BLACKSBURG, Va., Oct. 23, 2000 -- Among the most dramatic achievements in modern medicine is the ability to replace body parts. Kidneys, hearts, livers can all be transplanted from one human to another. Artificial joints, bones, or heart valves can substitute for the real thing. These procedures have been used to promote the quality of life and extend the lives of the recipients.
Such remarkable advances are providing many new treatment choices. But they are also creating a number of challenges, says Doris T. Zallen, director of the Choices and Challenges Project at Virginia Tech. "Who is entitled to receive human organs when the supply is so limited - the youngest, the sickest, the nearest, the wealthiest?" Zallen says. "These procedures can be extremely expensive. How do we balance the costs against other urgent medical needs? And how do we decide?"
Research currently underway - exploring the use of animal organs or of organs derived from stem cells - is raising still more challenges, Zallen says. "Are these acceptable sources of organs? Are there limits to what should be done to extend an individual life? Is medicine changing what it means to be human?"
The Choices and Challenges Project will present the forum Reinventing the Human: The Six Million Dollar Body. This public forum will offer social and ethical perspectives to assist the community in making decisions about these complex emerging issues and to engage them as key participants in the public-policy process, according to Jane L. Lehr, coordinator of the Choices and Challenges Project.
The forum will take place Thursday, Nov. 9, at the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center and the Squires Student Center on the Blacksburg campus of Virginia Tech, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. All parts of the program are open to public at no charge. Pre-registration is encouraged.
The forum is divided into three parts: morning discussion sessions providing background information; a main panel session featuring eminent practitioners of health law, medical ethics, animal welfare, philosophy, history, medicine, and emerging sciences; and afternoon sessions focusing on the future of organ transplantation.
The PBS Adult Learning Service will broadcast the main panel nationally in edited form. An online web-based discussion group will provide the opportunity for the community to debate the issues and submit questions in advance of the forum. More information can be found at www.cis.vt.edu/choices&challenges.
The Choices and Challenges Project is a public outreach program that explores the social and ethical dimensions of science and technology. Previous programs have covered subjects ranging from genetic engineering to computer network technologies to the use of environmental resources. The project offers unique programming that encourages dialogue among professional and lay members of the university and regional communities, Lehr says. Videotapes, audiotapes, and transcripts of many previous forums are available.
Program brochures, which include a pre-registration form, can be obtained at many locations throughout Blacksburg or by contacting the Choices and Challenges Project office by mail at 254 Lane Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0227, by phone at 540-231-6476, by e-mail at choices@vt.edu, or by visiting the web site at www.cis.vt.edu/choices&challenges/register.htm.
This Choices and Challenges forum is presented by the Virginia Tech Center for Interdisciplinary Studies. Support has also been provided by University Outreach at Virginia Tech. For further information or brochures to distribute, contact Jane Lehr at 540-231-6476 or choices@vt.edu.
Last November, the project received a special award for programming in science and the humanities from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy -- the state council of NEH.