Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care
Bioethics Bulletin
Editor: Tim Madigan
November 1998
Volume Five, Number Eleven
Co-Directors:
Gerald Logue, MD and Stephen Wear, PhD
NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS
Associate Director:
Jack Freer, MD
Research Associates: Adrianne McEvoy and Larry Torcello
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.
Reading Group
The Center's Reading Group will meet on Wednesday, November 11th at
4:00 PM.There will be a discussion of a paper by Austin Warren
Dacey, entitled "A Compromise Regarding Christian Scientists' Refusal
of Medical Treatment?" Dacey is a graduate student in the Applied
Philosophy program at Bowling Green State University, whose research
concerns liberalism and the separation of church and state in
America. The paper discusses some proposed solutions to
the controversy over Christian Scientists who refuse medical
treatment of their children. Copies of the paper are available by
calling 862-3412. The meeting will be held at the Center for
Inquiry,
1310 Sweet Home Road, Amherst. The next meeting will be on
Wednesday, December 2 at 4:00 PM, at the same location. David
Nyberg, professor of education at SUNY-Buffalo and author of
the book
The Varnished Truth, will speak on "Is It Ever Right to
Deceive Patients?" For further information, contact Tim Madigan at
636-7571, ext. 218.
Center Lecture on "Feminist Bioethics"
The Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care will be
sponsoring a special lecture on Monday, December 7 at 4:00 PM. The
speaker will be Laura M. Purdy, bioethicist and Professor of
Philosophy, University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics and The
Toronto Hospital. Her topic is: "What Feminism Can Do For Bioethics."
She writes: "Much of the emphasis in feminist work has been on
showing how traditional disciplines exclude women's
interests. But it's also interesting to think about how feminism can
enhance those disciplines. To show what feminism can do for
bioethics, I first dispel common misconceptions about feminism, make
some claims about what I see as central to it, and suggest some of
its implications for bioethics." Purdy has a PhD in Philosophy from
Stanford University, and is author of the books
Reproducing Persons: Issues in Feminist Bioethics (Cornell University Press,
1996) as well as co-editor of
Feminist Perspectives in Medical Ethics (Indiana University Press, 1992) and _Embodying Bioethics:
Recent Feminist Advances_ (Rowman & Littlefield, in press). The
meeting will be held at the Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Road
in Amherst. For details, contact Tim Madigan at 636-7571, ext. 218.
Upcoming Lectures
Wednesday, November 4th. "Community Science Education: Lessons from
Urban Girls and Their Mothers Living and Learning in Poverty."
Speaker: Angela Calabrese Barton, Teachers College, Columbia
University. 12:00 - 1:30 PM, 219 Baldy Hall, SUNY-Buffalo Amherst
Campus. Using a feminist analysis of the experiences children in
poverty have with science and science education, the speaker will
address how science itself needs to be rethought if current
exclusionary practices are to be overcome.
Thursday, November 5. "Ethical Issues Arising from Modern
Reproductive Technology." Richard Taylor, Professor Emeritus of
Philosophy, University of Rochester. Recent scientific advances have
made it possible for post-menopausal women to give birth; for frozen
embryos to be born years after being conceived; and for the cloning
of human beings to be a real possibility. Taylor will discuss the
relevance of the late Joseph Fletcher's concept of "situation
ethics" to understanding these new ethical dilemmas. 4:00
PM. Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Road, Amherst. Call 636-7571,
ext. 218 for further details.
Monday, November 9. "Reproductive Choice into the 21st Century: The
Legal Outlook." Sponsored by Planned Parenthood, the Women's Bar
Association, and other groups. Cash bar begins at 5:30 PM, followed
by dinner at 6:00 PM, with presentations at approximately 6:30 PM.
Presenters: David Garrow, Pulitzer Prize winning historian and
author of the definitive history of the struggle to legalize birth
control and abortion, _Liberty and Sexuality: The
Right to Privacy and the Making of Roe. V. Wade_, and Lucinda
Findley, SUNY-Buffalo Law Professor. The discussion will be moderated
by Peter Ostrow of the SUNY-Buffalo Medical School and Channel 4
medical reporter. The event will take place at Orazio's restaurant at
1735 Hertel Avenue in Buffalo. The cost is $22.00 per person, which
includes dinner. For reservations, call Planned Parenthood at
831-2200, ext. 311.
Thursday, November 12. "The New Health Care Leadership: Perspectives
on Western New York." 2:30 - 5:00 PM. Marriott Hotel, Amherst. Health
Care Executive Forum presentation. Speakers: Mary E. LaRowe, Senior
Vice President, St. Jerome Hospital; Dale St. Arnold, President and
CEO, Catholic Health System; Michael E. Bernardino, Vice President
for Health Affairs,SUNY-Buffalo; David Hohn, President and CEO,
Roswell Park Cancer Institute. For further information, call Al Dunn
at 898-4538. Registration deadline is November 6.
Saturday, November 14. The Medical Society of the County of Erie
presents the third in their fall seminar series on women health:
"Integrative Medicine." 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM, Adam's Mark Hotel, 120
Church Street, Buffalo. Featuring: "Acupuncture as a Complementary
Medicine", Thomas C. Small, MD; "The AMA View of Complementary
Medicine", Sanford H. Levy, MD; "Natural Approaches to Wellness for
Women", David I. Kurss, MD, FACOG. There is no admission charge.
Open seating is limited to the first 450 participants. Supported by
an educational grant from Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories.
