2016 Program

The 2016 Australasian Association of Bioethics & Health Law Conference was held at Rydges on Swanston, Melbourne from Thursday 24th to Saturday 26th November 2016.

The program overview below is provisional and will be updated as planning proceeds. Please check this page regularly.

Wednesday 23rd November 2016 | Rydges on Swanston

 0800 Clinical Ethics Workshop registration open | Skyline Lounge, Level 4
 1000-1600 Clinical Ethics Workshop (click here for full program and speaker biographies)  | Vista, Level 4
Full day workshop including morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.  $80 per person.  Book during registration for the AABHL conference here; non-delegates are welcome and should book by emailing the AABHL 2016 secretariat.


This workshop is designed for those involved in the provision of clinical ethics support within organisations (such as clinical ethics committee members, clinical ethicists and clinicians).  Sessions will explore various aspects of clinical ethics support including advocacy, resource allocation, and the skills of conducting effective case consultations.



Thursday 24th November 2016 | Rydges on Swanston

 0800 Pre-Conference Workshop Registration Open | Skyline Lounge, Level 4
 0900-1215 Postgraduate Student Group | Panorama, Level 4
Morning workshop including morning tea.  $15 per person. Book during registration for the AABHL conference here; non-delegates are welcome and should book by emailing the AABHL 2016 secretariat.
 1100 AABHL Conference Registration Open | Skyline Lounge, Level 4
 1130-1230 Committee Meeting | Aspect
Opening Plenary | Skyline, Level 4
Chair: Lynn Gillam
 1300-1315 Welcome to Delegates
Welcome to Country
President’s Welcome
 1315-1430 Kirby Oration: Professor John Tobin
Bioethics and human rights: Merger or acquisition?
 1430-1500 Afternoon Tea | Skyline Lounge, Level 4
 1500-1755 Concurrent Session A
 EUTHANASIA
Chair: Belinda Bennett
BIOETHICS
Chair: Ben White
AUTONOMY, CHOICE & RESPONSIBILITY
Chair: Mal Parker
  Horizon, Level 4 Vista, Level 4 Panorama, Level 4
1500-1520 Suffering, euthanasia and professional expertise
Xavier Symons
Bioethics in awe of technology: A proposal for addressing this bias
A/Prof Paul Macneill
Making every sleep a safe sleep: Ethics, law and the hardening of child health advice
Dr Monique Jonas
1525-1545 Two decades of euthanasia law reform attempts in Australia: Are there any lessons to be learnt?
Prof Lindy Willmott
Bioethics in the Antipodes: A historical perspective from Australia and New Zealand
Dr Christopher Mayes
Patient autonomy: Beyond informed consent
Dr Lisa Dive
1550-1610 The Voluntary Euthanasia Bill 2016 (SA) and undue influence – inadequate protection of a voluntary decision?
Michaela Okninski
Exploitation, coercion and domination – the conceptual tool we have been missing?
A/Prof David Hunter
Screening technology, citizens’ autonomy and public health
A/Prof Stacy Carter
1615-1635 Legalised physician assisted death in the Australasian context: At the intersection between ethics, law and end of life care
Dr Linda Sheahan
Beyond fair benefits: Reconsidering exploitation arguments
Julian J. Koplin
Arguing for a value of place in bioethics
Dr Fiona McDonald
1635-1645 Changeover Break
 ARTs
Chair: Ryan Tonkens
CLINICAL ETHICS
Chair: Ben Gray
DOCTORS, PATIENTS, CONSUMERS
Chair: Clare Delany
Horizon, Level 4 Vista, Level 4 Panorama, Level 4
 1645-1705 The scope of reproductive responsibility and reproductive duties
A/Prof Vera Lúcia Raposo
“The angel intern would do all of it”: Junior doctors, ethics and role conflict
Dr Rosalind McDougall
Institutional values and patient rights
Dr Nicole Gerrand
 1710-1730 Self-regarding/mother-regarding?   Female autonomy and maternal obligations during pregnancy
A/Prof. Adrian Walsh, Bridie Walsh
Conflicts and con-fusions confounding compassionate care: A compassion café account of the experiences of critical care nurses  
Dr Jenny Jones
Patients vs. consumers: What’s in a name?
Oliver Kim
1735-1755 Applicant, patient or customer? How should we view individuals seeking IVF treatment? (and what your answer reveals about you) 
Georgina  Hall
Doctors and hospital infection prevention – is medical professionalism the solution or the problem?
Prof Lyn Gilbert
Developing an empirically-informed virtue ethics policy approach to medical practice
A/Prof Justin Oakley
 1800-1900 Welcome Reception | Skyline & Pooldeck, Level 4
The Welcome Drinks is the first social function of the conference.  The ‘Ice-Breaker’.  Don’t miss this opportunity to chance to catch up with colleagues and to meet other delegates, speakers and sponsors.
Entertainment: Silo Strings



