Event:19th International Cleveland Clinic Epilepsy Symposium
July 23, 2010
19th International Cleveland Clinic Epilepsy Symposium
Ethics of Invasive Brain Testing:Â Limits and Responsibilities
Sunday October 3
Symposium Organizer – Paul Ford, PhD
Clinicians and researchers are faced with ethically intricate challenges with the continued advancement of invasive technologies for monitoring and testing brain functioning. These technologies allow us to localize seizure foci, map functional areas, and explore therapeutic stimulation with applications to epilepsy, tumors, neurodegenerative diseases, and psychiatric disorders. These tests are performed on patients who become unusually vulnerable to power differences and manipulation. We have great potential to manipulate a person’s cognition, mood, or mind through these processes. We need to have clear reasons and justifications for choosing:
* Which technologies we use
* Which patients we use them on
* How we use them on patients
* What research questions we tackle
* How we tackle those research projects
Threaded through these challenges are deeply held value convictions about justice, professionalism, and responsibility. Audience: This one-day symposium is intended to engage neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, advance care nurses, physician assistants, and ethicists in addressing practical ethical challenges related to invasive brain testing.
