Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care
Bioethics Bulletin
Editor: Tim Madigan
May 1997
Volume Four, Number Five
Co-Directors:
Gerald Logue, MD and Stephen Wear, PhD
Associate Director:
Jack Freer, MD
Research Associates:
Charles Jack and
Adrianne McEvoy
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
This newsletter can be delivered to you via e-mail or fax or over
the internet (forward your request to: Jack Freer, MD at:
jfreer@buffalo.edu).
If you prefer fax, call 862-3412 and
leave your fax number. We encourage and appreciate the use of
e-mail and fax distribution rather than paper for the newsletter.
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: BIOETHLIST@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@buffalo.edu.
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 reading and research 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 April, at the Center for Inquiry,
1310 Sweet Home Road, between Maple and Rensch Roads (look for
the twin red-and-white gates). On Wednesday, May 14th, Marie Cosgrove
Shea, R.N., J.D., will discuss ethical issues she confronts in her
work as a nurse-consultant for the New York State Department
of Health. Contact
Adrianne McEvoy at the Center (862-3412) for information and
materials.
Upcoming Lectures
Thursday, May 1. "Getting Ready for Capitation by Improving
Health: Moving From Managed Cost to Managed Care." Buffalo
Marriott Hotel, 1340 Millersport Hwy. Noon-5:30 PM. Sponsored by
the SUNY-Buffalo Department of Family Medicine, in conjunction
with SUNY-Buffalo School of Nursing and the Erie County Chapter,
New York State Academy of Family Physicians. Speakers include
Chester Fox, MD, clinical Associate Professor, Department of
Family Medicine; Ann Lawthers, ScD, Deputy Director, Center for
Quality Care, Research, and Educaiton, Harvard School of Public
Health; Frank Campanga, MD, Medical Director, Community Blue;
Richard Battaglia, MD, Medical Director, Medical Centers
Division, Health Care Plan; Michael Cropp, MD, Medical Director,
Independent Health Association. Registration: $60.00. Please make
checks payable to "UB Foundation" and mail registration to: Holmes
McGuigan, Department of Family Medicine, 462 Grider Street, Buffalo,
New York 14215. For further information, call 898-4505.
Wednesday, May 7. "Managed Care." Presenter: Dr. William Dillon.
Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, Medical Education Building,
Patient Education Room. 9:15 AM. Approved for 1.0 hours of AMA/PRA
Category 1 credit. For further information contact Carole Snyder
at 878-7804.
Wednesday, May 14. "Ethics of Human Genetics: Christian, Jewish
and Secular Perspectives." Sponsored by Duquesne University and
St. Francis Medical Center. The conference will bring religious
and secular insights to bear on the implications of the human
genome project. For information, call Christine Sedlack at
412-622-4210.
Thursday, May 15. "The Internet: A Guide for Health Professionals."
An introductory course. 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Hyatt Regency-Buffalo,
2 Fountain Plaza. Tuition: $79.00 per person with pre-registration
($92.00 at the door if space remains). Call 1-800-937-6878.
Wednesday, May 21. Third Annual Jus Lecture, in honor of Dr.
Andrzej Jus. Speaker: Fred Gage, the Salk Institute and University
of California, La Jolla, on "Gene and Cell Transfer to the Brain."
4:00 - 5:00 PM, Ben Sadowski Auditorium (18th Floor) at Mount Sinai
Hospital, 600 University Avenue, Toronto. Free and open to the
public.
Friday, May 23. "All in the Family: Ethical Issues in Genetic
Research." Sponsored by the University of Toronto Research Services
and the Faculty of Medicine Research Office. 8:30 AM - 1:00 PM.
Amphitheatre in the Toronto Hospital Residence, 90 Gerrard Street
West. For registration information, please contact Amy Lee
(telephone: 416-978-5150; fax: 416-978-5568; e-mail
amy.lee@utoronto.ca).
Thursday May 29. Integrative Medicine Symposium and Harrington
Lecture. The Mind-Body Connection in Cardiac Health. University
Inn and Conference Center, 2401 North Forest Rd. 8:30AM-5:00PM.
Redford B. Williams, MD, Director, Behavioral Medicine Research
Center; Professor of Psychiatry & Psychology; and Associate
Professor, Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center.
