Neuroethics Seminar: Deception in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizures
Channel: HMS Center for Bioethics
Date: 2016-02-22

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Filmed on Feb 4, 2016 at Harvard Medical School.

-- About this seminar --
Neurologists who treat epilepsy face substantial difficulty distinguishing "true" seizures caused by abnormal electrical discharges from seizures that are caused by psychological factors (psychogenic nonepileptic seizures, or PNES). The distinction is important, because the treatments for electrical seizures and PNES are very different--PNES can be provoked by a suggestion, whereas electrical seizures cannot. 

Can doctors ethically use placebos or suggestion in order to provoke psychogenic nonepileptic seizures? If this is deception, is it justified? How much deception is permissible?

Deception in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizures

-- Speakers --

Selim Benbadis MD
University of South Florida College of Medicine

Benjamin Tolchin MD
Harvard Medical School

J. Wesley Boyd MD, PhD
Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics

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The Neuroethics Seminar Series is designed to explore a diverse range of subjects at the intersection of neuroscience and ethics. In a typical seminar, three expert discussants will come together to explore a topic. In the 90-minute seminar, at least 30 minutes are reserved for discussion and audience participation.

-- Co-sponsors -- 
The International Neuroethics Society
The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, HLS
Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior, MGH
Institute for the Neurosciences, BWH
Center for Brain Science, Harvard University
Department of Neurobiology, HMS

-- With funding from --
Mind Brain Behavior Interfaculty Initiative, Harvard University
The Harvard Brain Initiative Collaborative Seed Grant Program