Major Forums

2008

2008 - "Best Medicine? Drug Marketers, Doctors and the Ethics of Influencing Prescriptions" - co-sponsored with St. Bartholomew's Church, Center for Religious Inquiry. John Cornwall, MD - Instructor of Clinical Medicine, Columbia University; and Associate Attending in Medicine, St. Luke's - Roosevelt Hospital; and Joel Roselin, MTS - Assistant Director of Research Compliance and Training, Columbia University; and Former Pharmaceutical Marketing Executive. April 17, 2008.

2005

"Patient Empowerment in End-of-Life Medical Care Decisions - An Evening Symposium" - co-sponsored with St. Bartholomew's Church, Center for Religious Inquiry. Tia Powell, MD, Executive Director, New York State Task Force on Life & the Law and Carolyn Cassin, President & CEO, Continuum Hospice Care/ Jacob Perlow Hospice; A Hospice Interdisciplinary Team Panel: Christopher P. Comfort, MD, Medical Director, Calvary Hospital; Martha Heller, RN, Continuum Hospice Care/ Jacob Perlow Hospice; Mary McDonough, MSW, Visiting Nurse Services of New York; Sister Peggy McHugh, RSM, Chaplain, Cabrini Hospice, Home Care Programs; Angela Purpura, Director of Volunteers, Hospice of New York. November 10, 2005.

2004

Medical Error, Medical Ethics: An Afternoon Colloquium , Co-sponsored with The Hastings Center. Virginia Ashby Sharpe, Ph.D. - Visiting Scholar, Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University; Mark Rosenberg, M.D. - Executive Director, Task Force for Child Survival and Development, Center for Child Well-Being; Ethel Mitty, R.N. Ed.D. - Clinical Professor, Nursing, New York University. November 13, 2004.

1999

"Public Dialogue Forum on End-of-Life Care" - Co-sponsored by the New York State Partnership to Improve End-of-Life Care. Community forums held in Nassau County, Suffolk County and Manhattan to discuss end-of-life care. Opening remarks: Assemblyman Thomas D. DiNapoli at Nassau County forum. Nassau Community College, October, 1999; Gurwin Jewish Geriatric Center, November 1999. St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, December 1999.

"An Evening with Thomas Lynch" - Humanist, Essayist, Poet, and Author, reflecting charmingly, lyrically, unsentimentally and sardonically on life. Moderator: Paul Armstrong, M.A., J.D., LLM. Featured Speaker: Thomas Lynch. New York Society for Ethical Culture, Social Hall, New York City. April 1999.

1997 - 1998 | Top

"Caring at the End of Life: Personal Choices and Community Resources" - Co-sponsored with the New York Society for Ethical Culture and The Hastings Center. The conference answered the questions, "How should we take care of the dying?" and "What does society owe to dying patients and their families?" Keynote Speaker: Joseph Fins, M.D. Led by Robert Cassidy, Ph.D., Moderator. The panel included: Paul Brenner, M.Div., Carl Coleman, J.D., Carol Levine, M.A., Patricia Murphy, Ph.D., CS, FAAN, and Peter Selwyn, M.D., M.P.H. New York Society for Ethical Culture, Auditorium, New York City. April 1998.

"Way to Go" - The conference offered practical workshop training, led by experienced professionals, on how to make the end of life a matter of choice. Featuring Robert Cassidy, Ph.D. Speaker/Moderator. C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, Brookville, Long Island. September 1997.

"Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Advance Directives but Were Afraid to Ask" - Community conference featuring Joseph Fins, M.D., Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island. May 1997.

1996 | Top

"Last Rights? Should the Medical Profession Help Competent People with Terminal Illness End Their Lives On Their Own Terms?" featuring Eric Cassell, M.D., Keynote Speaker for this full-day symposium. A morning and afternoon panel explored whether helping people die on their own terms is a legitimate part of the medical enterprise; and, if it isn’t, what alternatives to do-it-yourself suicide can we as a society offer the generations still to come. November 1996.

"Ethical Dilemmas in Long-Term Home Health Care" - Co-sponsored with the New York City Long-Term Care Ethics Network, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service, and Neighbors Home Care. The objective of this half-day conference was to identify the unique ethical dilemmas that arise in providing home-care services to disabled, elderly, or dying patients. Nancy Dubler, LL.B. provided the keynote address, followed by workshops and a case study reviewed by a plenary mock ethics committee. June 1996.

"Who SUPPORTS the Patient? A Collaborative Discussion of the SUPPORT Study" - An Investigation of End-of-Life Decision Making in American Hospitals. This half-day conference consisted of an overview of the SUPPORT study findings regarding the utilization of advance directives in the hospital setting, presented by Daniel Callahan, Ph.D., President, The Hastings Center, and a multi-disciplinary hospital panel discussion exploring their response to the study, their role in empowering patients, and how they might best collaborate to communicate patient’s views and values. Program was co-sponsored with the Health Care Chaplaincy and the New York Chapter of the Society of Patient Representatives. May 1996.

1994 - 1995 | Top

"Managed Care: Panacea or Pandora’s Box?" - A colloquy exploring the issues raised by the rise of managed care, including the patient-physician relationship, physician-managed care organization relationship, and physician-physician relationship. Moderator: Steve Adubato, Jr., with a panel of managed care providers, ethicists, physicians, and attorneys. October 1995.

"Physician-Assisted Suicide: If It Were Legal, Would It Be Workable?" - A symposium co-sponsored with the New York Society for Ethical Culture and focusing on the practical, moral and legal issues that would be raised if physician-assisted suicide were made legal in New York State. Keynote Speaker: Timothy E. Quill, M.D., of Genesee Hospital/University of Rochester School of Medicine. May 1994.

Regional Bioethics Conference - A three-day course co-sponsored with the New Jersey Citizens’ Committee on "Biomedical Ethics," The Hastings Center and others. April 1994.

1993 | Top

United Hospital Fund/Health and Hospitals Corporation program in collaboration with the New York Citizens’ Committee on "Ethnic Diversity." November 1993.

Regional Bioethics Conference - A three-day course co-sponsored with the New Jersey Citizens’ Committee on Biomedical Ethics, The Hastings Center and others. April 1993.

"Health Care Priorities: Giving Citizens a Voice" - A conference on ethical issues in health care reform, co-sponsored with the Adelphi University School of Nursing, Garden City. Speakers included Bruce Jennings, M.A., Executive Director of The Hastings Center, and George Pickett, M.D., Commissioner, Nassau County Department of Health. April 1993.

"Health Care Priorities: Giving Citizens a Voice" - Similar to the above described conference, this forum was co-sponsored with Pace University’s Lienhard School of Nursing, Pleasantville. Panelists included Dan Beauchamp, Professor of Health Policy at SUNY-Albany, Joseph J. Fins, M.D., of Cornell/New York Hospital, and Mark S. Rapport, M.D., Westchester County Commissioner of Health. April 1993.

1990 - 1992 | Top

"Protecting Your Health Care Decisions" - A full-day conference for professional staff and lay community co-sponsored with Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn. October 1992.

"The New York State Proxy Law" - A daylong forum for discussion among health care providers and consumers of the new law and its implications for terminal care. Keynote Speaker: Paul Armstrong, J.D., attorney for Karen Ann Quinlan. Presenter: C. David Finely, M.D., Director of Critical Care, Roosevelt Hospital, New York City. February 1991.

"Who Decides: Who Lives, Who Dies?" - A half-day conference on advance directives, the Committee’s first public forum, hosted by New York Academy of Medicine. Moderator: Ruth Macklin, Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine. March 1990.