Conflict of interest: “A disclosure doesn’t eliminate a potential conflict of interest; it only announces it.”

I don’t oppose the disclosures of industry payment to physicians, but I’m skeptical that they will have the purifying effect that its proponents promise. Remember, we’re not outlawing corporate payments. A disclosure doesn’t eliminate a potential conflict of interest; it only announces it. Ethical physicians behave ethically because they are wired to do so, not because they disclose payments and gifts.

via Doctors’ ethics are not measured by disclosures: Michael Kirsch | cleveland.com.

Hastings Center’s Daniel Callahan: “…this endless fight against aging can’t go on.”

“If we look at what’s coming down the road in technology,” said 81-year-old bioethicist Daniel Callahan of the Hastings Center, “we have to realize that this endless fight against aging can’t go on.

“What medicine provides is more and more ways to keep people going,” he said. “An extra few days, or a month — it is very, very hard for doctors and families to give that up.”

via The cost of dying: It’s hard to reject care even as costs soar – San Jose Mercury News.

Why Cognitive Enhancement Is in Your Future and Your Past

A thought-provoking Q & A with Allen Buchanan, Professor of Philosophy at Duke University, a consultant to the President’s Council on Bioethics and author of the book, Better Than Human:

It could be that we are on the verge of a great deluge of cognitive enhancement. Or it’s possible that new brain-enhancing drugs and technologies will be nothing compared to how we’ve transformed our minds in the past. If it seems that making ourselves “artificially” smarter is somehow inhuman, it may be that similar activities are actually what made us human.

Let’s look at the nature of the new technology. Last week a team of ethicists from Oxford released a paper on the implications of using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation TDCS to improve cognition in human beings. Recent years have seen some encouraging, if preliminary, lab results involving TDCS, a deep brain stimulation technique that uses electrodes placed outside the head to direct tiny painless currents across the brain. The currents are thought to increase neuroplasticity, making it easier for neurons to fire and form the connections that enable learning. There are signs that the technology could improve language acumen, math ability, and even memory. The Oxford paper argues that TDCS has now reached a critical stage where its risks must be carefully considered before the research goes further.

Of course, not everyone is convinced that the technology will pan out. Some remain skeptical of TDCS, calling it a fad, the latest in a long series of “neuro-myths” that bubble up when scientists distort or embellish their findings in the name of publicity. But even if brain stimulation fizzles, the questions raised by the Oxford paper are going to be with us for a long time. That’s because TDCS is just one of many promising new technologies that neuroscientists hope will enhance cognition, including smart pills, genetic engineering, and brain-to-computer interfacing. As deep brain stimulation has become the flavor du jour in neuroscience, bioethicists have increasingly given it a starring role in the thought experiments they use to tease out the philosophical dilemmas posed by cognitive enhancement.

via Why Cognitive Enhancement Is in Your Future and Your Past – Ross Andersen – Technology – The Atlantic.

Should People Know About the Results of Their Genome Screening?

Good Morning America reports on a new survey from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute to gauge opinions on what to do with genetic information. In this clip, Dr. Bruce Korf, a medical geneticist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, explores the ethical implications of withholding information obtained through whole genome sequencing of a patient:

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Need to cancel after you’ve registered?

We’ve received some questions about our cancellation policy for the Bioethics Bootcamp. Once you’ve registered, you may request a full refund  up to 21 days before event, a 50 percent refund up to 7 days before the event, and no refund thereafter.

In other words:

  • cancellations by March 9 receive a full refund
  • cancellations by March 23 receive a 50% refund
  • no refunds after March 23

 

 

 

Traveling from DC or Baltimore? Check out Amtrak’s fare sale

Amtrak just announced a sale on fares between NYC and DC or Baltimore. This sale lasts only three days, so book now:

Book your Amtrak tickets online now through February 2, 2012 for travel March 13 through April 4, 2012 and you’ll get access to two of our lowest one-way fares between:

Washington, DC and New York, NY – $40

Baltimore, MD and New York, NY – $36

via Amtrak – Deals – Latest Promotions – Lowest Fares between Washington, DC and New York City for Three Days Only. (h/t @dontgetcaught)

Registration for Bioethics Bootcamp is now open

We’ve officially opened registration for the March 30 event “Bioethics Bootcamp: Finding the Must-Read Angle for Science and Medical Stories.” Register before March 1 to take advantage of the early bird rates.

Be sure to check back here for updates about the program. We’re adding additional panel members, which will be announced here.

See you on then!