Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care

Bioethics Bulletin

Editor: Tim Madigan
NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS

May 1999
Volume Six, Number Five
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.

Upcoming Lectures

Saturday, May 1. SUNY-Buffalo Medical Alumni Association Spring Clinical Day. Women's Health Issues. 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM. This program will provide participating physicians with the latest, practical information about: 1. The identification and evaluation of genetic and other risk factors for breast and ovarian cancer in women; 2. Screening and diagnostic tools available for early detection; 3. The appropriate use of medical and surgical interventions for the management and cure of breast and ovarian cancer. Speakers include M. Steven Piver, MD; Stephen B. Edge, MD; Patricia Duffner, MD; and Ms. Betty Friedan, the famous author of The Feminine Mystique and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Cornell University. For details, call 898-3941.

Wednesday, May 26. Carl Elliott, Co-Director of Graduate Studies, Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota, will speak on "The Last Doctor: Notes on the End of Medicine." Noon - 1:00 PM, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, 3560 Bathhurst Street, 2nd Floor, Classrooms A, B and C, Toronto. Contact Leigh Turner for details: tel: 416-480-4099; e-mail: leigh.turner@sunnybrook.on.ca.

Friday, May 28. "DNA and Politics". Speaker: Dr. James D. Watson, President of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, and Nobel Laureate for the co-discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule. The Fifth Annual University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics Jus Lecture, in honor of Dr. Andrzej Jus. 2:00 - 3:00 PM, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Ben Sadowski Auditorium (600 University Avenue, 18th Floor). For more information, contact Margot Smith (e-mail: margot.smith@utoronto.ca); fax: 416-978-1911; tel: 416-978-0871.

Friday, June 4. Symposium: "Controversies in Medical Ethics: Jewish, Secular, and Legal Perspectives", 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, The Joseph E. and Minnie Wagman Centre, 55 Ameer Avenue, Toronto. The keynote lecture, "Jewish and Secular Perspectives on Dying, Death and Suicide" is by Dr. Paul Root Wolpe, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. For information, contact Lenora Winer, Education and Organizational Development Department, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, 3560 Bathurst Street, North York, Ontario M6A 2E1; tel: 416-785-2500, ext. 2365.

Rochester Bioethics Reading Group

A new Reading Group in Biomedical Ethics is starting in Rochester. The first meeting will be held on Thursday, April 15 at 5:00 PM, in the Seneca Room, Strong Memorial Hospital. Jeffrey Spike, PhD, will discuss the article "Experts in Ethics?" from the Nov/Dec 1998 Hastings Center Report, pages 6-8. Spike is Chair, Patient Care Ethics Committee and Director, Ethics Consultation Services at Strong Memorial Hospital. The second meeting of the Group will be on Thursday, May 13, same time and location. Laura Purdy, PhD, professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto's Centre for Bioethics, will discuss her article-in-progress, "The Case Against Xenotransplants." For copies of the papers, and/or for further information, please contact Tim Madigan at 424-3184; e-mail: timothymad@aol.com.

On Sunday, May 16, 1999 the Hospice Foundation of Western New York will hold its 3rd annual Hospice Buffalo Memorial Walk, at 11:00 AM at the Erie Basin Marina. To participate, call the Hospice Foundation at 686-8090. Registration fee is $5.00 per person up to May 9; from May 10-16, registration is $10.00 per person. For details, call 686-8259.

Conference at McMaster

The Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis and the Support Cancer Care Research Unit of McMaster University, and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Ontario are hosting the 12th annual CHEPA Conference, "Treatment Decision-Making in the Clinical Encounter" on May 19-21, 1999 at the Hamilton Convention Centre. The conference will explore the diagnostic and treatment decision-making process from a variety of conceptual frameworks, feature research evidence on various components of this process, and provide practical experiences from diverse perspectives. For more information, please contact Lynda Marsh (tel.: 905-525-9140, ext. 22135); fax: 905-546-5211; e-mail: marshl@fhs.mcmaster.

Conference on Ethical Boundaries in Cancer Genetics

Francis Colins, MD, PhD, Director of the National Center for Human Genome Research, will be the keynote speaker at the "Ethical Boundaries in Cancer Genetics" conference, May 26-29, 1999, hosted by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. This symposium on ethical and practical issues related to genetic screening for cancer susceptibility and potential therapeutic implications also features talks by Gina Kolata, Science Writer for the _New York Times_ and Peter Doherty, PhD, 1996 Nobel Prize Winner for Medicine. Registration fee for the symposium is $200.00, which includes all educational sessions, program materials, reception/dinner Wednesday and Thursday, lunch Thursday and Friday, continental breakfasts and breaks. For information, call Lin Ballew at901-495-2981; e-mail: lin.ballew@stjude.org; fax: 901-495-3103.

Call for Submissions

The Journal of Medical Humanities is now seeking manuscripts in Feminist and Cultural Studies that reflect its enlarged focus on multidisciplinary inquiry into medicine and health care. Articles may come from a wide variety of disciplines and interdisciplinary gender studies. Inquiries should be sent to: Brad Lewis, The Journal of Medical Humanities, University of Pittsburgh Cultural Studies Program, WPIC, 1835 Center Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219; e-mail: lewisbe@msx.upmc.edu.

Oxford Conference on Family Law

The International Society of Family Law will be holding a Regional Conference on August 27-30, 1999 at St. Anne's College, Oxford. Topics include: pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, genetic engineering, sex selection, cloning, assisted reproductive technology, embryo research and surrogacy, Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, family law and ethics, duties and responsibilities, international legal collaboration, and practical legal problems. For details, contact Ruth Deech, Convenor, St. Anne's College, Oxford University, Oxford, OX2 6HS, UK. Tel: +44=865-274-820; fax: +44-865-274-895; e-mail: sandra.madley@st-annes.ox.ac.uk.

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

The deadline for material for the next newsletter is May 15. Please send it to: timothymad@aol.com.; phone: 424-3184; fax: 271-8778.