EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
Professional standards guide the conduct of all healthcare professions- except bioethics. All healthcare professions have standards for addressing real or potential conflicts of interest-except bioethics. Critics from within and without the field have recently challenged the ethics and integrity of bioethicists, charging that these self-appointed watchdogs are little more than self-serving lapdogs. This conference invites historical reflections, papers, panels and narratives on the integrity of the field of bioethics, including personal experiences relating to ethical conflicts and conflicts of interest. Among the questions that could be addressed are: Should there be formal standards of conduct for bioethicists, such as a code of ethics? Should there be formal standards of ethical conduct in ethics consultation? Should ethics committees and IRBs be accredited? Should there be formal mechanisms for disclosing conflicts of interest in bioethics publications and research? Should ethics consults be confidential? Should bioethicists sign non-disclosure agreements? Should bioethics centers accept large donations from commercial enterprises?

By the end of this conference participants should be able to:

• Discuss the history of professional standards in relation to bioethics;
• Discuss the relationship of professional standards to the problem of protecting the independence and integrity of bioethicists, ethics consultants, and medical humanists;
• Identify and distinguish the range of challenges posed by the lack of formal ethical standards in bioethics;
• Identify a range of cases in which bioethicists, ethics consultants, hospital ethics committee (HEC) and institutional review board (IRB) can become involved in conflicts of interest and other ethical quandaries;
• Recognize the complexity of developing a consensus on ethical standards for bioethics;
• Identify questions surrounding the duties of bioethicists with respect to confidentiality, disclosure/non-disclosure, and related issues;
• Identify issues surrounding ethical issues in bioethics research and publication;
• Identify issues surrounding the acceptance of contributions and honoraria from commercial enterprises;
• Identify issues that arise when bioethicists testify as expert witnesses.

TARGET AUDIENCE
This course is designed to be of interest to bioethicists, ethics consultants, members of hospital ethics committees (HECs), and institutional review boards (IRBs), healthcare lawyers, researchers in the medical humanities (medical anthropologists, medical sociologists, historians of medicine, etc.), physicians, nurses, public health professionals and researchers. All interested individuals are welcome to attend as well.