Friday 25th November 2016 | Rydges on Swanston

 0800 Registration Open | Skyline Lounge, Level 4
0900-1105 Concurrent Session B
RESEARCH ETHICS
Chair: Andrew Crowden
PUBLIC HEALTH
Chair: Angus Dawson
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Chair: Neil Pickering
RESOLVING CONFLICT
Chair: Ainsley Newson

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES FOR DOCTORS

 

  Horizon Lounge, Level 4 Vista, Level 4 Panorama, Level 4 Horizon, Level 4 Scope, Ground Level
0900-0920 RESEARCH ETHICS STREAM MEETING PUBLIC HEALTH STREAM MEETING How do we decide the ethics of treatments that are not evidence based?
Dr Ben Gray
Patients’ and family members’ experiences of non-litigation approaches to resolving medical injuries in New Zealand and the United States
Dr Jennifer Moore
Independent review of chaperones to protect patients
Prof Ron Paterson
0925-0945 Does the law on compensation for research-related injury in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand meet ethical requirements?
Prof Joanna Manning
More than words: The ethical implications of language in alcohol-related health warning label discourses
Emma Muhlack
An approach as to how a doctor ought to respond to a patient who chooses lethal alternative medicine over effective evidence based medicine
Dr John Gruner
Exploring newly chartered territory: Can legal mediation processes be of benefit in clinical conflicts?
Dr Nikola Stepanov
0950-1010 Fair research and free riders: Do patients have an ethical obligation to provide health data for research?
Dr Angela Ballantyne
Whose mind is it, anyway? Individual and collective responsibilities in cognitive ageing
Dr Cynthia Forlini
Exploring the intersection of innovation and autonomy
A/Prof Bernadette Richards
1010-1020 Changeover Break

 

RESEARCH ETHICS
Chair: Merle Spriggs
SYSTEMS ISSUES
Chair: Vicki Palmer
SURROGATE DECISION-MAKING
Chair: Sharyn Milnes
 RARE DISEASES
Chair: Lynn Woodward
Horizon Lounge, Level 4 Vista, Level 4 Panorama, Level 4 Horizon, Level 4
1020-1040 Ethical governance of biobanking and genomic research
A/Prof Andrew Crowden
Private health insurance regulation: Ethical implications for rural residents
Helene Jacmon, Dr Fiona McDonald
Decision-making on behalf of a person with dementia? How do surrogates do it?
Dr Deirdre Fetherstonhaugh
Should we consider the costs of treatment of rare disorders: Is justice just a myth?
Prof David Isaacs
1045-1105 Going global: The ethics of biobanks in the context of globalisation
Dr Paul Mason
Holding Big Food accountable for marketing unhealthy products to children: A new approach under international human rights law?
Dr Belinda Reeve
Sharing values, sharing ends: A role for ‘value-proxies’ in substituted decision-making 
Anson Fehross
Pay to play: Participant funded clinical research for rare diseases
Dr Angela Ballantyne, Dr Mike King

 

