THE SOUL OF BIOETHICS (May 15, 2003) Edited by H.R. Moody - Varieties of Wounding Experience - Ethics and Aging Curriculum - Improving Informed Consent - Tired of Life? - The Latest on Bioethics - Experiencing the Soul - Prolongevity - Books of Interest - Coming Events ====================================================== VARIETIES OF WOUNDING EXPERIENCE by Jeremy Biles "Even a cursory reading of the day's news will turn up frequent references to wounds. Whether they occur in military combat, in nightclub disasters, or on city streets, wounds are sites of heightened interest, and too often the visible reminders of unwilled and incomprehensible misfortune. To be sure, the impending war only promises to add to those wounds that command our attention, even while evading our understanding... In his canonical study, The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James suggests that the observation of pathologically extreme cases of religious sentiment, by virtue of their exaggerated features, yield the most important insights into the psychology of religious life... Would James have us accede to a passion that would threaten to overwhelm us, to exert a will to vulnerability -- a will to see that which would most wound us? The price of this compassion is high, and its attainment perhaps impossible. But it is this compassionate attention which Simone Weil, that brilliantly sick soul, spoke of when she referred to "the vulnerability of precious things." Opening her eyes onto the wounds of her fellow humans, Weil understood that it was precisely their vulnerability which made them precious, and that only an impassioned will to vulnerability could provide an adequate response to what she saw, even to the point of blindness." (Jeremy Biles is a Ph.D. candidate in Religion and Literature at the University of Chicago Divinity School. The full text of this article appears in SIGHTINGS published by the Martin Marty Center at: http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/) ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------- ETHICS AND AGING CURRICULUM A course outline on "Aging and Ethical Issues" at the University of Vermont (Fall, 2002) is available at: http://www.uvm.edu/~scutler/soc222/?Page=outline.html For an excellent bibliography and reading list, see: http://www.uvm.edu/~scutler/soc222/?Page=ethics.html ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------- IMPROVING INFORMED CONSENT "Giving seriously ill patients or their family members a 'universal consent form' as soon as they get to the intensive care unit can help ensure that patients get certain treatments if they want them -- or refuse them if they don't, a new study finds." (Reuters) For details, see the article in JAMA, "Improving the Process of Informed Consent in the Critically Ill" http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/289/15/1963 ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------- TIRED OF LIFE? What counts as a good reason for refusing life-sustaining treatment or a more active termination of life? Opinions differ, but for an interesting perspective see "Being 'tired of life' is not grounds for euthanasia," by Tony Sheldon (British Medical Journal News, Vol. 326, No. 7380, Jan. 11, 2003) available at: http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7380/71/b?etoc ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------- THE LATEST ON BIOETHICS Want the latest on bioethics? Sign up for BIOETHICS NET: The American Journal of Bioethicsonline (no charge). It's a weekly compendium of fast-breaking stories. Visit them at: http://bioethics.net/news.php ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------- EXPERIENCING THE SOUL "Experiencing the Soul" from Aquarius Health Care Videos is a video series serving both as a training tool and as a resource for patients. The tapes feature interviews with the Dalai Lama, Stephen Levine, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and many others. The series is produced by Eliot Jay Rosen, an experienced hospice social worker and author of the Los Angeles Times best-selling companion book, EXPERIENCING THE SOUL. Titles in this four-part series include: "At the Moment of Death," "After Death," "Preparing for a Healing Passage," and "During Life." For more information, call toll-free at 1-888-440-2963 or visit the website at http://www.aquariusproductions.com/ To read excerpts from the book on EXPERIENCING THE SOUL visit: http://www.naturalusa.com/fawwcf/soul.html ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------- SUMMER SEMINAR: PROLONGEVITY "Mortal Beings/Immortal Dreams: Dancing Around the Fountain of Youth" is the theme of this year's Summer Seminar (Aug. 2-7, 2003) at Hiram College in Ohio. Some questions to be considered: -What forces and values are driving the anti-aging movement? -What are the ethical, social, economic, environmental, and health care issues related to this movement? -What does literature tell us about characters who live for centuries or about those who extend lives indefinitely through technology? Presenters include Thomas Cole, Robert Binstock, Stephen Post, Peter Whitehouse, and others. Seminar Coordinators are Carol