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August 2018 EACME Newsletter
Contents
Editorial G. Birchley
News from the EACME Bureau R. Horn
Farewell to a Professor (and President) M.-R. Kennedy and R. Huxtable
The history of EACME: another personal reflection R. Nicholson
Understandings of autonomy in ethics, law and regulation L. Austin
International visiting fellowship in medical ethics in Bochum – Germany M. Aluas
Report on ICECC 2018 L. Hartman
The Oviedo convention celebrates its 20th anniversary Y. Isil Ulman
Book review J. Martin
Thesis G. Yaron
Deadline of next EACME Newsletter
Editorial Board
Editorial
Summer is in full swing, dress codes have relaxed and the feeling within my own faculty has subtly changed: some offices are abuzz with interns who bring fresh energies and insights to their summer placements. Other offices quietly hibernate as the usual occupants are absent on holidays. Still others are infused with the almost palpable studiousness of academics at last finding time to complete a paper on a treasured topic, or flesh out plans for the next academic year. So, everything is changed. But in other ways nothing is changed. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has published a report arguing for the ethical permissibility of the modification of DNA in human embryos.1 The report contained careful treatment of the issues, leading to a conclusion that genetic modification must both be in the best interests of patients and in no way create or exacerbate inequalities. Despite this, there have been regrettable, if predictable, misinterpretations in some sections of the news media, with some outlets reporting that the report endorsed creating ‘designer babies’ engineered for looks and intelligence. Regular readers of the newsletter will notice a familiar theme here: when even the most nuanced ethical debate is so wilfully misinterpreted, it is deeply demoralising. Of course, we must not retreat to our silos, but it nevertheless makes places where debate is more intellectually honest and genuinely inquisitive a welcome respite: I hope you find EACME such a place, and, for this reason among others, I am looking forward to our conference later this year (of which, I shall leave the Ruth Horn’s report from the Bureau to give more details).
If (avoidance of) misinterpretation is one familiar theme, this newsletter continues others. Among the articles are two highly personal pieces that reflect on the history of EACME: Richard Nicholson continues the work started by Paul Schotsmans in the previous newsletter of providing his own recollection of the beginnings of EACME which I think adds to prior work of this nature significantly. My colleagues Mari-Rose Kennedy and Richard Huxtable document more recent EACME history, with a lively account of the special valedictory seminar for Ruud ter Meulen, our previous EACME president. Meanwhile we carry reports of both the 14th annual International Conference on Clinical Ethics and Consultation and the special conference for the 20th anniversary of the Oviedo Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine. I heartily thank our contributors for these pieces, as well as our other reviews and reports. I think you will find them interesting and enlightening reading.
Dr Giles Birchley
Centre for Ethics in Medicine, University of Bristol, U.K.
Download the full August 2018 EACME Newsletter
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