1105-1130 Morning Tea | Skyline Lounge, Level 4
Plenary Session | Skyline , Level 4
Chair: Lynn Gillam
1130-1215 Establishing the standard of care in research ethics: The role of the expert witness
Dr Jon Merz
1215-1300 Bioethics, advocacy and activism
Professor Wendy Rogers
1300-1400 Lunch | Skyline Lounge, Level 4
1400-1535 Concurrent Session C
HEALTH LAW
Chair: Mal Smith
RESEARCH ETHICS AND ARTs
Chair: Rachel Ankeny
TEACHING ETHICS
Chair: Ian Kerridge
WORKSHOP  WORKSHOP 
Horizon Lounge, Level 4 Vista, Level 4 Panorama, Level 4 Horizon, Level 4 Scope, Ground Level
1400-1420 HEALTH LAW STREAM MEETING  Research ethics consultation services as a strategy for dealing with return of secondary findings of genetic research
Dr Lisa Eckstein
TEACHING ETHICS STREAM MEETING Reconciling ethics and law in the clinical context
Dr Vicki Xafis, Patsi Michalson
Should healthcare providers boycott working in Australian asylum seeker detention?
Deborah Zion
1425-1445 The evidence used by courts and tribunals to establish capacity: A study comparing three different types of capacity
Sam Boyle
Clinician-researcher dual role: What are the implications for planning, supervision and governance of ethically and methodologically sound research?
A/Prof Lynley Anderson
The medical graduate and the doctor as professional and leader – a critique
Prof Malcolm Parker
1450-1510 A legal and clinical framework for assessing decision-making capacity in New Zealand
Alison Douglass, Dr Greg Young
Is “gender disappointment” a mental disorder? 
Dr Tereza Hendl, Dr  Tamara Kayali Browne
Is there an acceptable and feasible model for providing clinical ethics support in the primary care setting?
Dr Kate Robins-Browne
1515-1535

John McPhee (Law) Prize Winner

Decision-making capacity and unusual beliefs: Two contentious cases
Brent Hyslop

 

Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) and the prohibition on pro-disability selection: The need for public consultation in Australia
Malcolm Smith
Educating Canadian family medicine residents about medical assistance in dying
Dr Susan MacDonald
1535-1600 Afternoon Tea | Skyline Lounge, Level 4
1600-1735 Concurrent Session D
END OF LIFE ISSUES
Chair: Angela Ballantyne
CLINICAL ETHICS
Chair: Vicki Xafis
 MENTAL HEALTH
Chair: Stacy Carter
WORKSHOP
Horizon Lounge, Level 4 Vista, Level 4 Panorama, Level 4 Horizon, Level 4
1600-1620 The intersection between Advance Care Directives and voluntary euthanasia: Advocacy for both is a precarious and intimate dance
Dr Sandra Bradley
Procedures and processes: General Practitioners’ and Practice Nurses’ experiences of ethical dilemmas within primary care
Dr Kate Robins-Browne
The concept of the ‘least restrictive alternative’ in law governing compulsory health care 
Prof John Dawson
Finding the ‘mean’ in debates about access to high cost cancer medicines
Narcyz Ghinea, Jessica Pace, Claudia Harper, Dr Wendy Lipworth
1625-1645 Cultural diversity, advance care planning and end-of-life decision-making
Dr Barbara Hayes
Should patients consent to treatment by trainees?
Dr Cordelia Thomas
Has the time come to abandon coercive community treatment in mental health?
Dr Sascha Callaghan, Dr Giles Newton-howes
1650-1710 Community knowledge of law at the end of life 
Prof Ben White
The need for everyday ethics in clinical practice with people who are substance dependent
David Silkoff
Advanced statements for improved recovery journeys
Ann Jorgensen
1715-1735 Can opt-in cardiopulmonary resuscitation be legally and ethically justified?
Dr Susan Hertzberg
Thomas Szasz and the insanity defence
Dr Neil Pickering
1735 Sessions end
 1800-2000 Migration, Refugees and Ethics Panel | Skyline , Level 4
Panellists: A/Prof Deborah Zion, Chair of the HREC, Victoria University; A/Prof David Hunter, Medical School, Flinders University; Ryan Essex, PhD Candidate, Counsellor, The University of Sydney; Misha Coleman, Executive Officer, Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce
Co-ordinator: Prof Angus Dawson
Open to the public.  All welcome.



