NEXT WEEK! Virtual Conference: Key Policies Issues in Organ Donation & Transplantation

FOCUS: The key current and emerging policy challenges facing the Canadian organ donation and transplantation system.

Major challenges flow from Canada’s federal structure given that an optimal ODT system coordinates and shares amongst a large pool of donors and recipients. In recent years, policy shifts in the area of organ donation law (Nova Scotia’s shift to presumed consent) and in other areas of law (the adoption and potential expansion of medical assistance in dying) have raised new questions. Death definition and determination criteria are also critical policy and legal issues for donation – with important research emerging from Canada that affect the application of the dead donor rule, as well as a new Canadian initiative to develop a legislated definition of death.

On the transplantation side, equally important policy challenges exist. In recent years, media coverage and multiple legal challenges have put the 6-month alcohol abstinence rule for liver transplant listing into the limelight. Other listing contra-indications related to mental health and cognitive disability have not been widely discussed, but raise important legal and human rights issues as well.

Cross-cutting issues affecting both donation and transplantation must also be discussed – including the manner in which COVID-19 has and will affect the way in which OR and ICU resources are rationed (e.g. deprioritizing donation to create space for COVID-19 patients) and how potential transplant recipients are prioritized.

The virtual conference will be on June 17-18, 2021.

Register here
Download the program
Speakers:
  • Héloïse Cardinal – Transplant Nephrologist / Principal Scientist – Immunopathology | Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal
  • Jennifer Chandler – Professor, Faculty of Law |University of Ottawa Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics
  • Michaël Chassé – Intensivist / Principal Scientist – Innovation | Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal
  • Prosanto Chaudhury – Interim Director, Multi-Organ Transplant Program |McGill University Health Centre
  • Glenn Cohen – Professor / Deputy Dean |Harvard Law School, U.S.A.
  • Sean Delaney – Patient Partner / Associate Director, Organ Listing & Allocation | Canadian Blood Services
  • Patrick Fafard – Professor, Public and International Affairs | University of Ottawa Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics
  • Katherine Fierlbeck – Professor, Political Science | Dalhouse University
  • Marie-Chantal Fortin – Nephrologist / Principal Scientist – Immunopathology | Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal
  • Dale Gardiner – National Clinical Lead for Organ Donation | Nottingham University Hospitals, U.K.
  • Jed Gross – Bioethicist | University Health Network (Toronto)
  • Vanessa Gruben – Professor, Faculty of Law | University of Ottawa Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics
  • Andrew Healey – Chief Medical Officer | Trillium Gift of Life Network
  • Stanislas Kandelman – Anesthesiologist | Hôpital Royal Victoria (Montréal)
  • Maureen Meade – Critical Care Consultant / Professor, Department of Medicine | McMaster University
  • Istvan Mucsci – Nephrologist | University Health Network (Toronto)
  • Simon Oczkowski – Intensivist / Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences | McMaster University
  • Thaddeus Mason Pope – Professor | Mitchell Hamline School of Law, U.S.A.
  • Timmie Ann Schramm – Friend of an organ donor following MAiD
  • Sam Shemie – Critical Care Pediatrician | Hôpital de Montréal pour enfants / McGill University Health Centre
  • Christy Simpson – Professor and Head, Department of Bioethics | Dalhousie University
  • Maxwell Smith – Professor, School of Health Studies / Co-Chair and Member, Ontario COVID-19 Health System Response Bioethics Table | Western University 
  • Caroline Tait – Medical Anthropologist, Department of Psychiatry | University of Saskatchewan
  • Everad Tilokee – Data Analyst, Research and Training Programs (Centre for Innovation) / Transplant Recipient | Canadian Blood Services
  • Maeghan Toews – Lecturer | Adelaide Law School, Australia
  • Alyssa Tomkins – Partner | Caza Saikaley LLP
  • Robin Urquhart – Professor, Department of Surgery | Dalhousie University
  • Charles Weijer – Professor, Departments of Philosophy and Medicine | Western University
  • Matthew-John Weiss – Canada Research Chair in Critical Care, Neurology and Trauma | Université Laval

Click here to get more info and register.