Thursday, September 27, 2007

Dealing with the Dead



Well, I'm back from the Australian Wiccan Conference. Next thing I'm going to is this:
Dealing with the Dead. History, Medicine, Ethics & Law
THURSDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2007, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
Every day, in the past and present, people work with human remains – in medical schools, hospitals, research laboratories and morgues. Yet public attention is only captured by this work when a scandal erupts, usually about unethical or unlawful use of human remains, such as when they are used without consent, sold for profit, or displayed in controversial ways. This symposium draws together medical scientists, historians, legal scholars, anthropologists and museum practitioners to examine the use and abuse of human remains. In light of recent controversies, papers will deal with the ethical use of the dead in medical science, the collection of tissues and organs for therapeutic and research purposes, the donation of bodies for human dissection, attitudes to hospital post-mortem examinations, and displays of human remains.