Student colloquium addresses bioethics

Who should make decisions for individuals who are incapable of making their own? How should health care providers determine when a patient is incompetent? How can incompetent patients have a voice in these decisions?

The Princeton Bioethics Forum addressed such questions during its spring colloquium — titled "Choices and Voices: Consent, Confidentiality and Decision-making Capability" — which attracted students, professors and professionals from across the Northeast to McCosh 46 on Friday afternoon.

Speakers at the event provided new information and perspectives on current controversial issues in bioethics. According to conference co-chair Valerie Gutmann '01, the Princeton Bioethics Forum intended the colloquium to serve as a "jumping board that will allow us to intelligently discuss and address these issues later."

In a joint presentation, Dr. Norm Fost '60, director of the Center for Medical Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Rutgers University Law School professor Norman Cantor '64 reflected on the difficult process of deciding to terminate medical treatment of severely-handicapped patients.According to Cantor, health care providers whose patients wish to terminate medical care and end their lives face "the enormous temptation to override the autonomy of patients, hoping that [the patients] will thank them down the line." Cantor said, however, that it is "the patient's prerogative to make his or her own choices, even if they are foolish choices."

Fost suggested the alternative of delaying the withdrawal of treatment until the emotional condition of the patient stabilizes. "A morally responsible physician should not acquiesce to the patient's first comment or reaction to a serious diagnosis," Fost said. "The immediately-present patient does not always represent the desires of the enduring self."

Students who attended the program said they believed the colloquium related well to both current events and classes. "I'm taking two bio classes right now — diseases and children, and biotechnology and its social impact — and both are concerned with issues of death and dying," Amy Vassalotti '00 said.

"There was lots of diversity in the crowd," conference co-chair Kit Delgado '01 said. "Everyone contributed to the conversation equally because the colloquium style fostered good dialogue on the issues, allowing everyone to learn from each other."

In addition to Fost and Cantor's presentation, Mark Rothstein, director of the Health Law and Policy Institute at the University of Houston Law School, addressed the difficulty of protecting genetic information. Dr. Ruth Fischbach, National Institutes of Health senior biomedical ethics advisor, discussed the ethical implications of clinical research that involve participants who have a questionable capacity to give informed consent.