Center Events - Medical Ethics Conference
Medical Ethics Conference
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lmost one hundred doctors, nurses, medical students, medical ethicists, and Notre Dame undergraduates came together for the 28th annual Notre Dame Medical Ethics Conference, sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Culture and the Notre Dame Alumni Association. The conference is designed to serve current and future medical professionals, providing them with an opportunity to join others in their field and reflect thoughtfully on the complex ethical issues that arise in medicine. Among medical ethics conferences, Notre Dame’s is distinctive in placing emphasis on smallgroup discussions of physician-submitted cases and in encouraging theologically informed conversation. In the conference’s first session, “The Perils of Prognosis,” attendees explored the delicate issues surrounding genetic sequencing for babies in utero, as well as other situations in which doctors must decide whether to share sensitive information with their patients. On Friday evening, we held our annual
Philip and Doris Clarke Family Lecture in Medical Ethics, a lecture open not only to conference attendees but also to the Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s, and greater South Bend communities. We were delighted to welcome Dr. Elvira Parravicini of Columbia University Medical School to deliver this year’s lecture. Dr. Parravicini’s principal area of research is neonatology, and she developed the first neonatal hospice at Columbia University in New York. In “Life and the Need for Happiness,” she focused on methods of caring for seriously ill children and their parents. Conference attendees were impressed and touched by Dr. Parravicini’s earnestness and her tireless dedication to her patients and their families. (Dr. Parravacini’s lecture is available on our Vimeo page and through our website, ethicscenter.nd.edu.) Saturday was a full and exciting day for everyone participating in the conference. Attendees met in small groups to discuss the issues surrounding informed consent in our third session, and our fourth session focused on physician-assisted suicide. In
our fifth session, the participants reflected on the business side of medical practice. Our final Saturday session posed a tough decision for participants, who had to choose from three interesting and timely breakout panel discussions. Some participants reflected on the responsibilities of ethicists; others joined in a discussion on the effect of hospice programs on hospital costs. Finally, some of us worked through challenging issues involved in moral probity. We wrapped up our conference with a discussion of the future of bioethics, led by Professor David Solomon. We focused, in part, on the future of our medical ethics conference and the direction that participants would like to see it take. There was strong support for the continuation of the conference, and many kind words and gracious offers of assistance were given by the participants. Please contact us at ndethics@nd.edu if you have any questions, and visit ethicscenter.nd.edu for the latest news on the upcoming conference.
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ethics & culture
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