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V.    2018 WMA ETHICS CONFERENCE, ICELAND

V.1    Organizers

V.1.1    An eight member international committee is responsible for organizing the programme for the conference, assisted by WMA Secretary General Dr. Otmar Kloiber and Dr. Julia Tainijoki-Seyer from the WMA Secretariat.1

V.1.2    Dr. Jeff Blackmer of the CMA is one of the organizers.1 Of the remaining seven, five (Jeppe Berggreen Høj,2 Mohammad Almutairi,3 Miguel R. Jorge,4 Annabel Seebohm5 and Ramin Parsa-Parsi6) do not appear to have been significantly involved on either side of the  euthanasia or assisted suicide controversy, and two (Heidi Stensmyren and Andreas Rudkøbing) have indicated some opposition to the procedures.

V.1.3    Dr. Stensmyren, President of the Swedish Medical Association, is a specialist in anaesthesiology and intensive care.7 Her Twitter feed suggests opposition to euthanasia and physician assisted suicide8 and perhaps some reservations about the course being taken by the CMA.9 In a debate in January, 2018, she spoke against the procedures.10

V.1.4    Dr. Andreas Rudkøbing is President of the Danish Medical Association, which strongly opposes euthanasia and asissted suicide.11

V.2    Programme

V.2.1    Sessions that are or may be relevant to euthanasia and assisted suicide will be held on the second and third day of the conference (3 and 4 October, 2018), as follows:12

V.2.2    Euthanasia and assisted suicide are scheduled topics for the last day of the conference.  Reports from the regional meetings will be delivered in the morning; these will argue against a change in WMA policy.  CMA and RDMA representatives argue for a change in policy in the afternoon.  The representative from the Finnish Medical Association will probably speak to the importance of continuing discussion of the subject within the profession, and continuing engagement of the profession with the public.  Those advocating for a change of policy have the benefit of hearing their opponents before addressing the conference, and the advantage of speaking last. 

Notes

1.  World Medical Association.  Medical Ethics Conference, Reykjavík, 2-4 October, 2018 [Internet]. Organizers [Cited 2018 Sep 29].

2.    Lægeforeningen:Alle ansatte i Lægeforeningens sekretariat [Internet]. Jeppe Berggreen Høj [Cited 2018 Sep 24].

3.    Mohammad Almutairi was head of Kuwait Medical Association.  Chairman, Supreme Council of the Arab Medical Union in July, 2017.  KMA Chief Honoured. Arab Times [Internet]. 2017 Jul 9 [Cited 2018 Sep 29].

4.    Miguel R. Jorge is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Academic Director of the Federal University of São Paulo Medical School, where he got a Masters of Science (M.Sc.) and a Philosophical Doctor (Ph.D.) degree in Pscyhopharmacology, and a Full Professorship in Clinical Psychiatry. Prof. Jorge currently is Director of International Affairs of the Brazilian Medical Association and has had some important positions in other health organizations such as President of the Brazilian Association of Psychiatry, Regional Vice-President of the World Federation for Mental Health, and President of the Diagnosis and  Classification Section of the Latin American Psychiatric Association. World Medical Association.  Medical Ethics Conference, Reykjavík, 2-4 October, 2018 [Internet].  Keynote Speakers [Cited 2018 Sep 29].

5.    Annabel Seebohm: Secretary General, Comité Permanent des Médecins Européens (CPME).  Formerly Head of the Brussels Office and Legal Advisor of the Bundesärztekammer/German Medical Association. From 2007 to 2016 she was Legal Advisor of the World Medical Association. Ms Seebohm studied law at the University of Bonn, undertook her judicial service training in Hamburg and holds a Master's Degree from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.  CPME welcomes its new Secretary General [Internet]. World Medical Association; 2016 Apr [Cited 2018 Sep 29]. World Medical Association: Officials: Secretaries, Editors, Press Officers and Legal Advisors [Internet]. [Cited 2018 Sep 29].

