University at Buffalo

Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care

Bioethics Bulletin


Editor: Tim Madigan
NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS

June 1999
Volume Six, Number Six
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: 862-6563 FAX: 862-5649 or 862-8533
Website: http://wings.buffalo.edu/faculty/research/bioethics/
Send E-mail to: Wear@acsu.buffalo.edu.
**********NOTE NEW PHONE AND FAX NUMBERS*************

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 Committee

Friday, June 11. 7:30 AM -12:30 PM, UB South Campus. "Ethical Issues in Non-Heart-Beating Organ Transplantation." Speakers: Stuart J. Youngner, MD and Jeffrey Spike, PhD. This conference is particularly important to area ethics committee members, as the Community Affairs Committee has been reviewing proposals for policies to implement non-heart-beating organ transplantation. More information will soon be available on other speakers, schedules, and breakout groups. For details, contact Jack Freer at 871-1571, or: jfreer@acsu.buffalo.edu. Look for updated information at: http://wings.buffalo.edu/faculty/research/bioethics/nhbd.html. This conference has been made possible with support from KALEIDA Health Department of Clinical Education, and Upstate New York Transplant Services.

Upcoming Lectures

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.

Thursday, June 10. City-Wide Grand Rounds, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, SUNY-Buffalo. 3:30 PM, Buffalo Marriott Hotel, 1340 Millersport Highway, Amherst. Speakers: Gerald Logue, MD, Professor of Medicine; Richard Sarkin, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics; Alan Saltzman, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine; Murray Ettinger, PhD, Distinguished Teaching Professor of Biochemistry; Richard Schifeling, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine; Diane Schwartz, MLS, Research Associate Professor of Medicine and Family Medicine; Timothy Gabriel, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine. Topics: "Can Evaluating Medical Learners be Made Easy and Fun?", "Problem-Based Learning: An Alternative to Didactic Methods", "Feedback to the Resident", and "Teaching in the Ambulatory Setting." Please RSVP to: Marie Wysocki, phone: 898-3941; fax: 898-3279.

Wednesday, June 16. "The Fiercely Independent-Dependent Patient." A physician and social worker confront ethical issues when patient refuses assistance and family caregiver wants physician to order assistance for protection of the patient. Kenmore Mercy Ethics Educational Session, 8:00 AM. Community Room-Kenmore Mercy Hospital, 2950 Elmwood Avenue, Kenmore.

Glenn McGee, bioethics and philosophy professor from the University of Pennsylvania, will be the guest on the "Oprah Winfrey Show", airing on Tuesday, June 1st in most major markets. Lori Andrews of Chicago-Kent School of Law will also be a participant in the discussion of the relationship between social and personal practices, culture, and medicine in the area of infertility. For further details, contact Glenn McGee at: mcgee@mail.med.upenn.edu.

Rochester Biomedical Ethics Reading Group

A new Reading Group in Biomedical Ethics is starting in Rochester. The third meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 16 at 5:00 PM, at Strong Memorial Hospital, Old Faxon Room. Timothy Madigan, editor of "The Bioethics Bulletin", will discuss the article "The Bioethics Committee: A Consensus-Recommendation Model" by Kelly A. Parker, taken from the 1999 book Pragmatic Bioethics (Vanderbilt Press). For copies of the papers, and/or for further information, please contact Tim Madigan at 424-3184; e-mail: timothymad@aol.com.

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.

Stephen Wear: "Enhancing Clinician Provision of Informed Consent and Counseling: Some Pedagogical Strategies", Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Vol. 24, No. 1 (1999), pp. 34-42. This article is part of a section that includes a case presentation, and commentaries on the case by Edmund Erde and Howard Brody, as well as Wear.

David Nyberg, professor of education at SUNY-Buffalo, will present a paper on "An Aptitude for Empathy: Moral Philosophy and the Scientific Basis of Medical Practice", at the Fifth International Conference on Philosophy in Practice, Wadham College, Oxford University, July 27-30.

Comments and Suggestions

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