February 13, 2008
Medically Intervening on Behalf of the Fetus:
The State of the Science, Ethics and Law
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
4:00 - 6:00 pm
MEC 227
260 Longwood Avenue, Boston
Russell Jennings, MD, Director, Advanced Fetal Care Center, Children’s Hospital Boston and Associate Professor of Surgery, HMS;
R. Alta Charo, JD, Warren P. Knowles Professor of Law & Bioethics, University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison;
Dan Wikler, PhD, Mary B. Saltonstall Professor of Population Ethics and Professor of Ethics and Population Health, HSPH; and
Sadath A. Sayeed, JD, MD, Division of Medical Ethics, Department of Social Medicine, HMS and Attending Neonatologist, Division of Newborn Medicine, Children’s Hospital Boston, moderator.
With recent advances in diagnostic and therapeutic technology, clinical medicine is growing in its capacity to predict and treat pathologic conditions affecting fetuses before birth. The primary goal of these interventions is to prevent or reduce injury that may produce significant illness or death in future newborns. Nevertheless, their introduction and proliferation into routine medical practice raises larger ethical and legal issues concerning women’s rights, the status of the fetus, and perceived responsibilities during pregnancy. Harvard Medical School’s Division of Medical Ethics has convened a public forum with a world-class panel of experts to explore these issues.
For more information, and to RSVP e-mail DME@hms.harvard.edu.