Saturday 26th November 2016 | Rydges on Swanston

0800 Registration Open | Skyline Lounge, Level 4
0900-1035 Concurrent Session E
INNOVATIVE TREATMENTS
Chair: Lyn Gilbert
 CLINICAL ETHICS
Chair: Marie Bismark
RELATIONSHIPS WITH INDUSTRY
Chair: Chris Mayes
WORKSHOP WORKSHOP
Horizon Lounge, Level 4 Vista, Level 4 Panorama, Level 4 Horizon, Level 4 Scope, Ground Level
0900-0920 Innovative medical treatments in Singapore: How should we decide?
Tracey Evans Chan
Patient-targeted Googling and social media: A cohort study of senior medical students in New Zealand
Aaron Chester
Reps in the ranks – the role of industry representatives in surgical innovation 
Dr Jane Johnson
Emerging technologies and the ‘too much medicine’ problem
A/Prof Ainsley Newson, Prof Wendy Rogers, A/Prof Stacy Carter
Creating a positive learning environment: An anti-bullying initiative
A/Prof. Lynley Anderson, Dr Althea Blakey
0925-0945 The need for responsible innovation: Autologous stem cell “therapies” in Australia 
Dr Tereza Hendl
Recording devices in clinical consultation.  The good, the not so good and the ugly.  Do we have policies that are fit for purpose?
Dr Alastair Macdonald
Collaborating with the enemy? An ethical exploration of industry partnerships in food studies research
Prof Rachel Ankeny
0950-1010 Accelerating regenerative medicines in Japan: Questions of trust, benefit and fairness
Dr Tamra Lysaght
The ethics of sharing: Health social worker concerns about recording in shared records
Isobel Cairns
Intersection, co-dependence and tension: The no-man’s land between medicine and pharma
Dr Wendy Lipworth
1015-1035 Adaptive pathways for advanced therapies: Regulatory innovation or just de-regulation?
Dr Tsung-ling Lee
Expectations of information sharing in Primary Care and the role of trust
Samantha Fitch
Does publication policy and practice compromise academic freedom?
Prof Jon Jureidini
1035-1100 Morning Tea | Skyline Lounge, Level 4
Plenary Session | Skyline , Level 4
Chair: Ros McDougall
1100-1200 Ageing populations, dementia care and assistive technologies: New issues for health law and human rights
Professor Belinda Bennett
1200-1300 Lunch | Skyline Lounge, Level 4
1300-1510 Concurrent Session F
LAW & ETHICS
Chair: Jennifer Moore
BIOETHICS
Chair: Paul Macneill
BIOETHICS
Chair: Lynley Anderson 
WORKSHOP WORKSHOP
Horizon Lounge, Level 4 Vista, Level 4 Panorama, Level 4 Horizon, Level 4 Scope, Ground Level
1300-1320 Policy and law for Australia to prevent complicity in foreign transplant abuse
David Matas
The limits of consumerism in the physician-patient relationship
Prof Mary Anne Bobinski
Practice makes perfect: Evaluating the conflict between aesthetic interventions and the ethos of medicine 
Dr Yves Saint James Aquino
One Health approaches to emerging infectious diseases: Considering the ethical issues
Dr Chris Degeling, Dr Jane Johnson, Prof Gwendolyn (Lyn) Gilbert, Ass Prof Tamra Lysaght
Doing bioethics: (How) should we engage with those we critique?
Jane Williams, Dr Christopher Mayes, Dr Wendy Lipworth
1325-1345 Trust impaired: Practitioners’ views on ethics and the law regarding mandatory reporting of impaired practitioner-patients
A/Prof Marie Bismark, Jennifer Morris
Morally unjustified conditions on access to scarce transplantable Uteruses 
Dr Ryan Tonkens
“I don’t see it as a medical problem”: Clinician’s attitudes and responses to requests for cosmetic genital surgery by adolescents 
Dr Merle Spriggs
1350-1410 “Off-field” behaviour
Prof Tony Eyers
Seeking security with personal genome testing
Dr Jacqueline Savard
Ethical issues in global health placements: Reflections on personal experience
Dr Benjamin Tassie
1410-1425 Changeover Break
 ALTERNATIVE MEDICINES
Chair: Wendy Rogers
 RESEARCH ETHICS & LAW
Chair: Sascha Callaghan
 ARTs
Chair: Lindy Willmott
PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY
Chair: David Isaacs
Horizon Lounge, Level 4 Vista, Level 4 Panorama, Level 4 Horizon, Level 4
1425-1445 Intersecting social justice issues and the discourse on use of animal parts and products in traditional, complementary, and alternative medicines
Bronwen Morrell

