University at Buffalo

Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care

Bioethics Bulletin

Editor: Tim Madigan
August 1996
Volume Three, Number Eight

Co-Directors: Gerald Logue, MD and Stephen Wear, PhD
Associate Director: Jack Freer, MD
Secretary: Lisa Bolten
Research Associate: Charles Jack, MA
Address: Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care
Veteran's Affairs Medical Center
3495 Bailey Avenue Buffalo, NY 14215

Telephone: 862-3412 FAX: 862-4748
Website: http://wings.buffalo.edu/faculty/research/bioethics/
Send E-mail to: wear@acsu.buffalo.edu.

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, MD, phone: 887- 4852; fax: 887-5186; e-mail: jfreer@ubmedb.buffalo.edu. If you would like to receive it by fax, call 862-3412 and give us your fax number. We encourage the use of e-mail and fax distribution rather than paper for the newsletter. Please let us know if there are any people you would like to have placed on our mailing list.

Jack Freer Named Center Associate Director

Jack Freer, MD, one of the founding members of the Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care, has been appointed the Center's Associate Director. A practicing internist-geriatrician, he has been chair of the Millard Fillmore Ethics Committee since its inception in 1985. He is also course coordinator for the required SUNY-Buffalo medical student ethics course, "Dilemmas in Clinical Medicine."

Upcoming Center Meetings

The Center currently has three committees: Community Affairs, Education and Research. All Center members are welcome to participate in these committees.

Center Reading Group

The Center has established a second reading and research group (beyond the "Health Care Policy Group"), the purpose of which is to discuss in-progress publications and encourage new publications and allied research activities. There will be two meetings held in August, at the Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Road, between Maple and Rensch Roads (look for the twin red-and-white gates). On Wednesday, August 14 at 4:00 PM, Dr. Bogda Koczwara, a senior fellow at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and "Bioethics Bulletin" editor Tim Madigan will discuss their upcoming article on _The Encyclopedia of Bioethics_ and its treatment of "clinical ethics." On Wednesday, August 28 at 4:00 PM, Lorrie Divers, Clinical Research Associate, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, will discuss: "Informed Consent in Clinical Trials in Oncology: Theory vs Practice." On Wednesday, September 4 at 4:00 PM, local attorney Janet Kaye will give a presentation on ethical dilemmas related to the cosmetics industry. The talks are open to any interested participants. Also, if you would like to give a presentation to the reading group, please contact Tim Madigan at 636-7571 or by e- mail: timmadigan@aol.com.

City-Wide Ethics Grand Rounds

The Center sponsors an ongoing series of bioethics grand rounds at area hospitals on a monthly basis. All Center members are encouraged to attend.

Tuesday, September 17, 8:00 AM. Erie County Medical Center, Staff Dining Room. "Health Care Proxy and Interfacility Collaboration." For further information, call Robert Heicklen at 898-3000.

Wednesday, October 16, 8:00 AM. Kenmore Mercy Hospital. "Considerations Surronding Brain-death Dilemmas in a Young Adult." Further information in the next Bioethics Bulletin.

Center Listservers

The Center now maintains two automated e-mail listservers. BIOETH-LIST is primarily designed for those in the Greater Buffalo area and permits subscribers to post to the list. This list is available for posting local announcements, as well as a medium for discussion of relevant topics. It will also distribute the Center newsletter, "Bioethics Bulletin." If you are on this list, you can send a message to the entire list by addressing the message to:
BIOETH-LIST@listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu.

BIOBUL-LIST is strictly used for distribution of "Bioethics Bulletin" and is mainly for those outside of Western New York. If you have further questions about this service, contact Jack Freer at 887-4852 or at: jfreer@ubmedb.buffalo.edu.

Center to Co-Sponsor Lectures

Pieter Admiraal, MD, one of the leading exponents of the Netherlands' euthanasia policy, will be giving a public lecture on Thursday, September 26 at 7:00 PM, at the Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Road, Amherst. He will be joined by Marilynne Seguin, RN, executive director of the Canadian organization Dying With Dignity. Further details, including the lecture topic and time, will be given in the next "Bioethics Bulletin." The Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care will also be sponsoring a presentation on Friday, October 18 at 7:00 PM by Olgierd Lindan, MD, on "Medical Quackery and New Age Medicine." Dr. Lindan is a longtime collector of controversial medical devices and is the proprietor of his own museum in Cleveland, Ohio. He will be demonstrating several bogus cures from his own collection. For details on these two events, please contact Tim Madigan at 636-7571 or timmadigan@aol.com

Upcoming Lectures

Friday and Saturday, September 6 and 7. "Health Care: History and the Future, A Conference on Chronicling Your Health Care History." Hinshaw Medical Education Center, Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, New York. Friday, 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM; Saturday, 8:30 AM - 2:00 PM. The aim of the conference is to bring members of the health care community together and demonstrate the how, why and uses of institutional archives and historical collections. Anyone with an interest in preserving their organization's history should attend. Cost of registration: $50.00 (covers lunches, coffee breaks and parking). Please mail conference fee to: Baker-Cederberg Museum & Archives, Rochester General Hospital, 1425 Portland Avenue, Rochester, New York, 14621.

Palliative Care Issues Conference

Hospice Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Institute will host the 2nd Combined Conference on Palliative Care Issues set for Friday, Sept. 20, 1996, from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Neil MacDonald, M.D., world renowned author of "The Canadian Palliative Care Curriculum" will discuss the development of palliative care curricula in the health care professional's training. Deborah Gordon, R.N., MS, who was instrumental in developing Clinical Care Pathways and has written many articles on this topic, will discuss implementation of pathways for palliative care. The conference will be held at the Hospice Buffalo Mitchell Campus Education Center, 225 Como Park Blvd., Cheektowaga. Pre-registration is encouraged. For more information, contact Missy Danahy at 686-8291.

Symposium on Ethics and Values in Medicine and the Biomedical Sciences

In conjunction with the SUNY-Buffalo Sesquicentennial celebration, the Center is helping to sponsor a major symposium, to be held from November 14-16.

Thursday, Nov. 14, 1996

Opening (Evening) Reception

Friday, Nov. 15, 1996

Keynote Address (8:30AM)
H. Tristram Engelhardt Jr. (Rice University and Baylor University School of Medicine): "Bioethics at the End of the Millennium: Fashioning Health Care Policy in the Absence of a Content-full Moral Vision."

Session One:The Human Genome Project (10:00AM- 12:30PM)

Eric Jeungst (Case Western Reserve University): "The Challenge of Human Genome Research for the Professional Ethics of Medicine."
Dorothy Nelkin (New York University): "Human Genetics and Social Policy: The Public Appropriation of the Gene."
Diane Paul (University of Massachusetts at Boston): "Lessons from the History of PKU Screening."

Lunch (12:30-1:30PM)

Ethics Rounds at Local Hospitals (2:00-4:30PM)

Saturday, Nov. 16, 1996

Session Two:The Dilemma of Funding Health Care: Technology, Resources and Priorities (9AM-11:30AM)

Laurence McCullough (Baylor University School of Medicine): "A Preventative Ethics Approach to the Managed Practice of Medicine."
E. Haavi Morreim (University of Tennessee Medical School): "New Technologies: When to Buy (Into) New Ones, When to Stay with the Old."
H. Tristram Engelhardt Jr.: "Toward Multiple Standards of Health Delivery: Taking Moral and Economic Diversity Seriously."

Lunch (11:30AM-12:30PM)

Session Three: The Physician-Patient Relationship. (12:30- 3:00PM)

Kathryn Montgomery Hunter (Northwestern University Medical School): "A Medicine of Neighbors."
Julie Rothstein (Yale University): "Can I Trust You Now? Trust and the Physician-Patient Relationship: Implications for Continuity of Care."
Howard Brody (Michigan State University): "Can Relationships Heal -- Cheap?"

Break (3-3:30PM)

Session Four: Roundtable Discussion (3:30-5PM)

For details on how to register, contact Professor James Bono, Dept. of History, Park Hall, SUNY-Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260; 645-2282, ext. 559; e-mail: hischaos@acsu.buffalo.edu.
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Does the Body Matter?

As part of next fall's 150th anniversary celebration, SUNY-Buffalo is sponsoring a major academic symposium entitled "Does the Body Matter? A UB Sesquicentennial Symposium on Frontiers of Knowledge in Nature, Society and Culture.", on Friday, October 4 at the Slee Concert Hall, North Campus. This will bring together a distinguished group of scholars: Gerald Edelman, Nobel-Prize winning neuroscientist; N. Katherine Hayles, leading cultural critic of changing technologies; Bruno Latour, sociologist of science; Richard Lewontin, biologist- critic of the human genome project; Margaret Locke, anthropologist of non-Western cultures; and a panel of notable SUNY-Buffalo faculty. The symposium will address the ongoing redefinition of the human body in contemporary society. The "Bioethics Bulletin" will have further details in future issues.

Roswell Park Course To Be Offered

Howard J. Allen, PhD, MSW, a doctor in the departments of Gynecologic Oncology and Biochemistry at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, will be offering a seminar in psychosocial genetics. The objective of the course will be to present, discuss and generate awareness of developing medical, social, ethical and legal issues emanating from current advances in genetics and how these issues may impact on individuals, families and society. The course will consider, but not be limited to, issues of predictive testing, confidentiality, privacy, insurability, employability, right-to-know, genetic legislation, standards of care, reproduction planning, protection from research risks, and economics. A date has not yet been set, but it will probably be offered in the Spring. If you would like further information, contact Dr. Allen at 845-5725.

Call For Papers

The Association for Practical and Professional Ethics invites submissions for its sixth annual meeting, March 6-8, 1997, Washington, D.C. at Washington National Airport Hilton. Submissions can address ethical concerns in various fields such as public administration, law, the environment, accounting, engineering, computer science, research ethics, business, medicine, journalism, the academy, and on issues that cut across professions. Demonstrations in ethics teaching, discussion of moral education, and curriculum development are welcome. Deadline for presentation submissions is October 31, 1996. Presenters will be notified by November 30, 1996. For details, contact the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, 410 North Park Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405. Telephone: 812-855-6450; fax: 812-855-3315; internet address: appe@indiana.edu.

Pharmacy School Fund Drive

Efforts are underway at the SUNY-Buffalo School of Pharmacy to raise $100,000 for a fund honoring the memory of Robert M. Cooper, a UB professor of pharmacy for close to 28 years who died in 1995. Gifts to the fund will support undergraduate scholarships, a lecture series on pharmacy-related issues, an annual pharmacy commencement award and a yearly stipend to underwrite the cost of a UB pharmacy student. Additional plans call for naming the Pharmacy School's professional practice laboratory for Cooper and for commissioning a portrait of him for permanent display in the school. For more information, or to contribute to the fund, write to the SUNY-Buffalo School of Pharmacy, Box 2064, Buffalo, New York 14231-2064.

Transplant Information

Upstate New York Transplant Services is offering a free informational program on "Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation." To schedule a presentation, call 853-6667.

Members Corner

The Members Corner is designed to note research, presentations and published articles and books by Center members. Please send all such information to the newsletter editor so that the Center can keep members informed about the work occurring in this area.

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 August 15th.