Mr. Love has been Executive Director of the Consumer Project on Technology organization since 1990. This public interest group, founded by Ralph Nader in 1968, focuses on issues in telecommunications, intellectual property, privacy, health care and digital networks.

Goals of the CPT includPresenter, Dianne Bartels, RN, MA, Asst. Director, Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota

Dianne Bartels has been Associate Director of the Center for Bioethics since 1987. Her undergraduate nursing programs were at St. Mary's School of Nursing, Minneapolis, MN and Marycrest College, Davenport, IA. She received her Master's degree in psychosocial nursing from the University of Washington in 1975. Her experiences in nursing and nursing administration prompted her to study bioethics. "All of the unanswered and challenging questions finally seemed to fit into a pattern of ethical concerns," says Bartels.

She was an early member and one of the founders of the Minnesota Network of Ethics Committees. Her participation in ethics committees and ethics consultation confirmed that understanding ethical theories and principles can contribute to the quality of daily life for patients, families, and employees in health care facilities.

Another way she addresses challenging ethical questions is by conducting research. In her research, she has focused primarily on ethical questions that arise at the "edges of life." Under a project entitled Humane Care of the Dying, she and Kathy Faber-Langendoen, MD and their collaborators conducted several studies that examined end-of-life treatment and decision-making in hospitalized patients. Ms. Bartels' other current research focuses on the roles of genetic counselors and the norms that drive practice, in collaboration with University of Minnesota colleagues Bonnie LeRoy and Patricia McCarthy Veach. She concludes from these projects that her life, as well as her scholarship, is greatly enhanced by working with people from diverse backgrounds and professional roles.

Ms. Bartels is currently enrolled in the University of Minnesota's doctoral program in Family Social Science. Her work focuses on how health care challenges at both the beginning and at the end of life are clearly family matters. She believes that the real challenge for the future of health care will be to develop systems and models of care where family and community count.

Selected Publications

Books

Bartels D, Vawter D, Priester R, Caplan A (eds.) Beyond Baby M: Ethical Implications of New Reproductive Techniques. Clifton, NJ: Humana Press, 1990.

Bartels D, LeRoy B, Caplan A. Prescribing Our Future: Ethical Issues in Genetic Counseling. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1993.

Book Chapters

Bartels D. Ethical Issues in Nursing Management. In Sullivan E and Decker M (eds.) Effective Management in Nursing, 2nd Edition. Redwood City, CA: Addison Wesley Nursing, 1988.

Bartels D, Youngner S, Levine J. Ethics Committees: Living Up to Your Potential. In Livingston J(ed.) AACN Clinical Issues in Critical Care Nursing. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott Co., 1994.

Articles

Bartels, D, Leroy B, Veach P, Truesdell, S. A Qualitative Analysis of Client Perceptions of the Impact of Genetic Counseling. Journal of Genetic Counseling;August, 1999.

Bartels D. Ethics Committees and Critical Care: Allies or Adversaries? Perspectives in Critical Care 1988; 1: 83-90.

Faber-Langendoen K, Bartels D. Process of Forgoing Life-Sustaining Treatment in a University Hospital: An Empirical Study. Critical Care Medicine 1992; 20: 570-577.

Winter P, Wiesner G, Finnegan J, Bartels D, LeRoy B, Chen P, Sellers T. Notification of a Family History of Breast Cancer: Issues of Privacy and Confidentiality. American Journal of Medical Genetics 1996; 66: 1-6.

Bartels D, LeRoy B, McCarthy P, Caplan A. Nondirectiveness in Genetic Counseling: A Survey of Practitioners. American Journal of Medical Genetics 1997; 72: 172-79.

TOP / BACKe motivating citizens to become more involved in policy making at the international level. Citizen involvement in the 1996 deliberations by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on internet copyright and sui generis database protection were quite effective, as are current efforts to engage the World Health Assembly in matters concerning trade and public health.

More recently, in December 1999, Mr. Love and Mr. Nader were invited speakers at the World Trade Organization's meetings in Seattle, Washington.

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