6.    "Ramin Parsa-Parsi is the Head of the Department for International Affairs at the German Medical Association (GMA) in Berlin, Germany. Prior to joining the GMA, Dr Parsa -Parsi worked with Harvard Medical International in Boston, USA, as the Director of Health Policy. He is a member of the Council of the World Medical Association (WMA) and chaired international workgroups for the 2013 revision of the WMA Declaration of Helsinki and the 2017 revision of the Declaration of Geneva.  World Medical Association."  WMA European Region Meeting on End-of-Life Questions (16-17 November, 2017) Aula Vecchia del Sinodo, Vatican [Internet]. World Medical Association [Cited 2018 Sep 28] [WMA Vatican Programme] p. 13.

7.    "Dr Heidi Stensmyren is president of the Swedish Medical Association (SMA) since 2014 . She also chairs the SMAs delegation of negotiating salaries and collective agreements for physicians on the Swedish labour market . Dr Stensmyren is council member of the WMA since 2015 and chairs the Medical Ethics Committee since 2017 . She works as a specialist in Anesthesiology and Intensive care at Danderyd University Hospital, and holds an M.D. from the University of Würzburg . Dr Stensmyren has been involved as expert in several Swedish government committees such as the Organ Donation Committee, between 2013 -2015 and the Profits in Welfare inquiry, 2015 -2017 . She was president of the Swedish junior Doctors between 2007 -2009 , chair in the Organ Donation Council between 2012 -2015 and president of the Stockholm Medical Association between 2013 -2014 . She has a specific passion for ethics and leadership issues." World Medical Association.  WMA Vatican Programme, p. 13.

8.    "Euthanasia to mental ill and people with autism....physicians on the slippery slope." Stensmyren H. Tweet Heidi Stensmyren @HeidiStensmyren [Internet]. Twitter; 2016 Oct 22 at 10:35 pm [Cited 2018 Sep 29]. Commenting on “Europe’s morality crisis: Euthanizing the mentally ill.”  Washington Post.

9.    "@CMA_Docs facilitate discussions in challenging questions such as assisted dying situations with lack of or little praxis."  Stensmyren H. Tweet Heidi Stensmyren @HeidiStensmyren [Internet]. Twitter; 2017 Aug 23 at 4:35 am [Cited 2018 Sep 29].  Commenting on slide showing 83% of responses in favour of euthanasia/assisted suicide for incompetent patients authorized by advance directives.

10.    [Caution:machine assisted translation] "The Medical Association, however, says no to physician-assisted suicide. Heidi Stensmyren stated among other things that the task of healthcare is to cure, alleviate and comfort the sick person.  In addition, she stated that the reasons why people choose death aid are not always medical, but they can be about losing their context, being alone, or experiencing a burden on their close relatives.  'The one who is ill and seeking medical care should never have to think about whether one's life is worth continuing or not, and the Oregon model, like all humanitarian aid models, has shortcomings. Not least, half of those who apply for assisted suicide do so because they feel relatives and society burdened and we must not have this. If people are looking for medical care, they should be very confident that it is health care they get and not death,' said Heidi Stensmyren.  She pointed out, however, that the question is very difficult and has many different levels."  Andersson J. Heidi Stensmyren i SVT:s Aktuellt – håller fast vid nej till dödshjälp.  Läkartidningen [Internet] 2018;115:EYZP; 2018 Jan 3 [Cited 2018 Sep 29].

11.    [Caution: machine assisted translation] "'There is great support and understanding of the Medical Association's policy on euthansia when I discuss it with colleagues. It is remarkable how few doctors I have met are for euthanasia if they work daily with life-threatening sick and dying people - for example, I have not met a single physician in palliation who is a supporter,'[Rudkjøbing] says." Funch M.  Læger siger massivt nej til aktiv dødshjælp. Kristeligt Dagblad [Internet]. 2017 Jun 01 [Cited 2018 Sep 29].

12.    World Medical Association.  Medical Ethics Conference, Reykjavík, 2-4 October, 2018 [Internet]  Program [Cited 2018 Sep 29]. The direct conference programme link takes one to a log-in page.  However, the programme can be accessed from the navigation menu on the conference Welcome Page.