Medical Ethics Division News
September 2008
Dr. Fins spoke as an inaugural plenary lecturer at the new Canadian National Core for Neuroethics in Vancouver, British Columbia on September 11, 2008. The topic of his discourse was, "Canadian Origins of Neuroethics: Historic Contributions of Drs. William Osler and Wilder Penfield." A webcast of his remarks can be accessed at: http://www.neuroethics.ubc.ca/
Dr. Fins aslo serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board to the National Core for Neuroethics.
On September 16, 2008, Dr. Fins lectured at the Medical College of Wisconsin on neuroethics and severe brain injury. Later he was an invited speaker at the Milwaukee Academy of Medicine where he spoke on "The Minimally Conscious State: Ethical and Policy Implications."
On September 25th, Dr. Fins gave a public lecture as part of Dalhousie University's Novel Tech Ethics Colloquium entitled, "Lessons from the Injured Brain: Bioethics meets Neuroscience." His talk was covered in the Halifax Chronicle Herald: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/1080758.html
During his visit to Nova Scotia, Dr. Fins participated in an invitation only meeting as part of the Dalhousie Intellectual Commons delivering a talk entitled, ""Ethical Challenges with the Expanding Use of DBS: How Far, How Fast?"
Researchers in the Division of Medical Ethics have published a paper on ethics consultation and quality of care. The paper, "Clinical Ethics and the Quality Initiative: A Pilot Study for the Empirical Evaluation of Ethics Case Consultation," was authored by Elizabeth Nilson, M.D., Cathleen Acres, RN, MA, Naomi Tamerin, M.D., and Joseph J. Fins, M.D. and appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Medical Quality.
Dr. Fins has published a paper in the current issue of the Hastings Center Report entitled, "Web of Care: How will the Electronic Medical Record Change Medicine?"
Dr. Fins was named to the National Advisory Group, Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at The State University New York Stony Brook this September.
Pablo Rodríguez del Pozo, M.D., Ph.D., J.D., discussed Leon Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilich in a medical ethics class he teaches to students at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. The novel describes the experience of terminal illness and death from the point of view of the patient. An article about his lesson appeared in Spain's leading medical newspaper, Diario Medico, on September 18, 2008.
