University at Buffalo

Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care

Bioethics Bulletin

Editor: Tim Madigan
October 1995
Volume Two, Number Ten

The Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care

Co-Directors: Gerald Logue, MD and Stephen Wear, PhD
Secretary: Lisa Bolton
Address:
The Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care
VAMC
3495 Bailey Avenue
Buffalo, New York 14215

Telephone: 862-3412
FAX: 8624748

E-mail sent to Lisa Bolten LBolten@ubmedc.buffalo.edu.

Center Library

The Center is starting a research library, and would appreciate donations of books, articles and journals pertaining to biomedical ethics. These will all be made available for visitors to the Center.

Newsletter Distribution

The Center newsletter can be delivered to you via e-mail or fax. If you would like to receive the newsletter over the Internet, please forward your request to Jack Freer JFreer@ubmedb.buffalo.edu. If you would like to receive it by fax, call Lisa Bolten at the telephone number above and tell her your fax number. We encourage the use of e-mail and fax distribution rather than paper for the newsletter.

Center Reading Group

The Center will be establishing a reading group, the purpose of which is to discuss in-progress publications and encourage new publications. The first work to be discussed is Stephen Wear's book Informed Consent: Patient Autonomy and Physician Beneficence Within Clinical Medicine. The book, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1993, will be going into its second edition, and Wear is interested in receiving comments and suggestions. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 11th at 4 PM, at the Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Road, between Maple and Rensch Roads in Amherst (roughly across from the Health Care Plan site by the UB Amherst Campus). Look for the twin red-and-white gates. If you plan to attend, please contact Tim Madigan, timmadigan@aol.com who will send you a copy of the first chapter. Also let him know if you are interested in attending future reading group meetings. Call 877-9428 or 636-7571.

Upcoming Lectures

Tools for Clinical Precepting: A Novel Approach Using "Standardized Patients." Monday, October 2, 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM. Presenter: LuAnn Wilkerson, EdD, UCLA School of Medicine. Sponsored by the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo through the Primary Care Resource Center's Teaching Effectiveness Program. To be held at the University at Buffalo South Campus, Lippschutz Room, CFS Addition, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo. $10.00 registration fee is required. Contact Diane Schwartz DSchwart@ubmedc.buffalo.edu at the Primary Care Resource Center for further information, 829-3176.

Technology Tuesday Workshops. The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library - Buffalo Free-Net and Internet Training Opportunities.
Time: 12:10 - 12:55 PM (part 1) and 1:00 - 1:30 PM (part 2).
Where: Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Mason O. Damon Auditorium. Format: Tech Tuesday workshops are designed as two part programs. You are invited to attend one or both parts.
October Schedule
October 3
Part 1 - History, future and tour of the Buffalo Free-Net. Guest speaker will be Jim Finamore, founder of the Buffalo Free-Net.
Part 2 - Getting a Free-Net account.
October 10
Part 1 - Guidelines for communications software setup.
Part 2 - Navigating around the Free-Net.
October 17
Part 1 - E-mail access to the Internet.
Part 2 - Finding community information on the Free-Net.
October 24
Downtown Buffalo Free-Net User Group Meeting (informal session 12:10 - 12:55 PM)
October 31
Part 1 - World Wide Web concepts: a graphic view.
Part 2 - Spectacular travel sites on the Web.

Bioethics Lecture Series by Dr. Richard Hull:

The Greater Buffalo Memorial Society, Inc. will hold its annual membership meeting at 2:30 PM, Sunday, October 8 in the parish hall of the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Buffalo, 695 Elmwood Avenue. State University of New York at Buffalo professor of philosophy Richard T. Hull phirhull@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu will present a program entitled "Dying in America." Dr. Hull will discuss the range of end-of-life issues in the United States today, including surrogate decision-making, living wills, assisted suicide and physician-induced death. He is a clinical assistant professor in the SUNYAB Department of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and a scholar in residence at Buffalo General Hospital. He has published three edited books and some 45 chapters and articles. In 1994 he reached the SUNY Chancellor Award for Excellence in Teaching, and in 1995 he was promoted to the rank of Full Professor. The Greater Buffalo Memorial Society is a non-profit consumer group that provides information and literature on simple, dignified and affordable funeral options. The program is free and open to the public. Form more information, call 837-8636.

Society for Health and Human Values. Annual Meeting: October 12-15, San Diego, CA. Theme: "Values of Health Care: Diverse Perspectives." For information, contact the SHHV National Office, 6728 Old McLean Drive, McLean, VA 22101, phone: 703-556-9222, fax: 703-556-8729.

