Medicine, Mercy & Humility: Ethics & Physician Assisted Death

The Chair of Christian Thought presents The Lebel Lectures in Christian Ethics with Eric Wasylenko, MD, MHSc Palliative Care Physician and Practicing Clinical Ethicist This talk will focus on some of the ethical issues arising as a result of the Supreme Court of Canada’s February 2015 decision regarding Physician-assisted death. These ethical issues require careful deliberation with patients and families, health care providers, health systems and society in general as we attempt to address an entirely new way for people to become dead. The talk will attempt to situate the practice of medicine – and its current strengths and vulnerabilities – within the path of the sociological change arising from the court’s decision.

Location:

Scotia Bank Milling Area Rozsa Centre U of C

Speaker:

Eric Wasylenko, MD, is a palliative care physician and clinical ethicist. He completed his MD at the University of Calgary in 1982, and his MHSc in Bioethics at University of Toronto in 2012. Since 2006 he has been a clinical lecturer in the Division of Palliative Medicine, Department of Oncology, University of Calgary. Dr. Wasylenko consults to the Health Quality Council of Alberta and to Alberta Health Services and chairs the Public Health Ethics Advisory Committee of the Public Health Agency of Canada. He has helped lead the development of a number of end-of-life initiatives and programs in the Calgary area. He has been recognized with both provincial and national awards for his work in palliative care and ethics.

More information at http://www.ucalgary.ca/events/calendar/medicine-mercy-humility-ethics-physician-assisted-death