'Conversations in Ethics' March 13, 2007 "Stem Cell Research: The Hope, The Reality, & The Future" Topic of Catawba Valley Medical Center's March 'Conversations in Ethics'

Catawba Valley Medical Center invites healthcare professionals and the community to attend the next 'Conversations in Ethics' to be held from 12 noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, March 22 in the Northwest AHEC Lecture Hall, Room 112. This monthly, no-charge meeting provides an opportunity for discussion of some of the most important issues facing the healthcare profession today. Topic for the March session is "Stem Cell Research: The Hope, The Reality, & The Future." It was November 2, 2004, and the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative was on the ballot. If passed, it would fund embryonic stem (ES) cell research for ten years. ES cell lines are obtained by removing a group of cells, called the inner cell mass, from an embryo that is about five days old. Researchers prize the cells because they have the potential to differentiate into a wide range of different types of cells, which has the potential to cure several terminal diseases. Opponents say that it should be restricted because it requires the destruction of human life. Some very promising results have come from research using stem cells taken from the umbilical cord and placenta, and adult tissues such as bone marrow and parts of the brain. In fact, some of these non-embryonic cells have already been used to treat medical conditions, including blood disorders, spinal cord injury and heart attack damage. If ES cell research proves fruitful, it raises the issue of a particular type of cloning known as therapeutic cloning. Therapeutic cloning would not result in the production of a new human being, but it would mean creating an embryo from which ES cells could be removed that would match the cells of a person's own body. This would prevent the rejection of transplanted cells by the immune system of the recipient. Questions considered at this session could include the following: How would you vote if a similar proposition came to our state? Do you think that a five-day-old embryo should be accorded the status of a human person? If not, why not? If so, do the potential benefits of ES cell research outweigh the ethical objections? Would you support the use of therapeutic cloning in order to produce ES cells for treatment of disease or injury? A free lunch will be served to those who register no later than Tuesday, March 20, 2007 by calling Glenda Fowler at 828-326-3365. Completion of this activity provides 1.0 contact hours of continuing nursing education via CVMC, Department of Organizational Learning, an approved provider of continuing education by the NCNA, an accredited approver by the ANCC-COA. Catawba Valley Medical Center is a not-for-profit, public healthcare system providing and promoting the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of the public in addition to serving as a center for health education, wellness services, preventative medicine and acute care. CVMC, recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Magnet facility, was recently named a Hospital of Choice by the American Alliance of Healthcare Providers.