A conference on Property Rights in Human Bodies, Tissue and Data, and on Human Organ Transplantation.
About the conference:
How does the law govern the ownership of human bodies? And of its parts, and things derived from it? What are the fundamental legal principles governing claims to ownership, possession and other rights in the human body? What are the ethical, legal, and social impact of applications of materials taken from the human body, particularly in the context of human organ transplantation and the responses arising therefrom? This two-day conference seeks to explore these fundamental questions from ethical, legal, medical, religious and social perspectives. The conference is to give academics and professionals in both the medical and legal professions a survey of the current state of the common law governing property and other interests and rights in the human body, in organs (especially in relation to transplants), in human tissue and other human samples, in ‘waste’ tissue and products. From these basic premises we move on to a consideration of remoter interests ultimately derived from the human body. Under the rubric of these remoter interests, the control, custody, management, ‘ownership’ and the sharing and dissemination (for research or for clinical purposes medical and genetic information derived from the human body can be then explored. The conference will end with a consideration of (again under the general scope of remoter interests) intellectual property rights and claims, particularly in relation likely future developments in competing major jurisdictions.
The objectives of the conference is to establish what the fundamental legal principles are; how these principles affect current and the future development of specific rules in remoter interests; to identify gaps and inconsistencies in current law and practice; to discuss the current tensions between the imperatives of clinical and research use for tissue and information and that of the privacy of the individual, to discuss and suggest how these tensions may be best bridged to mutual benefit; and finally the issue of trust.
Introduction and Keynote Presentations:
Dr Ron Zimmern, PHG Foundation, Cambridge
Professor Peter Skegg, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Law, University of Otago
Professor Bartha Maria Knoppers, Centre of Genomics & Policy, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University
About the speakers:
Dr Philip Beh, HKU
Professor S.C. Chan, Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital
Professor King L. Chow, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Professor Leonardo de Castro, University of the Philippines
Dr Imogen Goold, Oxford University
Dr Guang Xing, Centre for Buddhist Studies, HKU
Ms Alison Hall, PHG Foundation, Cambridge
Dr Calvin Ho, National University of Singapore
Dr Chih-hsing Ho, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
Mr Terry Kaan, HKU
Mr Alex Lam, Hong Kong Patients’ Voices
Mr Colm McGrath, Cambridge University
Professor Tohru Masui, Centre for Genetics, Keio University School of Medicine
Dr Jeffrey Skopek, Cambridge University
Dato’ Dr Zahari Noor, Penang Hospital, Malaysia
Conference Booklet:
Click HERE to download the Conference Booklet
Programme：
Thursday 6 April 2017 (Day 1)
PART I: PROPERTY IN THE BODY
This session will be dedicated to an exploration of the current state of the English common law and the fundamental legal principles governing claims to ownership, possession and other rights in the human body, retained organs and physical tissue samples are explored, as well as the experience of legislative and other regulatory responses in some common law jurisdictions. Property rights in relation to ‘waste’ tissue or abandoned bodily products, as well as research access to ‘legacy’ tissue collections collected for diagnostic purposes will also be discussed.
| 9:00 – 9:30am | Registration |
| 9:30 – 9:40am | Introduction
Dr Ron Zimmern, Chairman, PHG Foundation, Cambridge; Honorary Professor of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong |
SUB-THEMES 1:
The general approach of the law to claims to property rights in the human body, and legislative and other regulatory responses
| 9:40 – 10:10am | Keynote Presentation: “Human Bodies and Body Parts: Anyone’s property?; If so, whose? Traditional common law approaches”
Professor Peter Skegg, Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Otago |
| 10:10 – 10:20am | Keynote Q&A |
| 10:20 – 10:40am | Presentation 2: “Regulatory Approaches and the Experience of the UK” (click Here for the powerpoint file)
Ms Alison Hall, Head of Humanities, PHG Foundation, Cambridge |
| 10:40 – 11:00am | Morning Coffee Break |
| 11:00 – 11:20am | Presentation 3: “Japanese Discussion on Status of Human Body Parts”
Professor Tohru Masui, Center for Genetics, Keio University School of Medicine |
| 11:20 – 11:40am | Presentation 4: “Gifts or Commodities? Human Tissue Ownership and Associated Data Use in Biomedical Research- The Case of Taiwan” Dr Chih-hsing Ho, Assistant Professor/Assistant Research Fellow , Academia Sinica, Taiwan |
| 11:40am – 12:40pm | Roundtable Discussion |
| 12:40 – 2:00pm | Lunch |
SUB-THEMES 2:
