17th annual medical ethics conference to focus on global and personal issues

17th annual medical ethics conference to focus on global and personal issues

Two-day conference honors Dorothy MacLean, Irving Harris

October 26, 2005

The MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago will host its 17th annual conference on clinical medical ethics and patient care on November 11 to 12, 2005.

The first day of the conference will focus on global bioethics and will feature talks on ethical concerns in Africa and India by: Jonathan F. Fanton, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Amy Pollack, of Columbia University; and Prasanna Hota, secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India. This session, from 1:30 to 7:00 p,m., on Friday, November 11, 2005, will take place at the University's Quadrangle Club, 1155 E. 57th Street.

Day two will focus on pediatric research, end-of-life care, and the use of data to develop ethical policies. Invited speakers Charles Bosk, from the University of Pennsylvania, and John Wennberg, from Dartmouth, will be joined by more than 20 former fellows who studied medical ethics at the MacLean Center and return each year to share current projects. This session takes place Saturday, November 12, 2005 at the University of Chicago Hospitals, 5812 S. Ellis Ave., room P117.

The Center's aim is to foster a network of clinical scholars worldwide who use clinical ethics to improve the quality of patient care and patient outcomes. This year's conference remembers benefactors Dorothy Jean MacLean, who helped found the Center and was deeply committed to its work, and Irving Harris, who was dedicated to developing effective public policy informed by ethics.

Schedule: The 17th Annual Dorothy J. MacLean Fellows Conference

Global Bioethics: Friday, November 11, 2005, The Quadrangle Club, 1155 E. 57th Street

1:30 to1:40--Welcome and Introduction
Mark Siegler, Director, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics--Clinical Ethics: A Practical Approach to Ethical Decisions in Clinical Medicine

1:40 to 2:15--Keynote Address
Jonathon F. Fanton, President, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation--MacArthur's International Philanthropy: A Case Study from Nigeria

2:20 to 4:30--Global Bioethics Panel
Chair, Peter A. Singer, University of Toronto--Genomics and Global Health
2:40--Amy Pollack, Columbia University--Health Equity: A Case Study from Africa
3:00--Arti Rai, Duke University--The Role of Universities in Global Health
3:20--Matt Wynia, American Medical Association--Tsunami Aid: Lessons from America's First Combined Military-Civilian Humanitarian Relief Operation
3:40--Prasanna Hota, Government of India--Ethical Issues Facing the Indian Health System
4:00--Panel Discussion

4:30 to 5:30--Special Session
Ellen Fox, Department of Veterans Affairs--A New National Initiative to Improve Ethics Quality in Health Care

Clinical Ethics: Saturday, November 12, 2005, University of Chicago Hospitals, 5812 S. Ellis Avnue, room P117

8:10 to 8:15--Speaker Introduction
John Lantos, University of Chicago

8:15 to 9:10--Keynote Address
Charles Bosk, University of Pennsylvania--Round Pegs and Square Holes: System Error and Professional Responsibility

9:15 to 10:45--Panel: Research in Children
Chair: Rick Kodish, Cleveland Clinic--Ethics and Research with Children: A Case-Based Approach
9:30--Lainie Ross, University of Chicago--Children (and Women) First: Applicable to Lifeboats? Applicable to Human Experimentation?
9:45--Erin Flanagan-Klygis, Rush Medical College--The Dilemma of Innovation in Pediatrics: The Gray Zone Between Therapy and Research
10:00--John Lantos, University of Chicago--Bioethics Meets the Barrio: Protecting Research Subjects in Community-Based Research
10:15--Panel Discussion

11:00 to 12:30--Panel: Improvements and Tensions in End of Life Care Including Lessons from Oregon
Chair: Susan Tolle, Oregon Health & Science University--Pain Management in Oregon in the Shadow of the Supreme Court
11:15--Jack Wennberg, Dartmouth College--Hospital Specific Data for Intensity of Care at the End of Life
11:30--Bill Meadow, University of Chicago--The Dismal Predictivity of Intuitions in the Adult ICU
11:45--Josh Hauser, Northwestern University--Caring Together: A Qualitative Study of the Challenges and Rewards of Family Caregiving in Palliative Care
12:00--Rachelle Bernacki, University of Chicago--Variation and Predictors of Code Status Documentation Among Six Academic Medical Centers
12:15--Panel Discussion

12:30 to 1:30--Lunch, Room P117

1:30 to 3:00--Panel: Ethics, Health Services Research and Public Policy
Chair: Jack Wennberg, Dartmouth College--Shared Decision Making as a Standard of Practice: Are We Near the Tipping Point?
1:45--Caleb Alexander, University of Chicago--Moving from DEscriptive to PREscriptive... and Back Again?
2:00--Peter Ubel, University of Michigan--Experience is Overrated: Deciding Whether the Goal of Health is to Maximize Happiness or Function
2:15--Elbert Huang, University of Chicago--The Role of Patient Preferences in Shaping the Value of Health Care Technologies: The Example of Diabetes Care
2:30--Farr Curlin, University of Chicago--An Honored and Unpretentious Servant: The Proper Relation of Empirical Research to Moral Deliberation
2:45--Panel Discussion

3:15 to 5:30 Short Presentations
Chair: Mark Siegler, University of Chicago--Clinical Ethics: A Practical Approach to Ethical Decisions in Clinical Medicine
3:15--Paul Helft, Indiana University--Cancer Patients' Attitudes Towards Future Research Uses of Stored Tissue: Results of a Mail Survey Study
3:30--Joel Howell, University of Michigan--J. Marion Sims and the Ethics of Human Experimentation
3:45--Gretchen Schwarze, University of Wisconsin--Is a Little Bit of Optimism a Bad Thing? Patient and Physician Perspectives on Infrainguinal Bypass Surgery
4:00--Veronique Fournier, Cochin Hospital, Paris--The Clinical Ethics Program at Cochin Hospital in Paris: A Three-Year Review and Comparison
4:15- Ken Iserson, University of Arizona--Emergency Department and Trauma Triage: Is it Ethical?
4:30--Jay Jacobson, University of Utah--Professors, Prescriptions, and Power: Lessons from the Ivory Tower and the Zoo
4:45--John Paris, Boston College--Sun Hudson versus Texas Children's Hospital and Barbara Howe versus MCH: Two Approaches to Handling "Futility" Cases
5:00--Angela Bradbury, University of Chicago--Parental Disclosure of BRCA Test Results in Children
5:15--Panel Discussion

For more information, or to register, contact Alix Weisfeld at (773) 834-0804 or aweisfeld@uchicago.edu.