Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care

Bioethics Bulletin

June 1998
Volume Five, Number Six

Co-Directors: Gerald Logue, MD and Stephen Wear, PhD
NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS

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. NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS

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.

Community Affairs

Kenmore Mercy Hospital Ethics Committee Education Program. Wed. June 17th. "Ethical Issues Surrounding Neurological Illness (Amyotrophic lateral Sclerosis, Alzheimer's Disease, C.V.A., Parkinson's, et al.)". 8:00 - 9:00 AM (refreshments available at 7:30 AM). Speakers: Joseph Tutton, MD, Department of Neurology, Kenmore Mercy Hospital and Tomas Holmlund, MD, Dent Neurologic Institute. Kenmore Mercy Hospital Community Room. All are welcome. For details, contact Betty Rychlik at 447-6772.

Upcoming Lectures

Wed. June 10. "Abortion: How Jewish Law is Applied to Medical Questions." Speaker: Daniel Eisenberg, Fellow, Nuclear Cardiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. 12:00 Noon, Mount Sinai Hospital, 600 University Avenue, Level 2, Private Dining Rooms #2, 3 & 4, Toronto. For information, call 416-978-2906.

Thursday, June 18-Friday, June 19. "Removing Barriers Symposium: Inclusion, Diversity, and Social Justice in Health". OISE/UT, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto. The symposium is for health professionals, health and social agencies or institutions, community groups, or anyone interested in the preservation and development of the Canadian hallmarks of universality and accessibility of health care. Madeleine Dion Stout will give a keynote address: "Eh, Canada! Be Healthy! Diversity: the ABC's for Health." The fee is $115.00 before June 7, 1998. For more information, please contact the Removing Barriers Committee (tel: 416-638-4196; fax: 416-638-6076).

Thursday, June 25. "Palliative Care in Scotland." Speaker: Elizabeth Carroll, Thyne Scholar and Member, Select Committee for the Palliative Care Group, British Royal College of Nursing. 4:00 - 5:00 PM. Joint Centre for Bioethics, 88 College Street, Toronto, Room 108. For information, call 416-978-1906.

Canadian Bioethics Society

The 1998 Canadian Bioethics Society Annual Meeting will be hosted by the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, in Toronto on October 15-18, 1998, at the Delta Chelsea Inn. Full information, including Official Abstract Forms and Registration Forms, are available from the Centre's website (www.utoronto.ca/jcb) or by contacting Rhonda Martin; phone: 1-416-978-1906; fax: 416-978-1911; e-mail: rhonda.martin@utoronto.ca.

Support Groups for Those Who've Lost a Child

The Children's Hospital of Buffalo Bereavement Support Group, along with the Families Growing Through Grief Support Group, and the Share of Western New York are offering support to families who have lost a child. The Bereavement Support Group (for parents who are dealing with a death of a child) meets every first and third Tuesday of the month from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM at the Williamsville United Methodist Church. The Share of Western New York (for parents who have experienced a miscarriage, stillbirth or early infant death) meets on the first Thursday of every month at the Amherst Community Church, 77 Washington Highway, in Snyder. The Families Growing Through Grief Support Group (for parents, surviving siblings 5 years and up, and grandparents dealing with painful loss) meets at 6:30 PM on the second Wednesday of each month at the First Trinity Lutheran Church on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Tonawanda. Children's Hospital provides counselors and child specialists to these support groups. For more information, call Lesley Jordans, Bereavement Coordinator at Children's Hospital, at 878-7773.

Intensive Bioethics Seminar

The Kennedy Institute of Ethics in Washington, D. C. is offering an Intensive Bioethics Course, from June 6-11. Standard tuition is $1350, which includes course materials, breakfast and lunch, receptions and evening banquet, but not other dinners or lodging. The tuition fee is due by June 1, 1998. For details, call 1-202-687-5477.

Bioethics Course Offered

The Midwest Intensive Bioethics Course 1998 will be held July 13-18 at Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago. This year's theme is "Method in Bioethics: Philosophy, Law, Narrative." Case discussion, history, literature, and film will be used to illuminate basic ethical problems in health-care delivery. Tuition is $700.00. A limited number of partial tuition scholarships are available. Students may attend for $250.00. Several kinds of lodging are available. For information, contact Kristen Tym, Medical College of Wisconsin; phone: 414-456-4299; fax: 414-456-6511; e-mail: ktym@mcw.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.

Center Associate Director Jack Freer has passed the certifying exam of the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He is a member of the palliative medicine consultation services at Millard Fillmore and Buffalo General Hospitals.

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 June 15th.