Assisted suicide is a topic that continues to attract significant public interest. Oregon has become the first state to pass enabling legislation, affirmed in a public referendum, and the Supreme Court has issued two recent rulings in assisted suicide cases. Scholars and ethicists have weighed in on both sides of the issue, setting patients' right to self-determination against society's interest in preserving life. Many have argued that adequate care at the end of life -- improved pain and symptom control, stronger social supports for dying patients and their families and expanded access to palliative care -- would eliminate the "need" for assisted suicide.
This conference is not designed to present the pros and cons. Rather, it will explore the factors that may lead an individual to opt to end his or her life, examine public opinion about assisted suicide, consider ways to reduce the demand for assisted suicide and ponder the profound ethical challenges raised by the practice.
The conference will feature several prominent figures in the field. Kathleen Foley is probably the nation's premiere expert in symptom control at the end of life; Maxwell J. Mehlman is a leading authority in the law and economics of providing health care in America; Harvey Max Chochinov has done pioneering studies in psychiatric health in the dying; and Courtney Campbell is widely regarded as a leader in intellectual commentary on the hospice movement in the United States.
Conference organizer is Roger B. Dworkin, Robert H. McKinney Professor of Law and Nelson Poynter Scholar.
9:30 am Public Views of Concerns and Decisions at the End of Life: Early Results from a 1998 Nationwide Survey Bernice A. Pescosolido, Associate Professor of Sociology, Indiana University; and Davd Philllips, Professor of Sociology, University of California-San Diego
10:15 am Break
10:30 am Helping Each Other Out: The Limits of Love David H. Smith, Professor of Religious Studies and Director, Poynter Center, Indiana University
11:15 am Culture Wars and Hospice Integrity: Assisted Suicide in Oregon Courtney Campbell, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Oregon State University
Noon Lunch
1:30 pm Pain and Symptom Control in the Dying Patient: Science and Politics Kathleen Foley, Co-chair, Pain and Palliative Care Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
2:30 pm Break
2:45 pm The Stability of Requests for Assistance in Dying Harvey Max Chochinov, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Manitoba and Manitoba Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation
3:45 pm Dying to Save Money: Economic Motives for Assisted Suicide Maxwell J. Mehlman, Arthur J. Petersilge Professor, Director, Law-Medicine Center, Case Western Reserve University
4:45 pm Adjournment
All sessions will take place in the Moot Court Room, located on the first floor of the Indiana University School of Law, 211 South Indiana Avenue, Bloomington.
Location. Moot Court Room, Indiana University-Bloomington School of Law, 211 South Indiana Avenue.
Lunch. On your own. (A list of restaurants will be provided.)
Continuing Education Units. The Indiana Commission for Continuing Legal Education has certified this conference for 5.3 hours of CLE credit.
For more information. Judith A. Granbois, Poynter Center, Indiana University, Bloomington IN 47405; 812/855-0261; jgranboi@indiana.edu.
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