For further information contact Beverly Truilizio
(e-mail: btruiliz@mfhs.edu),
887-4093
Thursday, June 5. "Evaluating Medical Learning in a Generalist
Practice" in the Ambulatory Setting - Research in Progress.
Presenters: Paul James, MD and Donald Pollock, PhD.
7:45 AM - 8:45 AM. Lippshutz Room, Biomedical Education
Building, SUNY-Buffalo South Campus. Sponsored by the School of
Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, through the Department of
Medicine. Approved for 1.0 hours of AMA/PRA Category 1 credit. For
further information contact Beverly Horrigan at 887-5016 (e-mail:
bhorriga@mfhs.edu).
Sunday, June 8, 6pm. Lecture and Dinner Honoring Bob Milch, M.D..
The topic will be Physician Assisted Suicide. Fred Rosner M.D.,
Director of the Department of Medicine at Queens Hospital Center
and Chairman of the Medical Ethics Committee of Medical Society of
the State of New York will be speaking. For more information
contact Jack Freer (
jfreer@buffalo.edu) or Adrianne McEvoy
(862-3412 or MsAlix@aol.com.)
Monday, June 30. Joseph J. Fins, MD will be in Buffalo for a
number of activities, including City-Wide Ethics Grand Rounds.
Dr. Fins is Associate for Medicine at the Hastings Center, and is
Director of Medical Ethics at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical
Center. His presentations include: "Clinical Pragmatism:
A Method of Moral Problem Solving for Medicine," 8:30-9:30 AM
at Millard Fillmore Gates; various case presentations from
10:00-11:00 AM, at Millard Fillmore Gates Circle; a seminar
on "Reconstructing Hospital Care for Dying Patients," at Buffalo
General, Swift Auditorium. More details concerning his visit will
appear in future issues of the Bioethics Bulletin. For more
information contact Jack Freer
(jfreer@buffalo.edu).
Joint Meeting Announced
The American Association of Bioethics, the Society for Bioethics
Consultation, and the
Society for Health and Human Values will be
holding a joint meeting November 5-9, 1997 at the Baltimore
Marriott Inner Harbor Hotel, Baltimore, Maryland. The theme is
"Visions for Ethics and Humanities in a Changing Healthcare
Environment." This theme is meant to provoke reflection on both
the perils and possibilities inherent in the rapid changes now
taking place in the American healthcare system, and to some extent
in healthcare systems throughout the world. Can ethics and
humanities assist our society in gaining the wisdom and the
political will necessary to realize the possibilities and avoid
the perils? As traditional assumptions change about the way medicine
and healthcare can be organized, delivered, and financed, does that
mean the traditional frameworks of humanistic and value-based
thinking will lose their capacity to inform our social decisions?
Or will traditional norms and expectations become more important
than ever? Under this broad topic, three themes will organize many
of the sessions featured at the meeting. These are "Institutions,
Technology, and Culture." Presentations will be grouped around the
relationship between ethical and humanities perspectives on
institutional and organizational change, new developments in
medical science and technology, and the cultural diversity and
changing moral attitudes that are of growing importance in
American society. For further information, please contact:
Joint Meeting, 6728 Old McLean Village Drive, McLean, VA 22101;
fax: 703-556-8729; e-mail: shhv@aol.com.
Call for Papers
The Center for Multicultural Nursing & Health and African-Americans
for Humanism will sponsor a conference on "Ethical Dilemmas Arising
from Multicultural Differences in Health" in late Fall of 1997. To
submit abstracts and/or manuscripts for possible presentation, or
for additional information, contact: Essie Alberta Riley Eddins,
PhD, RN, SM, PO Box 889, Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua,
New York 14722; phone and fax: 357-2479.
The State Society on Aging of New York announces its 25th Annual
Conference, October 22-24, 1997, at the Desmond in Albany, New York.
The conference theme is: "Building Generational and Cultural Bridges:
A 25th Anniversary." Deadline for abstracts is June 2, 1997.
Questions about the program and abstracts should be addressed to:
Duane A. Matcha, PhD, SSA Program Chair, Department of Sociology,
Siena College, 515 Loudon Road, Loudonville, New York 12211-1462;
telephone: 518-783-2944; fax: 518-783-4293;
e-mail: matcha@siena.edu.
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 May 15th.