Published on March 30, 2010 by William Nunnelley  

Samford University’s Healthcare Ethics and Law Institute (HEAL) will examine professional codes of ethics from various perspectives during its annual conference Friday, April 9.  The theme is “Are Codes of Ethics Enough?”

Visiting speakers will be DeWitt C. Baldwin, Jr., M.D., a pediatrician, family physician, psychiatrist and scholar-in-residence at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Chicago, Ill., and Joseph Fink III, B.S. Pharm., J.D., a professor in both the College of Pharmacy and College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky who chaired the committee for the latest revision of the American Pharmacists Association Code of Ethics for Pharmacists.

The conference—sponsored by Samford’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy—is designed to help Alabama institutional healthcare ethics committee members with today’s most pressing ethics and law issues and problems.  It will meet in Brock Forum of Dwight Beeson Hall at Samford from 8:25 a.m. until 3:45 p.m.

Dr. Baldwin will discuss “Codes of Ethics: Setting the Goal Posts for Professionalism?” at 1:30 p.m.  Professor Fink will discuss “Developing Ethical Standards: The Role of People, the Role of Codes” at 9:30 a.m.

The speakers will receive Pellegrino Medals for their contributions to healthcare ethics.  The medal is named for Dr. Edmund D. Pellegrino, the first recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.

HEAL Director Bruce D. White will open the conference with a discussion of “Codes, Standards of Care, and the Differences Between Ethics and Law.”  He will present a case study at 2:30 p.m.

 

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.