8^th February 2013

Woburn House, Tavistock Square, London WC1 H9HQ

The Institute of Medical Ethics is delighted to invite you to its Seventh Conference on Medical Ethics and Law: Prepared for Practice?

***Now with CPD approval*** (5 points)

The last seven years have seen the IME develop and implement a consensus statement on core learning outcomes in medical ethics and law, and more recently explore the assessment of medical ethics and law in the undergraduate curriculum.  The purpose behind all of this has been to enable teachers to equip medical students to cope with the ethical and legal demands of practice.  But when they become junior doctors are they prepared for practice?  How can we evaluate the impact of undergraduate teaching in preparing tomorrow's doctors for the practical ethics they will encounter on a daily basis?  And how does what is learned as a medical student link with the foundation curriculum and specialist training?

This 7^th conference on medical ethics and law plans to look at the learner journey from student to practising doctor and at the preparedness of the new doctor for ethical practice.  It aims to enable those involved in teaching and learning undergraduate medical ethics and law to explore the ongoing learning journey in ethics and law from medical student to foundation doctor and to spend time with colleagues, to share ideas and good practice.

The afternoon session will commence with the fifth Lewis W Headley Public Lecture to be given by Rt Hon. Lord Justice Munby, entitled: The Invention of Medical Law.

Students and FY1-2 doctors are invited to submit a poster presentation to show different methods used in addressing and/or resolving an ethical dilemma arising in a clinical setting.

The poster should:

• summarise the clinical case
• identify the ethical dilemma to be addressed
• describe the method(s) used in addressing/resolving the ethical dilemma for example, the Four Principles, narrative ethics, casuistry, phoning BMA Ethics unit, disccussion with peers, prayer etc.
• evaluate the usefulness of the method(s) used

To submit an abstract email a 250 word summary to Rachel Warren at educational@instituteofmedicalethics.org by 10^th December 2012.  10 posters will be chosen to be presented at the conference.  Free conference places and reasonable travel expenses (up to £50 towards second class travel) will be paid for the 10 selected poster presentations.  Posters should be in place by 10 am and in A1 format.  Delegates will vote on the best poster which will be awarded the Mark Brennan Prize.  All submitted posters will be reviewed and considered to be shown on the IME website.  By submitting a poster you are agreeing to this.  Those submitting the 10 selected posters will be notified by 31^st December 2012.

Details about the conference programme and booking can be found below.  To reserve your place please post your registration form to IME CONFERENCE 2013 at the address on the booking form, along with a cheque for a non-returnable £25 booking fee made payable to the Institute of Medical Ethics.  Once your application has been received you will receive confirmation of your place.  Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.  We cannot process booking forms submitted by email, please send a hard copy in the post with your cheque.

In addition, 2 free student places per region will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.  Reasonable travel expenses of up to £50 towards second class travel will also be paid for these delegates.  

 

Please note all free spaces (with travel expenses) for 2 medical students from each region have now been allocated. If you are a medical student interested in a free space for the conference please consider submitting an abstract for the Poster Competition. No further conference grants for this conference will be available from the IME.

If you would like further information or cannot download the documents below please email Rachel Warren at educational@instituteofmedicalethics.org and we will answer your query as soon as we can.

This event: 5 CPD points.

We hope to see you in London on 8^th February.

Dr. Rhona Knight

Chair of IME Education Project Committee.

Download the Conference Programme here (now UPDATED 7th December 2012).

Download the conference programme (PDF File, 3rd January 2013) 

Download the Registration Form and Booking Terms and Conditions here. 

Download the Registration form and Booking Terms and Conditions here (PDF File)

2012 conference: Stories and narratives - their role in teaching and learning medical ethics and law

Watch a video of the 2012 conference:

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Or you can view the video on the BMA website.

2010 conference: Teaching and the patient who lacks capacity - Is it ethical? Is it legal?

24 June 2010, Cardiff University

Programme

A key aim of the Education Project on learning, teaching and assessment in undergraduate medical ethics, was to foster and facilitate a sense of community between teachers of medical ethics and law and to support learning.

