This program, which impacts a broad range of legal topics, including family law, health law, intellectual property, individual rights and responsibilities, insurance law, science and technology, and bioethics and the law, will examine the pros and cons of predictive genetic testing and the ensuing effects on individuals and their families. This program will feature excerpts from a documentary film by Joanna Rudnick, “In the Family,” which chronicles her journey through genetic testing for the BCRA gene, which predicts breast and ovarian cancer, and the decisions she must make for herself and her family. The film is a top-ten finalist for the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation’s Second Annual Health Care Television and Radio Journalism Award. What are the ethics of genetic testing? How does one’s cultural background and/or issues of economic disparity affect one’s willingness or ability to be tested and treated? What is the responsibility of individuals to themselves and their families in getting or not getting a test? And how will individual choices of treatment, such as preventive mastectomies, affect those involved in the short and long term? Please join our panel of distinguished specialists as we discuss these and many other important questions arising from genetic testing.

Moderator
Nanette R. Elster, J.D., M.P.H., Chicago, IL

Panelists
Lori B. Andrews, J.D., Chicago, IL
Kayhan P. Parsi, J.D., Ph.D., Chicago, IL
Joanna Rudnick, M.S., Chicago, IL

Additional Sponsors
Health Law Section, Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, Section of Intellectual Property Law, Section of Science and Technology Law, Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law, Commission on Women in the Profession, Council on Racial and Ethnic Justice

“In the Family”: One Woman’s Journey through the Unpredictable World of Genetic Testing (Film Screening)
Sunday, August 2
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
St. Gallen Salon 1, 2nd Floor, Event Centre
Swissotel Chicago

Please join us for a screening of the documentary film, “In the Family,” directed and produced by Joanna Rudnick. The film chronicles Rudnick’s journey through genetic testing for the BCRA gene, and the difficult decisions and sacrifices she must make for herself and her family. Excerpts from the film will also be featured during the CLE program, “Is it in My Family? One Woman’s Journey through Genetic Testing.” Light snacks and refreshments will be served.

For more bioethics related programming at the 2009 ABA Annual Meeting, please refer to the 2009 Annual Meeting Guide to Bioethics Related Programs.

2007
I Bought My Ticket, Why Can't I Fly: Public Safety Versus Personal Freedom
Saturday, August 11, 2007
10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
City Room, Second Floor
Westin San Francisco Market Street
50 Third Street, San Francisco, California

Please join the Special Committee on Bioethics and the Law at a FREE CLE program, including I. Michael Greenberger, J.D., the Director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland and a Professor at the School of Law, Anthony B. Iton, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., Alameda County, California Health Officer, and Lane Porter, J.D., M.P.H., Law and Human Rights Advisor at Constella Futures. The program will examine emerging issues related to the intersection of public health and emergency response law. The recent tuberculosis case, involving international travel, highlights the difficulties of quarantine as well as the interdisciplinary nature of effectively managing public health emergencies and the importance of early communication and clear mandates and guidelines in assessing threats of global pandemics, bioterror or other such public health emergencies.

Panelists:
I. Michael Greenberger, J.D., Washington, DC
Anthony B. Iton, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., Oakland, CA
Lane Porter, J.D., M.P.H., Washington, DC

Additional Sponsors:
Health Law Section
Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities
Section of International Law

For more bioethics related programming at the 2007 ABA Annual Meeting, please refer to the 2007 Annual Meeting Guide to Bioethics Related Programs.

PAST PROGRAMS

2005
Making the Perfect Baby: The Promise and Peril of "Designer Babies"
Should prospective parents be able to change their children's genetic characteristics or predispositions? What are the appropriate roles of the medical and legal communities and the government in promoting or restricting parental choices? What isthecurrent landscape of the possibilities, realities, and economics of such alterations?

For more examples of bioethics related programming at past ABA meetings, please refer to the Special Committee's 2005 Annual Meeting Guide to Bioethics Related Programs.