Max Charlesworth (Bioethics) Prize Winner

Disclosure is inadequate as a solution to conflicts of interest in research
Helene Jacmon

From the grave to the cradle: Is it time to legislate posthumous parenthood?
Janine Mcilwraith
Public and private mechanisms of accountability for health care justice: Australia’s asylum seeker and refugee offshore health care program 
Paula O’Brien
1450-1510 Mistaken for medicine: How potentially misleading therapeutic claims affect patients’ perceptions of CAM products
Peter Harris
Ethical & legal implications of new law governing human biomedical research
Sumytra Menon
The role of legislation in shaping public opinion: The case of gamete donation 
Selina Metternick-Jones
1510-1540 Afternoon Tea | Skyline Lounge, Level 4
Closing Plenary Session | Skyline , Level 4
1540-1620 Climate change, justice and collective responsibility
Professor Angus Dawson
1620-1630 Close 
1645-1745 AABHL AGM – All Members Welcome  | Skyline, Level 4
1900 till late Conference Dinner | University House Professors Walk

University House Professors Walk. It is housed in a beautiful Victorian era home built in 1885, the sole survivor of the Victorian Professorial houses that once lined Professors Walk. The uh-prof-rdhistoric building features gardens to its east and west, and a vine wreathed brick facade.

The University House is located on Professors Walk, Cnr Tin Alley, within the campus of the University of Melbourne.  Easy walking distance from the conference venue.


Sunday 27th November 2016 | Rydges on Swanston

0800-1000 Post-Conference Workshop Registration Open | outside Realm, Level 4
0900-1700 Teaching Health Ethics Workshop | Realm Room, Ground Level
Full day workshop including morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.  $80 per person. Book during registration for the AABHL conference here; non-delegates are welcome and should book by emailing the AABHL 2016 secretariat.


The workshop will bring together experts in medical ethics education to provide a practical, interactive day for learning and practicing skills, methods and topics in education for both undergraduate and post graduate educational settings. The interactive sessions will provide participants to leave with a specific outcome they can take back to their own curriculum. This will be a practical discussion with presentations and small group work in 3 key areas of ethics education; professionalism, law and ethics education as a whole, teaching methods, and teaching end-of-life.

0900-0910 Introduction and Welcome
0910-0930 Developing a core curriculum for teaching medical ethics
Sharyn Milnes
Incorporating a framework for ethics, health law and professionalism into teaching. Using pedagogy and adult education theory
0930-0950 The very idea of teaching medical/health ethics without medical/health law or medical/health law without medical/health ethics
Prof Malcolm Parker
0950-1050  Small group work
1050-1115  Large group discussion / outcomes
1115-1130 Morning Tea
Novel teaching methods to optimise student engagement and learning (aka Teaching Generation Y and beyond)
1130-1200 Teaching medical ethics through popular culture
Evie Kendal, Sharyn Milnes, Lynn Gillam
1200-1300 Small group work
1300-1330 Large group discussion / outcomes
 1330-1400 Lunch
 Specific Topics in Ethics Education: End of Life
1400-1430 Presentation
Susan McDonald, Lynn Gillam
1430-1530 Small group work
1530-1600 Large group discussion / outcomes
1600-1615 Afternoon Tea
1615-1700 Bringing it together
1700 Close
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