"Ethics at the End of Life," a presentation by lecturer and author Rev. Charles Meyer, M. Div. and M.S.Ed, will be given on Friday, October 13 from 9 AM - 1 PM in the Hospice Mitchell Campus Education Center, 225 Como Park Boulevard, Cheektowaga. Meyer will discuss ten strategies for surviving the death of others, issues of a good death, and ethical issues in the 90's. The presentation is the third in a series of Hospice Association Lectures sponsored by Independent Health. Meyer is assistant vice president, Patient Services, at St. David's Hospital, Austin, Texas, and author of the book _Surviving Death: A Practical Guide to Caring for the Dying and Bereaved_, which is in its second edition. Registration for the conference is $45, due by October 3. Walk-in registration is available on a first-come, first-served basis. For information, call 836-6460.

Seminar: Biomedical Ethics: A Jewish View and Review. Temple Beth Am, 4660 Sheridan Drive. Cantor Barbara Horowitz and Dr. Peter Winkelstein will conduct a seminar and discussion of current challenges resulting from advances in medical technology and what they mean for the kind of life and death decisions which can be influenced by the teachings and attitudes of the Jewish tradition. Tuition is $35 for Temple members, $70 for non-members. Class begins Monday, October 16 at 8:30 PM and runs for the following ten Monday nights at the same time. Contact 633-8877 for more information, or e-mail Peter Winkelstein pwinkels@ubmedb.buffalo.edu.

Fall 1996 Sesquicentennial Conference

A symposium on Ethics and Values in Medicine and the Biomedical Sciences will be held in conjunction with the UB School of Medicine and Biological Science's sesquicentennial, November 14-16, 1996. There are three main themes for the symposium:
1.) The Human Genome Project
2.) The Dilemma of Funding Health-Care: Technology, Resources, and Priorities
3.) The Physician-Patient Relationship.
There will also be a final session devoted to open-ended discussion of issues raised at previous sessions. Further information on the symposium will be given in upcoming Bioethics Bulletins.

Call for Papers

American Association for the History of Medicine, 1996 Annual Meeting. May 9-12, at the Hyatt Hotel, Buffalo. The Chair of the Program is
James T. H. Connor
Hannah Institute for the History of Medicine
14 Prince Arthur Avenue, Suite 101
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5R 1A9
Any person interested in presenting a paper at this meeting is invited to submit an abstract (one original and six copies) to Dr. Connor. Any subject in the history of medicine is suitable for presentation, but the paper must represent original work not already published or in press. Submissions on comparative aspects of the history of medicine (by period, region, country, or by culture) are especially welcome. Presentations are limited to twenty minutes. Because the Bulletin of the History of Medicine is the official journal of the AAHM, the Association encourages speakers to make their manuscripts available for consideration by the Bulletin upon request. Abstracts must be typed, single-spaced on one sheet of paper, and must not exceed 300-350 words in length. Abstracts should embody not merely a statement of a research question, but findings and conclusions sufficient to allow assessment by the committee. The following biographical information is also required: Name, title (occupation), preferred mailing address, work and home telephone numbers, and fax numbers, e-mail address, present institutional affiliation and academic degrees. Abstracts must be received by October 15, 1995. Please note that abstracts submitted by e-mail or fax will not be accepted. As in the past, the 1996 program will include lunch-time roundtable workshops and may include poster sessions. Those wishing to submit abstracts for these sessions should follow the instructions given above.

Conference on Value Inquiry: Inherent and Instrumental Values. The 24th Conference on Value Inquiry will be held at D'Youville College, April 18-20, 1996. Broad participation is sought. Papers and abstracts of papers that address issues concerning inherent and instrumental values are welcome. Early submission is advised. Papers may be practically or theoretically oriented. Treatment of the topic may be disciplinary and address arguments within a single field of value inquiry such as ethics, law, politics, aesthetics, health care, business, or education. Papers may also be interdisciplinary and examine inherent and instrumental values from two or more fields of inquiry. A selection of papers presented at the conference will be considered for publication. Contact: John Abbarno, Coordinator, 24th Conference on Value Inquiry, Dept. of Philosophy, D'Youville College, 320 Porter Avenue, Buffalo, New York, 14201. Telephone: 716-881-3200, extension 6540. Fax: 716-881- 7760.

The Center for Multiculturalism and Health Care solicits original unpublished research on "Multiculturalism and Health: Developing Curricula; Managing Diversity; and Strengthening Institutions"; for possible presentation at a conference at Chautauqua Institution, summer 1996. Submit to: Essie A. Riley-Eddins, PhD, RN, Founding Editor, _The Journal of Multicultural Nursing & Health_, PO Box 889, Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, New York 14722. Telephone: 716-357-2479. Fax: 716-357-3193.

Member's Corner

Stephen Wear, PhD, Center Co-Director, has received a contract for a book on the subject of ethics consulting, from Georgetown University Press. It will appear in the Clinical Ethics series pubished by Georgetown. Publication is planned for the summer of 1997.

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. The deadline for the next newsletter is October 15th.