CENTER FOR CLINICAL ETHICS AND HUMANITIES IN HEALTH CARE CLINICAL ETHICS AND HUMANITIES BULLETIN Volume One, Number One MISSION STATEMENT The Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care is fundamentally devoted to the enterprise of supporting and enhancing the dialogue regarding ethical and humanistic issues in health care in the Western New York area. Its constituency includes members of area institutions of higher learning as well as health care providers and the institutions they practice in. Close coordination with hospital ethics committees as well as academic programs and research enterprises will be pursued. A monthly newsletter, monthly grand rounds and other lectures, and the development of research and reading groups, will be basic tactics in facilitating dialogue in the area. The Center will build on an already solid foundation of prior work and organization by area ethics committees, academic departments and centers, and the individual efforts and developed expertise of individual faculty and health care providers. Membership is open to all. THE CENTER OFFICE The Center welcomes its new secretary, Lisa Bolten. Our telephone number is 862-3609, and the fax number is 862-3679. Mail should be sent to The Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care, c/o Gerald Logue, M.D., V.A.M.C., 11th Floor, 3495 Bailey Avenue, Buffalo, New York, 14215. E-mail sent to Ms. Bolten (Lbolten@ubmedc.buffalo.edu) will be forwarded as indicated. CENTER ORGANIZATION The co-directors of the Center are Gerald Logue, M.D. (Medicine-UB and VAMC) and Stephen Wear, Ph.D. (Medicine/OBGYN/Philosophy-UB and VAMC). There are currently three standing committees: 1. COMMUNITY AFFAIRS. Co-chairs: Karen Maricle, R.N. (ECMC) and Rev. Richard Zajac (Sister's Hospital). The Community Affairs Committee will support and sponsor educational activities in the Western New York area, particularly through the development of monthly grand rounds, rotating through WNY health care institutions. Close coordination with the Western New York Ethics Committee Network, a group of area ethics committee chairs, will be maintained. 2. EDUCATION. Co-chairs: Jack Freer, M.D. (Medicine-UB and Millard Fillmore) and Roy Roussel, Ph.D. (English-UB). The Education Committee will plan and coordinate ongoing educational activities. This will include clinical ethics conferences at health care institutions, educational programs and conferences in a variety of academic settings, and Continuing Medical Education programs. 3. RESEARCH. Co-chairs: William Coles, M.D. (Opthamology-UB) and James Bono (History-UB). The Research Committee will support and initiate reading and research groups focused on topics in the clinical ethics and humanities areas. These groups will range in function from reading groups focused on general areas, e.g. health care reform, to specific topics, e.g. patenting of surgical techniques. The goals of such groups will range from general participant edification to specific research or policy development, allied to the pursuit of outside grant support and publication. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The above named individuals, and the following, comprise the Executive Committee of the Center: Norman Chassin, M.D. (Medicine-UB); Karen Houck, M.D. (OBGYN-UB); Reverend Pat Keleher (Newman Center-UB); Timothy Madigan (Ph.D. Candidate in Philosophy-UB); Robert Milch, M.D. (Surgery-UB and Hospice Buffalo); and David Nyberg, Ph.D. (School of Education-UB). HEALTH CARE POLICY SUBCOMMITTEE The Health Care Policy Subcommittee of the Research Committee seeks issues which need a sounding board or an opinion regarding the delivery of health care, or even broader issues of academic or scientific importance. The issues will be broader than those brought before hospital ethics committees. The committee meets monthly and encourages individuals who may want to discuss dilemmas to attend. Please call Elaine Taylor at 898-3316 to be placed on the agenda. PARTICIPANT DATA SHEETS The Center would like to identify the basic interests of potential participants as well as identify those who may be willing and able to assist with the development of the Center and its enterprises. If you have not filled out a participant data sheet, please contact us at the address or numbers above and we will send one to you. UPCOMING MEETINGS ECMC ETHICS GRAND ROUNDS Date and time to be announced. "Responding to the Religious and Cultural Challenge of Ethical Consultation." For information please contact Karen Maricle at 898-3101. "Medical-Legal-Ethical Aspects of Withholding Fluids and Tube Feeding in Patients With Persistent Vegetative State," Thursday, October 27, 7:30 AM-9:00 AM, Cafeteria A & B, Mercy Hospital.. Speakers: Anthony Buscaglia, M.D., Chair, Medical Ethics Committee, Mercy Hospital; Rev. Thomas Dailey, Bioethics Consultant, Mercy Health System; and Robert Portin, J.D., Health Care Legal Consultant, Damon and Morey. Several hypothetical vignettes involving a patient with persistent vegetative state with varying advance directives and family wishes will be used in the discussion. All medical and nursing staff are welcome to attend. For further information, call 828-2700. "Contemporary Issues in Nutrition Support," Tuesday, November 1st, 8:30 AM-4:00 PM, University Inn, Amherst, NY. Sponsored by the Western New York Consortium for Nutrition Support (WNYCNS), an independent, multidisciplinary group of health care providers. Continuing education credits are available. Registration fee: $60. For details, contact Elaine Cozzarin at 879-6000. "The Role of the Generalist Physician in the Capitated Health Care System," Wednesday, November 2nd. General Internal Medicine - Grand Rounds, 7:30 AM-8:30 AM. Beck Hall, Conference Room, Main Street Campus, University at Buffalo. Presenter: Dr. Stephen Kaplan. Call 898-4800 for further details. CALL FOR PAPERS "Ethics and Health Care Reform", February 8-9, 1995 at Rochester Institute of Technology. Reading time for papers should be 30 minutes. Deadline for submissions: December 15th. For further information, contact Dr. Wade Robison at 716-475-6643. Fax: 716-475-7120. E-mail: wlrgsh@rt.edu. RECENT PUBLICATIONS BY CENTER MEMBERS Joseph M. Kelly, Ph.D., J.D., has had an article published on "The Liability of Blood Banks and Manufacturers of Clotting Products to Recipients of HIV-Infected Blood: A Comparison of the Law and Reaction in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland and Australia" in 27(2) The John Marshall Law Review pp. 465-491 (Winter 1994). The article was cited as authority in a federal court decision concerning class certification of HIV positive hemophiliacs (Wadleigh v. Rhone Poulene et. al., 1994 U.S. District Lexis 11737, Northern District of Illinois). Professor Kelly would be delighted to provide copies of his article or the federal court decision. A study by Karen Allen, associate director and research associate at the University at Buffalo's Center for the Study of Biobehavioral and Social Aspects of Health, has shown that music played during surgery can relieve stress for some physicians and improves their performance. However, this calming effect only worked when surgeons selected their own tunes. Karen Allen, Ph.D. and Jim Blascovich, Ph.D., "Effect of Music on Cardiovascular Reactivity Among Surgeons", Journal of the American Medical Association September 21, 1994, Volume 272, No. 11, pp. 882-884. Stephen Wear, Susan LaGaipa, and Gerald Logue, "Toleration of Moral Diversity and the Conscientious Refusal By Physicians to Withdraw Life-Sustaining Treatment", Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 19 (1994), pp. 147-159. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS Your comments and suggestions regarding this newsletter are encouraged. Please send them to the Center address, or by e-mail to the newsletter editor, Tim Madigan - timmadigan@aol.com. We also need information on upcoming events that would be of interest to Center members. ==============================================================================