Consideration of the legal and ethical issues in respect of teaching using patients who lack capacity may provoke a difference of opinion. Does the Mental Capacity Act 2005 enable the teaching of medical students using patients who are unconscious, and where it has not been possible to get prior consent, using 'best interests' as a justification?

The focus of the morning session was a 'Mock Trial'. Professor Penney Lewis (King's College London), representing P, a patient, was seeking a declaration that Andrew Tillyard, (I.T.U Consultant, Peninsula Medical School) had been unlawfully teaching medical students using unconscious patients without having first elicited their consent. A number of 'expert witnesses' were called to represent different perspectives including that of the GMC, a patient and an F1/medical student.

In the afternoon session workshops enabled discussion of ethical and legal issues arising in different clinical settings where patients are unable to give consent to their involvement in medical student teaching: Mental Health, Learning Disabilities, ITU, Care of the Elderly and Surgery. Each workshop addressed the following:

• What are the problems in this area of teaching?
• How can the interests of patients be safeguarded?
• How do you teach using patients in this category?

Read a report of the 2010 conference (PDF file, 355 KB) 

Previous IME conferences

Report of the 2009 conference (PDF file, 301 KB) 

Report of the 2008 conference (PDF file, 445 KB) 

Report of the 2006 conference (PDF file, 450 KB) 

Lewis W Headley Lectures

In 2008, the son and daughters of the late Lewis W Headley gifted £15,000 to the Institute of Medical Ethics, to endow an annual public lecture to commemorate their father's interest in medical ethics.

Lewis W Headley was born in Ashford Kent in 1914. He ran the family wholesale grocery business from 1933 till 1980. He was born into a Quaker family, was educated at Leighton Park School (a Quaker school in Reading) and remained an active Quaker until his death in 2006.

The first and second lectures were delivered at the 3rd (2009) and 4th (2010) annual conferences on medical ethics and law organised by the Institute of Medical Ethics and the British Medical Association.

The first lecture, on 'Establishing a Core Curriculum in Medical Ethics and Law: a Dean's View', was delivered by Professor Sam Leinster. The second lecture, on 'Humanity and Dignity in the Practice and Teaching of Medicine' was delivered by Baroness Julia Neuberger.

The following is an extract from the Lewis W Headley Quaker Testimony:

"As a conscientious citizen of Ashford, he served as chairman of the Ashford Chamber of Trade and as President of the Rotary Club, and was a member of the Council of Ashford School from 1947 until 2000. He was connected with local hospitals and the National Health Service from 1948 to 1998 in various capacities, notably as chairman of the Community Health Council and as a member of the William Harvey Hospital project team. He was chairman, too, of the South East Kent Research Ethics Committee, where he is remembered as being always calm, fair, courteous and dignified, and completely undaunted by medical jargon. He also gave blood on 88 occasions, until he was forced to retire at the age of 65."

The following was written shortly after Lewis' death, by the Hon. Jenefer Dean

"Lewis had for many years been connected with the William Harvey Hospital and was well known and highly respected. When the first local research and Medical Ethics Committee was set up, Lewis was the obvious choice to be their lay member. Some years later it was felt that there should also be a lay woman and Lewis very kindly put my name forward. We had met through Stour Music and my work at the Ashford Citizens Advice Bureau. The meetings were very agreeable because they were held over a sandwich lunch so as to not waste too much of the doctors' valuable time. They were a distinguished gathering of medical and nursing experts and the meeting were often joined by other interesting doctors presenting their protocols to the committee. I remember Lewis telling me to listen carefully to what the doctors said to each other.

"Not long after I joined the committee, Lewis was made Chairman. He was completely undaunted by the medical complications of some of the protocols and arguments and was brilliant at making jargon ridden doctors speak in plain language. He and I were sometimes brave enough to stand against projects the doctors wanted. Lewis felt it was vital that he and I stood up for the patient's feelings. He eventually retired at the age of 86 (a record for the NHS). I made him a cake for his last meeting which was joined by lots of former colleagues. They all admired him. He was always calm, fair, courteous and dignified. He was a very dear and impressive man."