For God’s sake? Bio-medicine, law and religion

The Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Medicine/Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) and the Faculty of Humanities (Leiden Institute for the Study of Religions) will jointly offer an honours class titled ‘For God’s sake? Bio-medicine, law and religion’. 
  
This class will address normative questions at the interface of law, ethics and religion, including artificial procreation, (selective) abortion, brain surgery and euthanasia. Why do we consider these forms of medical treatment (un)acceptable? On which legal, ethical and religious arguments are our opinions grounded? Do legal, ethical and religious forms of reasoning interact with each other? Is there an international or transcultural dialogue with respect to these questions?  
 
The application of biology and medicine for health(-related) purposes raises complex normative questions. Policy makers and the public at large often hold diametrically opposed opinions with respect to such practices as brain surgery, embryo research and prenatal screening resulting in selective abortion. Human rights and religious dogmas are often used to assess the acceptability of bio-medical interventions. But how should these standards, that emerged before the bio-medical revolution, be applied? And what standard prevails in case of conflicting human rights and religious norms, e.g. about ‘gender equality’ or the definition of ‘ human life’? And is there one single Christian, Jewish or Islamic view on bio-medical issues?  
 
These and related questions will be examined during eight meetings. Distinguished speakers from various countries will shed more light on these and related themes. Besides that there will be two excursions and, provisionally, a discussion meeting at the end of the meeting.

Information can also be found, amongst others, on Blackboard (via Blackboard ‘Gezondheidsrecht 09/10’)

The maximum number of participants is 15. Participants are expected to actively contribute to the class and its meetings. Good command of English is an absolute requirement. A good command of Dutch is preferred.
 

Programme	28 April 2010: 16.00-17.00 Preparatory meeting
	25 May 2010: 16.00-18.00 Law, ethics and religion - different and common features, interrelationships and perspectives on the role of the State Prof.dr.mr. W. van der Burg (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam)
	27 May 2010: 16.00-18.00 Normative questions around the beginning of life: ‘artificial’ procreation, pre-conceptual and prenatal screening, embryo research and selection Dr. E.C.A. Asscher (Erasmus Universiteit)
	1 June 2010: 16.00-18.00 Excursion to The Hague
	2 June 2010: 16.00-18.00 Normative questions during life: the ‘right’ to have a child, human enhancement, neurosurgery, gender and (homo)sexuality, transsexualism and organ donation. Dr.ir. M.T. Hilhorst (Erasmus Universiteit)
	3 June 2010: 16.00-18.00 Medical decision making and other normative questions at the end of life Prof.mr.dr. D.P. Engberts (LUMC)
	8 June 2010: 16.00-18.00 Defining human life, human dignity and the role of the State, including the definition of death, from a Christian perspective Prof.dr. E. van Leeuwen (Radbout Universiteit)
	10 June 2010: 16.00-18.00 Defining human life, human dignity and the role of the State, including the definition of death, from an Islamic perspective Dr. A. el-Gendi (Islamic Organization of Medical Sciences)
	15 June 2010: 16.00-18.00       Defining human life, human dignity and the role of the State, including the definition of death, from a Jewish perspective Prof.dr. J. Frishman (Universiteit Leiden)
	16 June 2010: 16.00-18.00 Excursion in Leiden
	17 June 2010: 16.00-18.00 Regulating predictive medicine from a European perspective Prof.mr. A.C. Hendriks (Universiteit Leiden/LUMC)
	24 June 2010: Closing ceremony
Location	Snoeck Hurgonje Huis LUF Rapenburg 61 2311 GJ Leiden
Application	Ensure that we receive your application between: 1 February - 1 April 2010 Letters of enrolment, in English and stating the applicant's motivation, study results and language skills, can be sent to (by regular postal service and not via e-mail): Prof.dr. A.C. (Aart) Hendriks Institute of Public Law, Faculty of Law Steenschuur 25 2311 ES Leiden
Language of instruction	English
Contact	Mevrouw J.H. Oosthoek-Kerner J.H.Oosthoek-Kerner@lumc.nl