Bioethics colloquium held at Law School

The University's Association of Alumnae held its annual colloquium at the Law School Wednesday night to examine current issues in bioethics. The colloquium, divided into three seminars and a keynote address, featured prestigious doctors who led discussions in their fields of expertise. Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics Executive Director Sanford Schwartz said a trade-off exists between cost, quality and access to medical care. He said he does not take issue with the rising costs of medical assistance, but added that his profession should examine why costs are rising. "There is nothing right or wrong about [rising costs]," he said. Schwartz said technology, preventive care, population growth and the effects of growing malpractice suits have in part caused the medical cost increases. But he said the main culprit for expensive care is the system of salaries and profit which he derisively called "waste, greed and abuse." As part of the second seminar, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Pulmonary and Critical Care Units Chief John Hansen-Flaschen addressed how doctors' attitudes may be changing due to business and insurance pressures. In his presentation, Hansen-Flaschen questioned whether the Hippocratic tradition can remain pure and unadulterated even with the increased competition among insurance companies. He added that this competition often can compromise the Hippocratic oath. "Is this the time to set [the tradition] aside for the credo of business?" he asked the audience. "Doctors should be doctors and businessmen should be businessmen," he added. "[There should exist] respect between the two." The University's Center for Bioethics Director Arthur Caplan, in the final seminar, spoke on Oregon's passage of Proposition 16 which legalizes physician assisted suicide in that state. The proposition was passed during a referendum in Tuesday's general election and is the first such law ever approved in the world. Caplan, who is also the American Association of Bioethics president, said he expects Oregon's law to provoke a number of lawsuits very quickly that will determine the role of bioethics in the future. He then used role playing to further examine physician-assisted deaths. Each panel member representing either a doctor, hospital administrator, lawyer, or family member in a role play involving a terminally ill man. Caplan illustrated how bioethics affects each individual. The seminars were followed by a dinner and keynote address by Social Sciences Professor Renee Fox at the Faculty Club. She said in her address that bioethics is the study of the problems "scientific progress has left in its wake," including gene therapy, psychotropic drugs and human experimentation.