Minutes of the meeting held on 6th April 2006
Tue, 27 June 2006
PLFN (06) 9th meeting
NUFFIELD COUNCIL ON BIOETHICS WORKING PARTY ON CRITICAL CARE DECISIONS IN FETAL AND NEONATAL MEDICINE: ETHICAL ISSUES
Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 6th April, 2006
PRESENT: Professor Margot Brazier OBE (in the Chair), Professor David Archard, Professor Alastair Campbell, Ms Bonnie Green, Dr Monica Konrad, Professor Neil Marlow, Professor Catherine Peckham CBE, Dr Stavros Petrou, Professor Charles Rodeck, Dr Philippa Russell CBE, Ms Anne Winyard, Professor Andrew Whitelaw
APOLOGIES: Professor Linda Franck, Professor Erica Haimes, Professor Sandy Thomas, Harald Schmidt
SECRETARIAT: Dr Catherine Moody, Catherine Joynson, Caroline Rogers, Julia Trusler
INTRODUCTION
1 Professor Brazier welcomed the members of the Working Party. During the morning members would discuss possible conclusions and recommendations. In the afternoon the main focus of the business would be the draft Report.
MINUTES OF THE EIGHTH MEETING
2 The minutes were approved without change.
Matters Arising from meeting on 2nd February 2006
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3 There was a brief report back on the debate on resuscitation held the previous day in York at a meeting of the British Association of Perinatal Medicine and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Draft Report
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4 Professor Brazier reported back from the Council meeting held on 21st March 2006, explaining that the Council had accepted the Working Party’s decision to re-format the Report. Members of the Working Party raised some further general issues, such as whether the term disability was used appropriately wherever it appeared in the Report.
5 Members of the Working Party split into three groups to discuss the different chapters of the draft Report before reconvening to report back. Suggestions were made for expanding the religious and social contexts in the early sections of the report. Epidemiological data on late termination of pregnancy would also be added if this could be found. Recent data on fetal pain from Dr Fitzgerald at UCL were noted. Some drafting was required on the doctrine of double effect. There was a consensus that the legal drafting filled a useful gap in knowledge amongst clinicians and should not be overly shortened. Suggestions to improve the drafting on statistics and third party mediation and clinical ethics committees were also made.
Work Plan
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Feedback on two recent fact-finding meetings
Plans for future fact finding meetings
6 The work plan had been amended to reflect the time that had been needed to restructure the Report in readiness for peer review. Members approved final versions of the notes of the fact finding meeting to Ickburgh School, the visit of healthcare commissioners and providers and the visit hosted by Espace Ethique and the CCNE in Paris. The first draft of the note from the visit to the Netherlands was endorsed, to enable the Secretariat to send it to the Dutch attendees for their comments. Two remaining visits needed to be scheduled: to the Council for Disabled Children and to a special school in the North West. In addition, Professor Brazier and Dr Moody planned possible visits to discuss the operation of bioethics mediation and of clinical ethics committees.
Meeting with representatives from ECSITE
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7 Savita Custead and Julia Kingston from ECSITE-UK gave a brief presentation on the recent workshops held with schools that had been based on the Working Party’s consultation document. The Working Party members that had attended the workshops had found them thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile occasions. The students had tackled even the most difficult issues.
Any other business
8 There was none.
The next full meeting will take place at 11.00 am on Thursday 6th July
Last Updated Tue, 27 June 2006