University at Buffalo

Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care

Bioethics Bulletin


Editor: Tim Madigan
NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS

January, 2000
Volume Seven, Number One
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*************

HAPPY NEW YEAR ! ! !

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

Friday, January 7, 2000, Patient Empowerment and Successful Aging. 8 9:15 am. Anderson Rm.. (G-8534) at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Drs. Paul Katz and Jurgis Karuza. Paul Katz, MD is Associate Professor of Medicine at the U of R. He is currently Medical Director at Monroe Community Hospital and Director of the Geriatric Fellowship at the U of R. Dr. Katz is Senior Editor for the Springer Series, Advanced in Long-Term Care as well as co-editor for Practice of Geriatrics and Psychiatry in the Nursing Home. Jurgis Karuza, PhD is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Medicine at the U of R School of Medicine, and is the Director of Evaluation and Research of the federally funded Finger Lakes Geriatric Education Center. He also holds academic appointments as Research Professor of Medicine at the University of Buffalo, and Professor of Psychology at the State University College at Buffalo. His funded and published research includes: patient empowerment and quality of life, changing practice patterns, and outcome-based evaluations of geriatric education. Dr. Karuza serves as a consultant to the Bureau of Health Professions on outcome-based evaluations and is involved as an investigator in the Health Care Finance Administration sponsored project, A Randomized Controlled Trial of Consumer Directed Care for People with Chronic Illnesses, awarded by ACCESS/Monroe County Long Term Care.

Wednesday, January 12 Interdisciplinary Clinical Ethics Rounds. Mindful Practice: Ethics in Primary Care, presented by Ronald M. Epstein, MD, Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Psychiatry. 12:00 noon 1:00 PM, K-307 (room 3-6408), University of Rochester Medical Center. Open to all. You are most welcome to bring your lunch.

Wednesday, January 12 In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the University of Rochester Medical Center and the 100th anniversary of the Rochester Academy of Medicine, the George Washington Corner Society presents a talk on Rochester Surgeons and Surgical Landmarks, by Seymour Schwartz, MD, Professor of Surgery. Rochester Academy of Medicine, 1441 East Avenue. 6:00 PM: Informal Gathering. 6:30 PM: Lecture. 7:30 PM: Dinner (reservations required). The informal gathering and talk are free and open to all no reservations required. To make dinner reservations, please contact Andrea Ehmann at 275-9781 and send your check ($27.00, $12.00 for students and their guests), made payable to The Corner Society, to her attention at the Division of Medical Humanities, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 676, Rochester, NY 14642. Dinner reservations must be received by Friday, January 7

Thursday, January 13. "Hot Topics in Critical Care Medicine." 3:30 PM - 6:00 PM, Buffalo Marriott Hotel, 1340 Millersport Highway, Amherst. Faculty: M. Jeffrey Mador, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, SUNY-Buffalo; Sanjay Sethi, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, SUNY-Buffalo; Brydon J. B. Grant, MD, Professor of Medicine & Physiology, SUNY-Buffalo; Alfred Connors, Jr, MD, Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Virginia. For further information, contact Marie Wysocki at 898-3941; fax: 898-3279.

Thursday, January 13 - Rochester Bioethics Reading Group Meeting. 6:00 PM, Kissell Portrait Lounge, Colgate Rochester Divinity School, 1100 South Goodman Street. Dr. Sherrie Lyons will discuss the paper "Morals,Metaphysics, and Heart Transplantation: Reflections on Richard Selzer's Wither Thou Goest, from the Winter 1998 Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. If you would like a copy of the paper, please contact Tim Madigan at 424-3184 or . Each meeting averages about 8-10 participants, and any one interested in bioethics is invited to attend. Pizza and soft drinks are served.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 29 - COMMUNITY INVITED TO CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF DR. GEORGE ENGEL.
Friends and colleagues from across the country will congregate in Rochester to celebrate the life of George L. Engel, MD, at a Memorial Service on Saturday, January 29th. The community is also invited to attend the service to be held at 3 pm at the University of Rochester Interfaith Chapel on Wilson Boulevard, followed by a reception in the River room of the Chapel. Dr. Engel, who died Friday, November 26th at the age of 85, is widely known for bringing about a dramatic change in how doctors interact with their patients.

Dr. Engel joined the U of R in 1946 where he pioneered a model that stressed treating patients instead of just their diseases. His idea was called the biopsychosocial model. His work helped turn the attention of healthcare toward understanding how patients backgrounds and lifestyles could affect their health. In 1977 Dr. Engel published an article in Science where he detailed his concept of the biopsychosocial model and challenged the traditional biomedical model by pointing out the traditional model leaves no room within its framework for the social, psychological, and behavioral dimensions of illness. His influence extends far beyond Rochester, said Dr. Edward Hundert, URs Senior Associate Dean for medical education. Today the goal of almost every medical school is to train doctors to use the biopsychosocial model. Dr. Engel received the Albert Kaiser Medal from the Rochester Academy of Medicine, a medal on which was inscribed Physician, psychiatrist, teacher and clinical scientist, he is foremost in his time in bringing together psychiatry and medicine. For more information, contact Kristen Wondrack at the U of R at 275-3676

PLEASE NOTE: Anyone knowing of residents and fellows who trained with Dr. Engel and who now live out of the Rochester area, please pass this information on to them. We would greatly appreciate your help.

June 3-8 - The American Academy on Physician and Patient (AAPP) National Interviewing Course in Rochester will focus on Improving Communication at the End of Life. The course brochure and application are available on the AAPP web site at: www.physicianpatient.org For local information, contact: maria.milella@viahealth.org

Dartmouth Institute

The Ethics Institute at Dartmouth College will offer a two-week Faculty Summer Institute (mid to late June) on the ethical, legal, and social implications of the Human Genome Project. Applications are being solicited from two-person interdisciplinary teams and individual faculty. For information, contact Barbara Hillinger at: 603-646-1263; fax: 603-646-2652; e-mail: barbara.hillinger@dartmouth.edu. This program is pending final approval from the National Institutes of Health.

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 January 15. Please send it to: timothymad@aol.com.; phone: 424-3184; fax: 271-8778.