VATICAN - Issues examined by assembly of Pontifical Academy for Life day two, range from health policies to religion of health, from the figure of the doctor to the right to life

Vatican City (Fides Service) - On the second day of the assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life on 22 February, there were various interventions on different aspects of the central theme “Quality of Life and the Ethics of Health”.
Professor Gualtiero Ricciardi of the Sacred Heart University in Rome spoke about health policies and quality of life in western democracies. Prof. Manfred Lütz, neurologist and psychiatrist, spoke on “religion” of healthcare and a new image of mankind. Prof. Angelo Fiori Professor emeritus at the Catholic Gemelli Hospital in Rome, spoke on the figure of the doctor and expectations of the public; Prof. Vicente Bellver Capella of Valencia University in Spain spoke on the contents and limits of right to life, health and medical care.
In the afternoon a round table discussion focussed on: “Prospects and alternatives: medico-surgical therapies and techniques of assistance, prevention and adoption”. Speakers included Prof. Alejandro Serani-Merlo, Professor of Bio-ethics, at the Pontifical Catholic University Santiago de Chile: quality of life in geriatrics; Prof. Patricio Ventura-Junca, Paediatrician, experts in Bio-ethics, Director of the Centre of Bio-Ethics at the Pontifical Catholic University Santiago de Chile: quality of life in neonatology; Prof. Wanda Póltawska, psychiatrist, expert Theological Anthropology at the University of Krakow, Poland: the sacredness of human life and mental disability.
Prof. Joannes Lelkens emeritus Prof. of Anesthesiology at the University of Maastricht spoke of quality of life for patients with terminal cancer. Prof. P. Noel Simard, director of the Bio-ethics Centre professor of bio-ethics Centro at the faculty for theology at Saint-Paul’s University, Ottawa, spoke on quality of life and AIDS patients; Prof. Luigi Postiglione Professor of Agronomy and Agrarian Ecology at the Federico II University in Naples spoke of quality of life and the environment.
Lastly Prof. Gian Luigi Gigli Professor di Neurophysiology at the faculty of medicine at the university of Udin, Italy and President of the World Federation of Catholic Doctors, concluded with quality of life and persistent vegetative state.
The assembly open to the public, closes today 23 February. Tomorrow there will be a session for members only to discuss activity of the Pontifical Academy for Life. (AP) (23/2/2005 Agenzia Fides; Righe:37; Parole:424)