The Ethics of Bioethics

The American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities, and Albany Medical College, of Union University, and Union's Graduate College and Union College are jointly sponsoring this conference that deals with the issue that comes up over and over in this blog: What is the difference between ethical and unethical bioethics? Are bioethicists (whatever that means) supposed to be ethical people, and if so what does that mean? For example, bioethicists support their work with funds from all sorts of sources: universities built with tobacco money, federal grant money and foundation money that is heavily laden with government philosophy, and, yes, from companies, including pharmaceutical companies.

If you believe some critics of bioethics, most notably Carl Elliott of Minnesota, being remotely close to at least one of these sources, big pharma, is an unforgivable sin. If you believe the most aggressive defenders of working with and for companies, it is thickheaded to turn down corporate research in bioethics out of repugnance while you seek a tenured guarantee of a salary (from a health system) funded largely by corporations. And then there is the matter of bioethicists and politics: Howard Dean has a bioethicist, and some (including me) say that the President's Council was used as a political tool in the last election. Bioethicists campaigned for Proposition 71.

Bioethicists have been sniping, arguing, and posturing about these issues, and there has been some real struggle to figure them out.

Finally there will be a big pow-wow - a major conference about bioethics' "big sins," including the worst mistakes made by bioethicists and some of the strategic errors made by bioethics centers. But the big goal for this meeting isn't to identify those mistakes, but to avoid new ones - it is maybe the most important issue in bioethics' recent history. The conference will attract a whole lot of scrutiny by the media and by bioethics' critics - will be setting standards for ethical conduct by bioethicists. There will be fireworks and there will be good intentions, and with any luck there will be progress. Save the dates: April 7-9. If you want to speak, there is an [PDF] invitation to you to make a 250 word proposal. Hope to see you in the NY capital in the spring! - gm (soon to be of AMC myself)

Happy Birthday to Us

We're two months old today. Thanks to more than 24,000 visitors who've read 146 posts. Thanks to guest bloggers Art Caplan and Dominic Sisti. Thanks to John Kwon for building the link to AJOB's news function, and to more than a dozen reporters who offered great advice, especially our friends at Wall Street Journal. Thanks to more than a dozen blogs who've linked to us, and to the readers who nominated us for seven different Best of the Blogs, EDUblog, and Best Medical Blog awards. And thanks to a couple of dozen moms, high school teachers and casual surfers who've written comments, including really nice cheerleading comments, so far. Thanks to those who have pilfered this stuff for the bioethics listservs and for newspaper and newsletter stories. I said we'd try this experiment for 60 days, the idea of a journal's editors doing a blog is pretty odd after all. I'm ready to say that if not yet successful this is at least worth extending for another four months. After that we'll see. For now look for more guests and an 'alert network' that will feed us (and you) news. And there is a pretty good chance we'll be acquired by a prominent blogging company with whom we're in negotiations, if I can only get them to agree to pay for my kids' college education, or at least more than a cup of coffee. Oh yeah and speaking of that, your clicks on sponsor ads have raised almost $6 for our non-profit bioethics education group, which will go a long way toward buying coffee for a couple of students at ASBH! - GM

Bioethics in Philadelphia? Let's Cover Australia Instead!

There hasn't been a single major media story about the major presentations at the annual meetings of the American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities in Philadelphia just before the election. The media missed a session in which members of the CDC panel on vaccines discussed strategy. They missed the major session on Leon Kass. They missed major sessions on neuroenhancement. The ASBH conference was in Philadelphia, where many mass media are either based or can uplink, or can get to by train in 45 minutes. Actually, the point doesn't really require argumentation; you won't find anybody in bioethics who doubts that media can and do get to Philadelphia every week. Just not to the ASBH, just days before an election that hung in large part on social issues like abortion and stem cells.

But the media is in Australia. There, at the World Congress of Bioethics, even single papers like this one on face transplantation, and this one on deafness genetic testing are getting major coverage. The EU draft consensus document on stem cell research finalized by John Harris received coverage around the world. Yes these are important documents and it is good that the world is covering these meetings, sponsored by the International Association of Bioethics. Where were the media a couple of weeks ago? Sydney beats the heck out of Philadelphia, granted, but somebody at ASBH must be scratching his head ... or perhaps the winds have begun to fade IAB as the primary public bioethics group?

Proposed Protest at ASBH Against Kass

From MCW Today a Proposal to Protest Leon Kass, which comes right on the heels of an international media conversation about how the President is misusing bioethics, an argument made in nature. The protest idea is from Rosamond Rhodes:

Dear ALL,

When ASBH first announced the inclusion of Leon Kass and Francis Fukuyama on the meeting program, I privately voiced my objections. Nevertheless, their spot on the program remained and the ASBH website promotes it as "A notable two-hour Keynote session."

I had considered boycotting the session. I have decided that an invisible protest might allow me the illusion of clean hands, but as a bioethicist I have a moral responsibility to do more.

Professional meetings are usually inappropriate venues fr political action. Yet, the inclusion of the Chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, on the ASBH program Thursday, 1:15-3:15, is political. I shall be protesting Kass & Fukuyama's positions, actions, and inclusion on the program with silence (NO APPLAUSE). Protest signs (my favorite so far is "SAVE LIVES, CLONE STEM CELLS.") or leaving in the middle of the speech are other possibilities. I invite you to share your ideas in this forum as well.

Yours, Rosamond Rhodes

Rhodes' is accessible by email at Rosamond.Rhodes@mssm.edu. Alex Capron and others have argued that a protest would be inappropriate or unseemly. McGee has replied that a protest is right on target and on time.

Updated: Leon Kass on Playing Politics?

Playing Politics With the Sick is the title of Leon Kass' editorial concerning politics and stem cells. Given the title of his Op Ed, it is particularly interesting that he does not distance himself or recuse himself from his official political role or from the opinions of other members of the Presidential Bioethics Council. In fact his affiliation in the piece is listed as chairman of the President's Council of Bioethics. Kass is speaking at ASBH this month; it will be interesting to see if that is raised. Is it a problem?? UPDATE: Chris Mooney argues that Kass' use of science in the editorial is ironic and incredibly misleading.

Wynia New ASBH President

The votes are tabulated and informed minds tell us that Matthew Wynia MD PhD, Director of the Institute for Ethics at the American Medical Association and assistant professor of medicine at Chicago, has been elected President of the American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities.