Despite the wide and daunting array of cross-cultural obstacles that the formulation of a global policy on advance directives will clearly pose, the need is equally evident. Specifically, the expansion of medical services driven by medical tourism, just to name one important example, makes this issue urgently relevant. While ensuring consistency across national borders, a global policy will have the additional and perhaps even more important effect of increasing the use of advance directives in clinical settings and enhancing their effectiveness (...) within each country, regardless of where that country's state of the law currently stands. One cross-cultural issue that may represent a major obstacle in formulating, let alone applying, a global policy is whether patient autonomy as the underlying principle for the use of advance directives is a universal norm or a construct of western traditions that must be reconciled with alternative value systems that may place lesser significance on individual choice. A global policy, at a minimum, must emphasize respect for patient autonomy, provision of medical information, limits to the obligations for physicians, and portability. And though the development of a global policy will be no easy task, active engagement in close collaboration with the World Health Organization can make it possible. (shrink)

I would like to extend my appreciation to the planning committee of this outstanding conference, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics for allowing me to have this great opportunity to share my experience in teaching and studying medical and public health law and ethics with my U.S. colleagues. This morning, USA Today is reporting that Brundtland, the Director General of the World Health Organization, finally declared that the aggressive control measures (...) have stopped SARS. I think it is a special achievement on her part as she departs the WHO in less than two weeks. The new Director General of the WHO, JW Lee, is a close friend of mine. (shrink)

I would like to extend my appreciation to the planning committee of this outstanding conference, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics for allowing me to have this great opportunity to share my experience in teaching and studying medical and public health law and ethics with my U.S. colleagues. This morning, USA Today is reporting that Brundtland, the Director General of the World Health Organization, finally declared that the aggressive control measures (...) have stopped SARS. I think it is a special achievement on her part as she departs the WHO in less than two weeks. The new Director General of the WHO, JW Lee, is a close friend of mine. (shrink)

Despite the wide and daunting array of cross-cultural obstacles that the formulation of a global policy on advance directives will clearly pose, the need is equally evident. Specifically, the expansion of medical services driven by medical tourism, just to name one important example, makes this issue urgently relevant. While ensuring consistency across national borders, a global policy will have the additional and perhaps even more important effect of increasing the use of advance directives in clinical settings and enhancing their effectiveness (...) within each country, regardless of where that country's state of the law currently stands. One cross-cultural issue that may represent a major obstacle in formulating, let alone applying, a global policy is whether patient autonomy as the underlying principle for the use of advance directives is a universal norm or a construct of western traditions that must be reconciled with alternative value systems that may place lesser significance on individual choice. A global policy, at a minimum, must emphasize respect for patient autonomy, provision of medical information, limits to the obligations for physicians, and portability. And though the development of a global policy will be no easy task, active engagement in close collaboration with the World Health Organization can make it possible. (shrink)