Thursday, November 19. "Accessing CME Resources on the Internet." A
hands-on workshop sponsored by the SUNY-Buffalo Health Sciences
Library and the SUNY-Buffalo CME Office. 4:00 - 5:30 PM. Medical
School Computing Lab, 231 Cary Hall, SUNY-Buffalo South Campus.
Those who wish to register should send a $5.00 refundable check
payable to the Health Sciences Library to Neville Prendergast,
Abbott Hall, SUNY-Buffalo South Campus, Buffalo, New York 14214.
Registration is limited to 20 people.
Thursday, November 19. Roswell Park Cancer Institute Gynecologic
Oncology Translational Research Seminar: "An Ounce of Prevention is
Worth a Pound of Cure." Speaker: Michael Cummings, PhD, Chair,
Cancer Control and Prevention. 3:00 PM, Gaylord Meeting Room,
Research Studies Center. For information, contact Howard J. Allen,
PhD, MSW at 845-5725.
Thursday, December 10. "Women Who Abuse Substances: How They Protect
and How They Punish Their Children." Speaker: Dr. Brenda Miller,
Social Worker. 3:00 - 5:00 PM, 105 Harriman Hall, SUNY-Buffalo Main
Street Campus. For information, call 829-3451. Sponsored by the
Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender.
Jewish Medical Ethics Series
Rabbi Dr. Nisson E. Shulman, Director, Department of Rabinnic
Services, Yeshiva University and author of
Jewish Answer to Medical Ethics Questions: What People Want to Know will be leading a series
of lectures in November, sponsored by Young Israel of Greater
Buffalo. They are:
Friday, November 6:
8:30 PM: "Whose Body Is It Anyway?"
Saturday, November 7:
10:30 AM: "Bikur Cholim (Visiting the Sick: An Amenity or a
Therapy?"
1:30 PM: "Sign on the Dotted Line: Organ Donation and
Transplantation, Jewish Law and the Living Will."
8:00 PM: "From Time Immemorial to the Twenty-First Century:
Twenty-First Century Dilemmas - Questions and Answers."
Sunday, November 8:
9:30 AM: "The Real Jurassic Park: How Genetic Engineering in
Medicine, Industry and Food Production Affect Our Lives."
Call Gail Stolovitsky at 634-0918 for details, locations and
reservations.
International Ethics Conference
The International Association of Bioethics, in conjunction with
the Asian Bioethics Association, will convene the Fourth World
Congress of Bioethics, "Global Bioethics: East and West, South
and North." The meeting is planed for November 4-7, 1998 at
Nihon University Hall, Tokyo. The Congress is open to all who
are interested in topic of bioethics; it offers a forum for
interdisciplinary discussion and reflection, within a general
focus on cross- cultural bioethics of the whole global biosphere.
For information contact: Secretariat IAB4, Department of
Philosophy, Nihon University, 3-25-40 Sakurajosui, Setagaya-ku,
Tokyo 156, Japan.
IRB Conference
"IRBs in the Shifting Sands of Public Opinion", a conference on
human subject research, will be held November 8-9 at the San Diego
Paradise Point Resort. It is sponsored by the Tufts University
School of Medicine and the University of California at San Diego.
For registration and information, call 617-423-4112;
e-mail: prmr@aol.com.
National Ethics Conference
"Research and Decisional Capacity: Responding to the National Bioethics
Advisory Commission Report." November 13-15, 1998, Baltimore Marriott
Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland. For information, contact: Friends
Research Institute, Inc., 8706 Commerce Drive, Suite 1, Eaton, Maryland
21601; phone: 410-763-7620; fax: 410-763-9621; e-mail: info@gbhap.com.
American Society for Bioethics and Humanities
The first annual meeting of the American Society for Bioethics and
Humanities (ASBH) will be held from November 18-22 at the Westin
Galleria Hotel in Houston, Texas. Topics to be discussed include:
affirmative action in medical education; organizational ethics; the
humanities in medical education: past, present, future; philosophy of
medicine/theoretical medicine as a discipline; and research ethics.
Speakers include: Alto Charo, JD, University of Wisconsin; H.
Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine;
John Fletcher, PhD, University of Virginia; Stanley Hauerwas, PhD,
The Divinity School, Duke University; Perri Klass, MD, Boston Medical
Center; and John A. Robertson, PhD, University of Texas at Austin.
Cost of registration is $335.00 for members, $435.00 for nonmembers.
To register or for further details, contact: ASBH Conference, PO Box
5054, Des Plaines, IL 600167; phone: 847-375-4745; fax: 847-375-8345.
Call for Papers
The Association for Moral Education invites submissions for its
24th Annual International Conference, "Informal Influences on
Moral Development: Family, Faith, Media, and Community." The
conference will convene at
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New
Hampshire, November 19-21. It will be organized around four
informal moral influences: family, faith, media and community.
The three-day conference will consist of a series of workshops,
panels, poster sessions, paper presentations, and invited
speakers. Presented papers are likely to include such topics
as learning about justice through sharing in the family; the
role of early moral emotions in the development of the child;
parental authority and the rules of the family; culture, gender
and morality; the dynamics of the family and its social
significance for moral and religious development; religion,
morality, and ego development; children, media and commodity
culture; character, narrative and growth in Christian life;
and the role of service learning in the building of community.
For details on submissions and information on the conference,
contact Wendy Conquest, Conference Coordinator
Wendy.T.Conquest@Dartmouth.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 November 15th.