Doctors open conference
Published Oct. 13, 2006
Abstract ideas like morality might seem out of place in a field based in science, but MU is playing host to a medical conference less concerned with new research and techniques than with maintaining morality.
The annual conference began Thursday and continues through Saturday at the Holiday Inn Select Executive Center in Columbia. It is sponsored by the Center for Health Ethics, the Department of Health Management and Informatics, the School of Medicine and the Sinclair School of Nursing.
"There are at least two elements to teach medical students," said William Crist, dean of the School of Medicine. "One is professionalism and the other is knowledge. One is not sufficient."
The conference opened with a public lecture by Edmund Pellegrino, chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics. He spoke Thursday night at the Reynolds Alumni Center.
Pellegrino discussed the role of professionalism and ethics in medicine in his lecture. He listed a number of virtues a physician must have: fidelity, honesty, compassion, suppression of self-interest, courage, justice, intellectual honesty and humility.
"I am not one of those progressives who thinks we're going to be better in 2,000 years because we aren't better than we were 2,000 years ago," Pellegrino said.
He said he is proud to be a physician, but that if there is a problem, it must be addressed immediately.
"You have to live up to the to the trust you invite when you say, 'Can I help you?'" Pellegrino said to his audience of doctors, medical students and medical school faculty members.
Pellegrino's comments were met with a standing ovation before he took questions from the audience.
"Listening to this is like listening to a beautiful symphony to me," Crist said. "I could not agree more with everything he said."
The conference is scheduled to continue with a number of panels and breakout sessions for conference attendees at the hotel. Faculty members from the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing and the School of Health Professions will sponsor or moderate each session. Guests such as Pellegrino will also participate.
Sessions include a discussion of lessons to be taken from Hurricane Katrina and health care for the elderly, prison inmates and the uninsured.