‘Waste’ tissue and other ‘abandoned’ bodily products, research access to ‘legacy’ diagnostic tissue collections, perspectives from other jurisdictions
| 2:00 – 2:20pm | Presentation 1: “A Call for a More Holistic Approach to Governance of Biobanks – Experiences from Singapore” (click Here for the powerpoint file) Dr Calvin Ho, Assistant Professor, Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore |
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| 2:20 – 2:40pm | Presentation 2: “Human Tissue and the Doctrine of Abandonment”
Dr Imogen Goold, Associate Professor in Law, Faculty of Law, Oxford University |
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| 2:40 – 3:00pm | Presentation 3: “Compensation and Human Tissue as Products”
Mr Colm McGrath, WYNG, Research Fellow in Medical Law & Ethics,Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge |
Mr Colm McGrath, WYNG, Research Fellow in Medical Law & Ethics, | Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge |
| 3:00 – 3:30pm | Afternoon Coffee Break | ||
| 3:30 – 3:50pm | Presentation 4: “Living Donor Organ Transplantation in Regions with Limited Deceased Organ Donors” Professor See-Ching Chan, Honorary Consultant in General Surgery, The Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital; Honorary Clinical Professor, The University of Hong Kong |
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| 3:50 – 4:10pm | Presentation 5: “Presumed Altruism” (click Here for the powerpoint file) Mr Terry Kaan, Associate Professor in Law, Faculty of Law; Co-Director, Centre for Medical Ethics & Law, The University of Hong Kong |
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| 4:10 – 5:10pm | Roundtable Discussion | ||
| 6:30pm | Conference Dinner
Speakers and Invited Guests |
Friday 7 April 2017 (Day 2)
PART II: THE HUMAN BODY APPLIED
The general theme for the second day of the conference is an examination of the ethical, legal and social impact of applications of material taken from the human body, particularly in the context of human organ transplantation and the responses arising therefrom. Religious and social perspectives are considered. The balance between the public interest in promoting ethical access to tissue collections and medical information derived therefrom are discussed, as are regulatory regimes for the protection of the privacy of donors. The likely impact of current developments in claims to intellectual property derived from the human body is also considered.
SUB-THEMES 1:
Human organ transplantation and the human context
| 9:30 – 10:00am | Keynote Presentation: “Beyond the Individual: Familial and Solidarity Claims?” (click Here for the powerpoint file)
Professor Bartha Maria Knoppers, Canada Research Chair in Law and Medicine;
Director, Center of Genomics and Policy, McGill University
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| 10:00 – 10:10am | Keynote Q&A | ||
| 10:10 – 10:30am | Presentation 2: “Naïve Conceptions of the Human Body” (click Here for the powerpoint file) Professor Leonardo de Castro, Department of Philosophy, University of the Philippines |
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| 10:30 – 10:50am | Presentation 3: “Buddhist Attitude to Human Bodies from Moral and Ethical Perspectives”
Dr Guang Xing, Associate Professor, Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong |
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| 10:50 – 11:20am | Morning Coffee Break | ||
| 11:20 – 11:40am | Presentation 4: “Tissue Organ Donation for Transplantation, Medical Education and Research- A Malaysian and Islamic Perspectives” Dato’ Dr Zahari Noor, Head and Consultant, Department of Forensic Medicine, Penang Hospital, Malaysia
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| 11:40am – 12:40pm | Roundtable Discussion | ||
| 12:40 – 2:00pm | Lunch |
SUB-THEMES 2:
Ethical access to tissue collections and medical information, tissue and data sharing for research, regulatory regimes for the protection of the privacy of donors, and intellectual property rights derived from the body
| 2:00 – 2:20pm | Presentation 1: “Should Anonymization Extinguish Our Rights?” Dr Jeffrey Skopek, Lecturer in Medical Law, Ethics, and Policy; Deputy Director, Centre for Law, Medicine, and Life Sciences, University of Cambridge |
| 2:20 – 2:40pm | Presentation 2: “Ownership of Oneself – Our Identity” Professor King-Lau Chow, Professor of Life Science and Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
| 2:40 – 3:00pm | Presentation 3: “Body Rights – Scienti or Volenti? Patients’ Perspective” (click Here for the powerpoint file)
Mr Alex Chi-Yau Lam, Solicitor; Chairman, Hong Kong Patients’ Voices |
| 3:00 – 3:20pm | Afternoon Coffee Break |
| 3:20 – 4:20pm | Roundtable Discussion |
| 4:20 – 4:40pm | Conference Summary |
End of Conference
CME Accreditation by Colleges of Hong Kong Academy of Medicine:
Click here
CPD Accreditation by Hong Kong Law Society:
The allocated course nos. are as follows:
20171057 – the course hold on 6 April 2017 (9:30-12:40).
20171058 – the course hold on 6 April 2017 (14:00-17:10).
20171059 – the course hold on 7 April 2017 (9:30-12:40).
20171060 – the course hold on 7 April 2017 (14:00-17:00).
