Forester Lecture presents views on medical ethics

Huntington, Ind. " Dr. Chris Daugherty will present Is Prayer Therapy? Spirituality and Medical Research at the 2002-2003 next Forester Lecture on October 7, at 7:00 p.m. The public is cordially invited to attend this free, public lecture held in the Merillat Centre for the Arts Auditorium.

Dr. Daugherty is an oncologist and medical ethicist at the University of Chicago. He is also Vice-Chair of UC's Biological Sciences Division Institutional Review Board, a faculty scholar for the Soro's Foundation's Project on Death in America, and a member of numerous other ethical review teams.

In addition to caring for patients with life-threatening malignancies, Daugherty is interested in the many facets of decision making in medical care for cancer patients, including issues related to the use of experimental agents and how spiritual beliefs and practices affect individual health.

Daugherty will discuss how spiritual beliefs and practices have been found to be associated with better health. He will also review and describe the studies that have been conducted seeking to examine the effects of prayer on improving health outcomes in the severely ill, share his own experiences with severely ill and their religious beliefs, and speak on some of the ethical dimensions involved in caring for patients within the context of strong spiritual beliefs and the ethical questions arising from the medical study of prayer.

Huntington College is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 60 academic concentrations. Founded in 1897 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Huntington College is located on a contemporary, lakeside campus in Huntington, Indiana.