Center For Clinical Ethics And Humanities In Health Care to Hold Symposium

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Leslie Fiedler, a giant in the field of literary and cultural criticism, will discuss the overlap between humanities and bioethics at a symposium to be held at 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, in the Center for Inquiry, 1310 Sweet Home Road, Amherst.

Sponsored by the UB Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care, the event will feature presentations of three papers related to Fiedler's latest book, "The Tyranny of the Normal: Essays on Bioethics, Theology & Myth," and Fiedler's response to the papers.

The event is free and open to the public.

Fiedler, Samuel L. Clemens Professor in the UB Department of English, is the author of several acclaimed works of criticism, fiction and poetry. He has been an important figure on the international literary scene for more than 40 years.

The authors of papers to be presented at the symposium come from distinctly different perspectives.

Jack Freer, M.D., UB clinical associate professor of medicine and an internist at Millard Fillmore Hospital, will present a paper titled "Images of the Doctor in Literature and the Popular Arts."

Tim Madigan, executive editor of Free Inquiry and a doctoral candidate in the UB Department of Philosophy, will discuss his work "Why Organ Transplant Programs Do Not Succeed."

Stephen Wear, Ph.D., holds appointments in the UB departments of Medicine, Gynecology/Obstetrics and Philosophy, and has written and lectured widely on the issue of medical ethics. His paper is titled "The Tyranny of the Abnormal."

The Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care was formed at UB in 1994 to support and enhance dialogue on ethical and humanistic issues surrounding health care in Western New York. Membership is composed of physicians, nurses, anthropologists, attorneys, philosophers, sociologists, social workers, health-care administrators, patient advocates and lay persons.