Wednesday 25 April 2007

1st Annual Conference of the Plymouth Health Care Clinical Ethics Group
entitled

 ‘Whose choice? Whose decision?
Clinical Ethics in Everyday Practice’

The Plymouth Health Care Community is hosting a regional ethics conference at St Cuthbert’s Conference Centre, Buckfast Abbey on Tuesday, 15th May 2007 starting at 9am. The organisers have been successful in attracting Dr Fleur Fisher to the Southwest as the conference keynote speaker. At one time, Dr Fisher was Head of Science, Ethics and Information at the British Medical Association, and she will speak to the provocative title, ‘Whose life is it anyway?

Other speakers will be
• Dr Peter Rowe, Consultant Nephrologist: ‘Whose right to choose? Consent for Organ and Tissue Donation after the Human Tissue Act 2004
• George Giarchi, Professor in Social Care: ‘Euthanasia by stealth’
• Chris Ferguson, Nurse and PhD student: Not just a Science but also an Art’ and
• John Harrison, the Plymouth Primary Care Trust’s Director of Commissioning: ‘Efficient use of resources: does this mean rationing?’

In the afternoon, there will be a series of workshops during which conference delegates will have the opportunity to debate those important ethical issues impacting on health care in the 21st century. Tony Kyriakides-Yeldham, speaking for the Conference Organisers, says: Increasingly, medicine has becoming a complex and contentious part of everyday life with ethical decision making never providing easy and straightforward options. This conference, the first of its kind in the region, will provide health care practitioners and consumers with the opportunity to address the issues and difficulties together.

For further information, please contact Genny Turner on 01752 517689 or ethicsconference@phnt.swest.nhs.uk. The cost of the conference (including lunch) is £35, but for those not in paid employment, a limited number of places are available at £25.

Ends 072/07 

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