taught
medical ethics at New York University,[16][17] Columbia University,[18] and Albany Medical College. He is the author of a "Bioethics in Action" curriculum for The New York Times.[19][20] Appel was also previously a columnist for The Huffington Post and Opposing Views.
Appel has published on a range of topics in academic bioethics including advocating for the decriminalization of assisted suicide,[21] raising the possibility that this might be made available to both the terminally ill and those with intractable, long-term mental illness,[22][23] and the
Groningen Protocol.[24] He has written in favor of abortion rights and fertility treatment for same-sex couples, as well as against
electronic medical records, which he sees as poorly secured against hacking.[25] He has also argued in favor of the legalization of prostitution, polygamy and incest between consenting adults.[26] He has raised concerns regarding the possibility that employers will require their employees to use pharmaceuticals for cognitive enhancement and has urged that death row inmates be eligible to receive kidney transplants.[27][28] He generated considerable controversy for endorsing the mandatory use of
preimplantation genetic diagnosis as part of the
in vitro fertilization process to prevent the implantation of embryos carrying severe genetic defects. Appel has also written in support of an "open border" immigration policy. Among the causes that Appel has embraced is opposition to the forcible feeding of hunger strikers, both in domestic prisons and at
Guantanamo Bay.[29][30] He has written that exposure to literature should be a medical school admissions requirement.[31]
Writing
Appel has taught creative writing at the
Gotham Writers' Workshop and New York University.[32] He served as writer-in-residence at Yeshiva College in 2013.[33] As of 2023, he is Vice President and Treasurer of the
National Book Critics Circle.
^Sweden Asks: Should Convicted Murderers Practice Medicine? Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics / Volume 19 / Issue 04 / October 2010, pp 559-562
^Jacob Appel ’09: Doctor, Lawyer, Writer, Teacher, Tour Guide, Columbia Medicine, October 04, 2011, Available online at
[1]Archived 2013-12-11 at the
Wayback Machine
^"Harsh Treatment at Guantánamo" NYT April 21, 2013
^J M Appel When the boss turns pusher: a proposal for employee protections in the age of cosmetic neurology J Med Ethics 2008; 34: 616-618
^Appel, JM. "Wanted Dead or Alive? Kidney Transplantation in Inmates Awaiting Execution," The Journal of Clinical Ethics. Volume 16, Number 1. Spring 2005.
PMID15915846
^Appel, Jacob. Harsh Treatment at Guantánamo, The New York Times, April 21, 2013
^Appel, Jacob. "Rethinking Force-Feeding: Legal and Ethical Aspects of Physician Participation in the Termination of Hunger Strikes in American Prisons," Public Affairs Quarterly. Volume 26 • Number 4 October 2012