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Health Care Ethics Seminars

Upcoming Seminars | 2008 Seminars | 2009 Seminars | 2010 Seminars | 2011 Seminars

The Poynter Center invites six to eight speakers during the academic year to address ethical concerns of community health care providers. Discussion participants include faculty members, students, local healthcare workers, and center staff.

Each program is from 4-5:30 p.m. at the Poynter Center, 618 East Third Street. The Henderson parking garage, which is located south of the Poynter Center, offers pay public parking.


Completed Spring 2012 Health Care Ethics Seminars

Thursday, January 19

Fred Cate
"The Role of Consent in Health Information Research"

The federal government adopted a broad privacy rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA's Privacy Rule imposes its strongest restrictions on the use of personal data in health research. The Institute of Medicine reported in 2009 that "the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not protect privacy as well as it should" and "as currently implemented, the HIPAA Privacy Rule impedes important health research." The IOM report recommended against requiring consent for research with health information. This presentation explored the role of consent in research with health information and other issues about the privacy of health information in the research context.

Fred H. Cate is Distinguished Professor and C. Ben Dutton Professor of Law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. He is co-director of the university's Center for Law, Ethics, and Applied Research in Health Information and Principal Investigator on the NIH grant, "Protecting Privacy in Health Research."

 photo of the Fred Cate
Thursday, February 16

Emily Beckman
"The Content of Hope"
photo of the Emily Beckman

Dr. Beckman, DMH, is a Visiting Scholar in the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Program in the IU School of Liberal Arts and the IU School of Medicine at IUPUI. Her teaching and research interests in Medical Humanities include literature and medicine, end-of-life communication, and empathy in medicine.

Dr. Beckman presented the results of a qualitative study of the meaning of hope expressed by patients at various stages of treatment for colon cancer. The possibility that what a patient hopes for may have a profound effect on discussions regarding the patient's treatment options and quality of life will be explored. Whether hope provides something on which to cling when feelings of helplessness seem overwhelming, or simply inspires us to help others, hope is an important part of the experience of cancer. Though shared by all, hope is personal. What it means to one, and how it is perceived, is unique to each patient. Understanding one's personal hopes will surely encourage overall health and wellness as healthcare decisions are made. It is important to understand not only how much or how little hope a patient maintains after being diagnosed with cancer, but also, and perhaps more importantly, what those hopes may be.

photo of the Emily Beckman
Thursday, March 22

Kathryn Coe
"Conducting Research in Kinship-based, Traditional Societies"

Kathryn Coe is Professor and Lilly Scholar in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Division in the Department of Public Health at IUPUI. Coe discussed the problems and unintended consequences of conducting research in such communities based on the assumption that they have something to learn from us and that they greatly resemble our own societies. She pointed out that as social relationships are of critical importance to humans and the cultural codes and strategies for guiding such relationships have endured for many hundreds or thousands of years in such societies, we may be wise to consider the possibility that we might be able to learn something from them that can change the focus our research takes, improve our research methods, and alter the questions we ask and the way we ask them.

photo of the Kathryn Coe
Thursday, April 19

Greg Gramelspacher
Portraits of the Living: How Photography Can Enhance the Care of the Dying
photo of the Gregory Gramelspacher

When people are told that they are dying, their lives change dramatically. For many people, the diagnosis of a terminal illness carries with it a gradual "fading" from life, a feeling of being less visible to others, or even invisible to the active, fully-engaged, world of the living. Dr. Gramelspacher and his colleagues believe that this is especially true for the dying poor who are already marginalized and often out of sight.


Dr. Gregory P. Gramelspacher, M. D., presented a series of portraits of dying patients in order to explore the ways that photography can enhance the care of the dying poor. Pictures hold an important place in our personal lives, and individual portraits can hold incredible meaning for the subject and the viewer alike. Using primarily a documentary approach, Gramelspacher and his team asked patients to allow the team to take their portraits, and the patients readily agreed. Gramelspacher believes that this cooperation was not only a wish to be remembered but a desire to return for a moment to the land of the living. The portraits capture the physical beauty of the individual patient, who has a terminal illness. The portraits allow the patients to feel respect, honor and esteem. Gramelspacher believes that the photographs of the dying poor add meaning and value to the close of a person's life. This dignity-conserving intervention affirms that patients belong to a community and allows the patients to leave a legacy for others.

Dr. Gramelspacher is a Professor of Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine. His research interests include medical professionalism and the doctor-patient relationship, end of life care, and health care for the underserved. Dr. Gramelspacher currently directs the Palliative Care Program at Wishard Health Services and is Medical Director of the Visiting Nurse Service Hospice of Central Indiana.

See also the Matthew Vandivier Sims Memorial Lecture

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