Bio-Pharmaceuticals for the 21st Century: Responsibility, Sustainability, and Public Trust (2005)

January 10, 2005 | Lincoln Center Campus

On January 10-11, 2005, the Center hosted “Bio-Pharmaceuticals for the 21st Century: Responsibility, Sustainability, and Public Trust,” a summit involving numerous stakeholders, including industry, government, consumers, public advocates, academic investigators, healthcare scholars, hospitals and other health service institutions and the public. The goals were to generate recommendations for a socially responsible and sustainable healthcare/research industry as well as to inform public understanding and policy on clinical trials registries. For more information, see the conference website.

Interdisciplinary Conference Speakers

Michael Gazzaniga
University of California, Santa Barbara

William F. May
President’s Council on Bioethics

Carol Levine
United Hospital Fund

Michael Place
Resurrection Health Care

Tsvi Blanchard
National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership

John Haas
National Catholic Bioethics Center

Charles Fahey
Fordham University

M. Therese Lysaught
University of Dayton

Nat Hentoff
Journalist

Robert Burt
Yale Law School

Kevin P. Quinn, SJ
Georgetown Law School

Last spring, the events surrounding the court decision to remove the feeding tube from Theresa Schiavo were the center of a national uproar, including interventions by Washington policy makers, round-the-clock vigils at her hospice, charges and counter-charges by family members and pundits, and contradictory assessments by medical experts, lawyers, and religious leaders.

The story has gone off the front pages, but many of the issues still need in-depth examination and analysis.

• Persistent vegetative state: What is it? What do we know about it? And with what certainty?
• What are the ethical implications of a drastically altered self?
• Withdrawing medically provided nutrition and hydration: The state of the moral question
• Our faiths and our families: Support and discord in end-of-life care
• The role of the state

Thoughtful representatives of different religious and ethical perspectives will explore the end-of-life questions raised during the Schiavo case. The discussion will not rehearse the case itself but explore the larger medical, ethical, religious, and policy issues involved in this kind of decision to withdraw medically provided nutrition.