While the clinical trials yield important scientific data about the efficacy of various medical treatments, the trials raise a host of ethical questions. At another session, Baruch A. Brody, a professor of philosophy at Rice University and a professor of medical ethics at Baylor College of Medicine, will examine whether individual choice should be the final word on deciding if genetic information is gathered and revealed. Bernat will discuss how advances in life-sustaining technologies have made determining death in humans both difficult and controversial. Machines can keep a person breathing and their blood circulating even after their brains have ceased functioning. Complicating the issue further is the demand for human organ transplants.
Sessions are free and open to the public.