Disaster Bioethics
http://www.brocher.ch/pages/sympvenir.asp
Recent disasters like flooding in Pakistan, the earthquake in Haiti and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami highlight the suffering and destructiveness of disasters. They expose human vulnerability and the limits of our capacity to cope. Responding to the the healthcare needs arising during disasters raises ethical issues. Both during the provision of healthcare, and in conducting research to guide such provision, bioethical issues arise which require careful consideration. Finding normative ways to respond when nothing is normal challenges the very nature of bioethics.
This Symposium will bring together a distinguished group of international experts to examine bioethics in the context of disasters. Please see the list of confirmed speakers to date, and the bioethical issues to be examined and discussed. One of the aims of the Symposium is to produce a set of ethical principles that will be offered to guide future practice and discussion of disaster bioethics.
Those who will find this symposium valuable include those providing healthcare during disasters, organising disaster relief, planning disaster preparedness, educators in emergency medicine and healthcare ethicists.
Registration is limited to 50 participants, so early registration is encouraged. Please complete the attached Registration Form and payment details before 11 March 2011. The Registration Form should be returned to the Brocher Foundation by mail, email or fax: Fondation Brocher, 471 Rte d”™Hermance, CP 70, 1248 Hermance, Switzerland; email: scientificprog@brocher.ch; fax: +41 22 751 93 91.
The symposium is being organized by Dónal O”™Mathúna, School of Nursing, Dublin City University, Ireland; Bert Gordijn, Institute of Ethics, Dublin City University; and Mike Clarke, UK Cochrane Centre, Oxford, UK. For further details on the Symposium see www.brocher.ch or contact Dónal O”™Mathúna at donal.omathuna@dcu.ie.
The organizers would like to thank the Brocher Foundation for funding the Symposium, and UK Porticus for funding additional travel expenses.
Monday April 4
08.30-09.00: Registration, Brocher Foundation, Hermance, Switzerland
09.00-09.15: Welcome and opening remarks
Dónal O”™Mathúna, Dublin City University, Ireland
Morning Session
09.15-09.45: Evidence and healthcare needs during disasters; Aasim Ahmad, Chairperson Bioethics Group, Aga Khan University and Chief Nephrologist, The Kidney Centre, Karachi, Pakistan
09.50-10.20: Setting disaster research priorities; Virginia Murray, Head of Extreme Events and Health Protection, Centre for Radiation, Chemicals and Environmental Hazards, UK Health Protection Agency, London, UK
10.25-11.00: Media coverage of disaster healthcare; Joseph Scanlon, Professor Emeritus, Emergency Communications Research Unit, Carleton University, Canada
11.00-11.15: Coffee
Late Morning Session
11.15-11.45: Micro-triage in the midst of disasters; Michael Barilan, MD, Tel Aviv University, Israel
11.50-12.20: When relief comes from a different culture; Athula Sumathipala, Senior Lecturer, King”™s College London and Director, Institute for Research & Development, Sri Lanka
12.25-13.00: Joseph Ochieng, Forum for Research Ethics in Uganda & Makerere Medical School, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
13.00-14.00: Lunch
Afternoon Session
14.00-14.30: Preparing and taking care of the carers; Herman Delooz, Professor Emeritus of Emergency Medicine, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
14.35-15.05: Caring for disaster researchers; Wolf Dombrowsky, Prof. dr., Steinbeis University, Berlin, Germany
15.05-15.35: Studying vulnerable populations in the context of enhanced vulnerability; Ruth Macklin, Professor of Bioethics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
15.35-15.50: Coffee
15.50-17.00: Round Table Discussion ““ Disaster Healthcare
Chair: Bert Gordijn, Dublin City University, Ireland
Evening: Symposium Dinner in Geneva
Tuesday April 5
Morning Session
09.00-09.30: Macro-triage in disaster planning; Henk ten Have, Director, Center for Healthcare Ethics, Duquesne University, USA
09.35-10.05: Research ethics governance in disaster situations; Doris Schopper, MD, DrPH, Chairperson, Ethics Review Board, Médicins Sans Frontières, Geneva, Switzerland
10.10-10.40: A Research Ethics Committee response to research during disasters: A South African perspective; Keymanthri Moodley, Head of Bioethics Unit, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
10.40-10.55: Coffee
Late Morning Session
10.55-11.25: Benefit and harm assessment in healthcare research and practice in disaster settings; Evelyne Shuster, PhD, Medical Ethicist, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, USA
11.30-12.00: Consent and respecting participants”™ rights in disaster research; George Annas, Professor of Health Law, Bioethics & Human Rights, Boston University, USA
12.05-12.35: Youping Li, Director of the Chinese Cochrane Centre and Chinese Evidence Based Medicine Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
12.40-13.30: Round Table Discussion ““ Disaster Research
Chair: Mike Clarke, UK Cochrane Centre, Oxford, UK
13.30-14.30: Lunch
14.30: Symposium closes
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