Event: 19th International Cleveland Clinic Epilepsy Symposia

July 28, 2010

19th International Cleveland Clinic Epilepsy Symposia
Ethics of Invasive Brain Testing: Limits and Responsibilities

Cleveland, OH
Sunday, October 3, 2010

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. Please feel free to visit http://www.ccf.org/neuroethics and click on NeuroEthics Symposia for more information.