Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care
Bioethics Bulletin
Editor: Tim Madigan
January, 1998
Volume Five, Number One
Co-Directors:
Gerald Logue, MD and Stephen Wear, PhD
Associate Director:
Jack Freer, MD
Research Associate:
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: BIOETH-LIST@listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu. Archives
of old BIOETH-LIST messages are maintained at:
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/archives/bioeth-list.html
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.
Reading Group
The Center’s Reading Group will move to a new day (Mondays) for
the Spring semester.The Group will continue focusing on the book
The Healer’s Power by Howard Brody, MD.
[
The Healer’s Power is available through
Amazon.Com.] On Monday, January
12, at
4:00 PM, Center co-director Stephen Wear, will discuss chapters 6-7.
The Reading Group meetings are an opportunity to explore new ideas
in an informal but intellectually stimulating setting. The move
to a new day has been necessitated by a class conflict for many of
the participants. Hopefully, this change will also provide the
opportunity for others to come who have previously been unable.
The meetings are held at the Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Road,
between Maple and Rensch Roads in Amherst. Meetings are open to all
interested parties. To receive copies of the reading material, or for
further information, contact
Adrianne McEvoy at 862-3412.
Upcoming Lectures
Seminar in Psychosocial Genetics to be Offered at Roswell Park
Howard J. Allen, PhD, MSW, will be giving a course on ethical
issues raised by the Human Genome Project. The seminar, which
has no prerequisites, will be held Thursdays from Noon to 12:50 PM,
in the Research Studies Center Room 400, Roswell Park Cancer
Institute. The course description states: "The Human Genome
Project has stimulated recent and continuing advances in molecular
genetics that are making it possible to define the history and to
predict the future of an individual. This developing capability has
raised many issues that have promoted discussion, debate and action
by the biomedical, sociological and legislative communities. The
objective of this course is 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. The course will
provide an appropriate elective for students from a variety of
disciplines ranging from cancer biologists to social workers."
For additional information, call Dr. Allen at 845-5725.
Society for Health and Human Values Regional Meeting
The Society for Health and Human Values announces its Spring
Regional Meeting, April 17-19, 1998, at Youngstown State University,
Youngstown, Ohio. The theme of the meeting is: "Whose Ethics? Which
Medicine?: The Tacit and Explicit Development of a Medical Ethics",
sponsored by the Dr. James Dale Ethics Center at Youngstown State
University. Medical ethics has come of age as an area of scholarship
and research. Its scholars and researchers have made substantial
contributions to public policy and to the public awareness of
problems in the clinic and the laboratory. But all of this activity
has posed new questions for practioners of these arts. This
conference will provide a forum to examine the ways in which
different approaches to bioethics determine our conception of medicine
and its ethical issues, and it will consider the origins of medical ethics
and knowledge of medicine. Speakers include Charles Bosk, Howard Brody,
Tod Chambers, Larry Churchill, Richard B. Miller, Christine Mitchell, Rosa
Lynn Pinkus, and Rosemary Tong. For information, contact: Jody
Chicester, Center for Medical Ethics, 3708 Fifth Avenue, Suite 300,
Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
Hospice News
The Hospice Mitchell Campus will be holding an Open House on Tuesday,
January
20 at 7:00 PM. For details, call 686-8258.
Post-Doctoral Fellowship Available
The Center for Bioethics
at the University of Minnesota will have a one year
post-doctoral fellowship available July 1998. The goal of the fellowship
is to
foster academic scholarship and career advancement in the field of
bioethics.
The award will be $27,000. The fellow will be expected to commit at least
75%
time to conduct his/her defined area of research. One or more Center
faculty
will be available as advisers. Applications must be submitted by February
16,
1998. For application forms, call the Center for Bioethics at (612)
624-9440
or fax (612) 624-9108.
Stanford Visiting Fellows Program
The Program in
Genomics, Ethics and Society (PGES) at Stanford University
addresses the compelling social, ethical, legal and political implications
of
advances in human genetics. Administratively housed within the
Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, PGES actively involves Stanford
researchers from
throughout the University, including the School of Humanities and
Sciences,
the School of Medicine, and the professional schools, particularly law and
business. Fellows will be provided with a stipend, office space and modest
support for research expenses. They will have complete access to the
Stanford
libraries and computer center. PGES Visiting Fellows will generally hold a
post-graduate degree in a relevant field (e.g. genetics, public policy,
medicine, law, business, social science, philosophy). Fellows may be
either
"junior" or "senior" scholars. Applicants should submit a c.v., a sample
of
written work, names and contact information from three references, and a
1-2
page statement describing their interest in PGES and their potential
contributions while in residence in Stanford. For 1998-99 fellowships,
applications must be received by February 1, 1998. For further
information,
contact Laura McConnell, MPH, PGES Coordinator, 701 Welch Road, Suite
1105,
Palo Alto, CA 94304, tel: (650) 498-6934; e-mail:
lauramcc@leland.stanford.edu.
Advanced European Bioethics Course
The Advanced European Bioethics Course will be held in Nijmegen,
The Netherlands on April 2-4, 1998. The theme of this year’s course
is "Ethics and Palliative Care." For more information and application
forms, contact: Bert Gordijn, PhD, Department of Ethics, Philosophy
and History of Medicine, Catholic University of Nijmegen, PO Box
9101, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; tel: int+31-24-361-5320; fax:
int+31-24-354-0254; e-mail:
b.gordijn@efg.kun.nl
; website:
www.azn.nl/fmw/maatschp/pallial.htm.
Summer Institute in Health Care Ethics
The Department of Medical History and Ethics at the University of
Washington School of Medicine will be hosting a Summer Seminar in
Health Care Ethics from August 3-7, 1998. Albert Jonsen will lead
the seminar and Ruth Macklin will be the guest faculty member. For
more information, and to be placed on the mailing list to receive
full details (in March 1998), contact: Marilyn J. Barnard, Program
Coordinator, Medical History and Ethics, University of Washington,
Seattle, Washington 98195-7120; tel: 206-616-1864; fax:
206-685-7515;
e-mail: mbarnard@u.washington.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 January 15th.