Donley and Martin Kohn. For more details contact Carol Donley at: donleycc@hiram.edu or (330) 569-5380 or visit: http://home.hiram.edu/www/litmed/ For more on the ethics of prolongevity, visit: http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030307/05/ ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------- BOOKS OF INTEREST CHRONIC PAIN: Biomedical and Spiritual Approaches, by Harold Koenig (Haworth Press, 2003). BETTER THAN WELL: American Medicine Meets the American Dream, by Carl Elliott, MD, Ph.D. (Norton, 2003). See also Carl Elliott's earlier book A PHILOSOPHICAL DISEASE: Bioethics, Culture and Identity (Routledge, 1999). DYING SOUL: Spiritual Care at the End of Life, by Mark Cobb (Open University Press, Buckingham, England, 2001). EUTHANASIA, ETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY: An Argument Against Legalisation, by John Keown (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002). ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------- COMING EVENTS WEB SEMINAR ON END-OF-LIFE CARE. This month, in a new collaboration, the American Society on Aging and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization are collaborating with Last Acts to offer a web seminar series is available titled, "End of Life Concerns and Care." The series focuses on key areas of concern to professionals involved with aging, palliative care and hospice, such as decision-making and communication, pain and symptom management, and coping with the losses of aging. For details, visit: http://www.asaging.org/webseminars/websem.cfm?EventID=5399 ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE (May 21, 2003, New York, NY) Sponsored by the Jewish Home & Hospital. Featuring Stephen Post, Sue Levkoff, Howard Fillit, and others. For more information, visit: http://www.jewishhome.org/script.asp?SubCatID=91 GRIEF: "International Death, Grief and Bereavement Conference." (May 25-28, 2003, La Crosse, WI). University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Sessions include "Aging and loss - bereavement, misdiagnosis, problems, opportunities"; "When God dies too, is there hope in the valley of the dry bones?"; "Where have we come from? Where will we go from here? - Thirty years of death education in schools." For details, visit: http://www.uwlax.edu/conted or call (608) 785-6504. RESEARCH ETHICS: "How Bioethics Could Lead to Better Human Research" (May 26-30, 2003, Madrid, Spain). Arthur Caplan and Prof. Diego Garcia, Co-Directors. Covers Ethics of Biomedical Human from American and European Perspectives, including topics such as Gene Therapy & Enhancement; Cloning & Stem Cells Research; and Clinical innovation or human experimentation. For more information, call the Penn Center for Bioethics at (215) 898-7136 or visit: http://www.med.upenn.edu/bioethic/events/humanresearch/ ALTRUISM CONFERENCE: "Works of Love: An International, Interfaith, and Interdisciplinary Conference." (Philadelphia, May 31-June 5, 2003). For details, visit: www.metanexus.net/conference2003 KENNEDY INSTITUTE. (Washington, DC, June 3-8, 2003). Intensive Bioethics Course at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Now in its 29th year, this program explores theoretical framework and practical issues of bioethics over 5 days. See the website at: http://www.georgetown.edu/research/kie for additional information and list of speakers and topics, or call (202) 687-8099 for registration information. "HEALING HANDS, HEALING SPIRITS: Summer Geriatric Institute" (June 4-6, 2003, St. Louis, MO). Saint Louis University. Includes workshops on spirituality and faith perspectives. For details, email: agingsuccess@slu.edu DEATH AND DYING: "Sacred Passage: Caring for the Dying, Caring for Ourselves" (June 16-20, 2003, Rhinebeck, NY). Omega Institute for Holistic Health. Workshop led by Margaret Coberly, Ph.D., R.N. For information, visit: http://www.eomega.org or call (800) 944-1001 ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------- "What I fear is not death but illness-- the paralysis following stroke, the agony of cancer, the long weariness of waiting and being cared for while deteriorating mentally and physically." Elizabeth Vining BEING SEVENTY ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------- ETHICS IN AN AGING SOCIETY (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1992, paperback, 1995). The first single author monograph on bioethics and aging, including coverage of issues of rational suicide, Alzheimer's Disease, autonomy in long term care and justice between generations. Application of the Critical Theory of Jurgen Habermas to applied ethics. For details on the book, visit: http://www.press.jhu.edu/press/books/titles/s96/s96moet.htm xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx This electronic newsletter, edited by Harry (Rick) Moody, is published by the Institute for Human Values in Aging with the support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. To submit items of interest or request subscription changes, contact hrmoody@yahoo.com For additional information, visit http://www.hrmoody.com (c) Copyright 2003; all rights reserved. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx